Convert SAV to TXT

What is the sav to txt conversion?

It's certainly related to data export to plain text format, but to say which .sav, in particular, may be difficult to tell due to the number of different sav files and formats. Here are a few points to consider regarding the potential export of .sav files to plain text format.

Exporting SAV files from SPSS

One of the more unique and probably also most common sav to txt conversions is related to IBM's SPSS Statistics software, and many users are looking for a way to export SPSS datasets to plain text, but what they mean is CSV format.

This is not difficult; you must use either the original SPSS or the free GNU PSPP alternative. Exporting to CSV is one of the core functions.

Identify your sav file

If your files are not from IBM's SPSS, the best way to find out how to export your .sav files is to know the software or tool from which they came. Quite a few .sav files come from computer games and are used to store saved game positions. But .sav files are also used for databases, datasets, and sometimes documents.

Try to use a text editor

No matter where your .sav file came from, you can always try to open the sav file with any text editor to see if it is text-based or binary (random characters). You can edit and rename text files as you like, but if you want specific text output (ASCII, TSV, or CSV), you will need to export the data using Excel or a similar program.