What is the DATA file format?
A .data file is a data file used by the statistical analysis and data-mining software Analysis Studio, developed by Appricon Ltd. .data files store database-related information in tab-delimited plain-text format and may also include a file header useful for identifying the file.
.data files can contain data from various different sources, although they come mainly from Microsoft SQL Server and MS Access databases. For a data pool to be complete, it is necessary to pair .data files with their companion .stp schema files, which carry information about the schema and the objects in the dataset.
.data files are commonly used for offline data analysis when the workstation is not connected to an Analysis Studio server, but they may also be loaded while working in online mode.
Because .data files are stored in tab-delimited text format, it is straightforward to import their contents into Microsoft Excel after removing the file header. The layout is structurally similar to a CSV file, except that fields are separated by tab characters rather than commas, so any tool that supports tab-delimited import - including LibreOffice Calc and Numbers - can open them. For quick inspection, the raw text is readable in any plain-text editor such as Notepad.
Note that the .data extension is reused by many unrelated applications. To confirm you have an Analysis Studio file, check for the presence of a companion .stp file in the same directory.
Security & safety
RISK: LOWAn Analysis Studio .data file is plain tab-delimited text - it contains no executable code and is safe to open and inspect in a text editor or spreadsheet. The only caution is the usual one for data exports: it may hold sensitive records pulled from a database, so avoid uploading it to online "data converters"; clean and convert it locally instead.
Format details
in a nutshell- Generic application data / cache - Many unrelated programs write opaque .data files (caches, saves, exports) with no shared structure - identify by origin and inspect the bytes.
- Machine-learning dataset - Some ML toolkits store training/test datasets as .data files (often CSV-like text).
- Game / engine asset - Some games and engines bundle resources or asset blobs in .data files readable only by that engine.
Programs that open DATA files
Windows3 apps
Analysis Studio
Paid The native app for Appricon .data files - open the project to load the .data with its .stp schema. 
Microsoft Excel
Paid Data → From Text/CSV, choose the Tab delimiter, and skip the header rows so the columns line up. 
Notepad
Open-source Open the .data to read the raw tab-delimited text and inspect the header before importing it into a spreadsheet. 
macOS1 app
Numbers / TextEdit
Built-in Import the tab-delimited .data into Numbers (set Tab as the delimiter) or open it in TextEdit to read/clean the text. 
Linux1 app
LibreOffice Calc
Open-source Open the .data and, in the import dialog, choose the Tab delimiter and skip header rows. Technical details
deep spec| Developer | Appricon Ltd. |
| File type | Plain-text, tab-delimited data export |
| MIME type | text/plain |
| Field separator | Tab character (ASCII 0x09) |
| File encoding | ASCII or UTF-8 plain text |
| Magic bytes / signature | None - pure text file, no binary header |
| Companion file | .stp schema file (required for complete dataset) |
| Typical data sources | Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access databases |
| File header | Optional identification header at file start; must be removed before importing into spreadsheets |
| Use modes | Offline (disconnected) and online (live server-connected) mode |
| Primary platform | Windows (Analysis Studio application) |
| Spreadsheet compatibility | Importable into Microsoft Excel and LibreOffice Calc as tab-delimited text |
| Record structure | One record per line; columns delimited by tab characters |
| Released | 2000s (Appricon Analysis Studio) |
DATA conversions
Community Q&A
asked by usersNo questions yet - be the first to ask about DATA files.
