What is the INV file format?
An .inv file is a Minecraft inventory editor file created by INVedit, an open-source tool developed by copygirl around 2011 targeting Minecraft Beta and early 1.x releases. The file stores a player's complete inventory as NBT (Named Binary Tag) data - Minecraft's native binary serialization format - wrapped in a standard gzip container.
Inside the gzip stream a root TAG_Compound holds a list of inventory slot entries. Each slot records an item id, a Count byte for stack size, a Damage short for item durability or subtype, and an optional nested tag compound for enchantments and other item-specific NBT properties. The gzip wrapper provides a CRC32 integrity check at end of file.
INVedit targets Minecraft Java Edition through roughly version 1.7.x. Minecraft 1.9 and later significantly restructured NBT item tags, making INVedit incompatible with modern worlds. The project's GitHub repository (github.com/copygirl/INVedit) has been archived with no commits since around 2013.
Modern alternatives for inventory manipulation include NBTExplorer for direct .dat world file editing, or Minecraft's built-in /give command and creative mode. MCEdit can import .inv files as chest contents for legacy world editing.
Security & safety
RISK: LOWBinary game data file; no executable code. Safe to open in NBTExplorer. Importing a maliciously crafted INV into MCEdit could theoretically corrupt a Minecraft world save, but this is an unlikely attack vector.
Format details
in a nutshell- Autodesk Inventor Part/Assembly (sometimes .inv) - Some Autodesk Inventor legacy references use .inv; the primary Inventor extensions are .ipt and .iam.
- Generic inventory/invoice data file - Various business/ERP applications export inventory or invoice data as .inv plain-text or CSV files.
Programs that open INV files
Windows2 apps
McEdit
Open-source Import .inv into a chest in a Minecraft world. Note: MCEdit targets legacy Minecraft versions. 
macOS1 app
Linux1 app
Technical details
deep spec| Data format | NBT (Named Binary Tag), gzip-compressed |
| File signature | 0x1F 0x8B (gzip magic bytes, offset 0) |
| Byte order | Big-endian (Java NBT specification) |
| Compression | gzip |
| Integrity check | gzip CRC32 at end of stream |
| Root NBT structure | TAG_Compound with inventory slot list |
| Slot fields | id (item type), Count (byte), Damage (short), optional tag compound |
| Typical size | 1 KB - 10 KB |
| Compatible Minecraft versions | Beta 1.x through ~1.7.x (Java Edition) |
| Incompatible with | Minecraft 1.9+ (restructured NBT item format) |
| MIME type | application/octet-stream |
| Developer | copygirl (open-source, GitHub) |
| Project status | Archived (~2013), no longer maintained |
| Released | ~2011 (INVedit for Minecraft Beta/1.x era) |
| Specification | github.com |
INV conversions
Community Q&A
asked by usersNo questions yet - be the first to ask about INV files.
