What is the SAM file format?
A .sam file is a document file created with Lotus Ami Pro, one of the first capable graphical word processors for Windows. In the early 1990s, the technology was acquired by Lotus Development Corporation after it purchased Samna Corporation, the original developer. The software was available for Windows 3.x and offered many advanced features that rivalled competing applications of the era. Ami Pro was later integrated into the Lotus SmartSuite package as Word Pro, and the entire suite reached end-of-life in 2014.
Innovative word processor
Lotus Ami Pro shipped with many advanced features that were ahead of its time. Among the features were:
- a graphical WYSIWYG interface,
- TrueType font support,
- an integrated vector graphics editor,
- advanced text formatting settings saved in
.samfiles alongside a companion.stystyle sheet.
Internally, .sam is a plain-text markup format whose files begin with bracketed tags such as [ver], [sty], and [edoc]. Corel WordPerfect and LibreOffice Writer can import .sam files, or they may be converted to .rtf. Ami Pro was succeeded by Lotus Word Pro (.lwp), leaving .sam effectively obsolete.
Security & safety
RISK: LOWAn Ami Pro document is legacy text/markup with no active scripting, so the file itself is low-risk. Main practical risk is mis-identification: do not touch a file named SAM under C:\\Windows\\System32\\config - that is the live Windows password hive, locked by the OS, and editing it can break login. For document .sam files, prefer the offline LibreOffice import over random online "SAM converter" sites, which may be PUP/adware fronts for an obsolete format.
Format details
in a nutshell- Windows SAM registry hive - Security Accounts Manager database (C:\Windows\System32\config\SAM) - a binary 'regf' hive storing local user account password hashes; not a document.
- Atari/console ROM & sound modules - Some retro tools used .sam for raw 8-bit sample/sound data; unrelated to the word processor.
Programs that open SAM files
Windows3 apps
Corel WordPerfect Office
Paid Open via WordPerfect's conversion/import; it retains filters for legacy formats including Ami Pro. 
LibreOffice Writer
Open-source File -> Open and select the .sam; LibreOffice's Ami Pro import filter renders it, then Save As DOCX/ODT/PDF. 
Microsoft Word (legacy converter)
Paid Older Word versions with the text-converter pack can import Ami Pro; current Word may need LibreOffice as a bridge. 
macOS1 app
Linux1 app
LibreOffice Writer
Open-source Open the .sam through the Ami Pro filter, then export to a modern format. Technical details
deep spec| MIME type | application/x-amipro |
| File structure | Plain-text Ami Pro markup; document body enclosed in [edoc] tag, preceded by [ver] (format version) and [sty] (style sheet reference) header tags |
| File signature | ASCII "[ver]" (hex 5B 76 65 72) at byte offset 0; no binary magic number - identification relies on these opening square-bracket tags |
| Text encoding | 8-bit Windows code page; typically CP-1252 on Western-language systems |
| Style sheet dependency | Formatting styles stored in a separate .sty companion file referenced by the document; a missing .sty file degrades or eliminates text formatting |
| Compression | None - document text is stored as uncompressed plain text |
| Password protection | Optional document-open password supported by Ami Pro; the base file content remains human-readable plain text |
| Typical file size | 5 KB - 500 KB depending on document length and embedded objects |
| Format version tracking | File format version recorded in the leading [ver] tag; spans Ami Pro 1.x through 3.1 (1990-1994) |
| Associated platforms | Windows 3.x, Windows 9x; OS/2 (early Ami versions); DOS (Samna Ami, pre-1990) |
| Superseded by | Lotus Word Pro (.lwp); IBM Lotus SmartSuite product line reached end-of-life in 2014 |
| Extension collision | Shares the .sam extension with the Windows SAM registry hive (a binary REGF file); the two formats are entirely unrelated |
| Released | 1988 (Samna Ami); 'Ami Pro' from 1990; Lotus acquired Samna in 1990 |
| Latest version | Ami Pro 3.1 (1994), the last release before the product became Lotus Word Pro (.lwp) |
SAM conversions
Community Q&A
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