What is the SPV file format?
A .spv file is a proprietary output document associated with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) application, originally developed by SPSS Inc. and now maintained by IBM. SPSS is a statistical and predictive analysis program widely used by social scientists, researchers, and data analysts.
The .spv format replaced the older OLE-based .spo Viewer format starting with SPSS Statistics 16.0. A .spv file generated by running analyses in SPSS contains charts, pivot tables, reports, and other visualization output - it is the results document, not the dataset itself. The underlying data lives in a separate .sav file.
Internally, .spv is a ZIP archive bundling UTF-8 XML output descriptors with embedded PNG or EMF chart images. SPSS 21 and later write pivot tables in a compact binary "light" format; versions 16-20 use a "legacy" XML layout. Both carry the standard PK ZIP magic bytes at offset 0.
.spv files can be opened in IBM SPSS Statistics 16 and later, and also in the free GNU PSPP viewer. The format is not backward-compatible with SPSS 15 and earlier, which used the .spo format.
Security & safety
RISK: LOWAn .spv is a passive results document (ZIP of XML + images) and is not executable. The main cautions are privacy and tools: SPSS output frequently embeds sensitive research data (sample sizes, identifiable subgroups), so avoid uploading .spv files to random online 'SPV to PDF' converters - convert locally in SPSS or PSPP. As with any ZIP, only open files from people you trust.
Format details
in a nutshell- SmartMusic Performance / Accompaniment file - MakeMusic SmartMusic used .spv for practice/performance files - unrelated to SPSS, opened only in SmartMusic.
- American McGee's Alice saved game - The id Tech 3 game 'Alice' (2000) wrote save states as .spv - a legacy game-save meaning, not the dominant use today.
Programs that open SPV files
Windows2 apps
IBM SPSS Statistics
Paid File > Open > Output, select the .spv; or double-click if SPSS is associated. Subscription/trial available.
PSPP (GNU)
Open-source Open the .spv in the PSPP output viewer, or use pspp-output to convert it to PDF/HTML/text. 
macOS2 apps
PSPP (GNU)
Open-source Install via Homebrew (brew install pspp); open the .spv or run pspp-output convert. 
Linux2 apps
PSPP (GNU)
Open-source apt/dnf install pspp; open in the GUI or pspp-output convert file.spv out.pdf. Technical details
deep spec| Container format | ZIP archive with DEFLATE compression per entry |
| Magic bytes | `50 4B 03 04` ("PK") at offset 0 - standard ZIP local file header; no SPV-specific signature |
| Primary internal members | `outputViewer<N>.xml` output tree, detail-label/light-table XML, and embedded PNG or EMF chart images |
| Internal table format | "light" binary (SPSS 21+) or "legacy" XML (SPSS 16-20); both variants share the same `.spv` extension |
| Character encoding | UTF-8 for all XML content; binary PNG/EMF for embedded chart images |
| MIME type | `application/zip` (primary); `application/x-spss-spv` (informal vendor type) |
| Byte order | Little-endian (ZIP/DEFLATE convention) |
| Typical file size | Tens of KB to tens of MB, scaling with pivot table count and embedded chart volume |
| Cross-platform support | Windows, macOS, Linux - via IBM SPSS Statistics or GNU PSPP |
| Integrity | ZIP CRC-32 checksum per entry; no document-level digital signature |
| Encryption | None by default; IBM SPSS Statistics can apply password protection at export time |
| Backward compatibility | Not readable by SPSS 15 or earlier, which used the OLE-based `.spo` format |
| Document scope | Stores analysis results only (charts, tables, logs); source data is held separately in a `.sav` file |
| Supersedes | OLE Compound Document `.spo` format used through SPSS 15 |
| Third-party support | GNU PSPP reads both legacy and light SPV table variants; format layout partially documented by the PSPP project |
| Released | 2007 (SPSS Statistics 16.0 - replaced the older .spo Viewer format) |
| Latest version | Current SPSS Statistics 29/30 still writes .spv (format stable since v16) |
| Specification | www.gnu.org |
SPV conversions
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