What is a DBF file?
A DBF file is a table-based database format associated with dBase and later used by many business, mapping and legacy applications.
| CUSTOMER_IDCharacter (8) | COMPANYCharacter (32) | CITYCharacter (20) | BALANCENumeric (10, 2) | ACTIVELogical (1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C-1001 | Northstar Supply | Seattle | 12450.00 | Yes |
| C-1002 | Cedar & Finch | Portland | 8280.50 | Yes |
| C-1003 | Blue Harbor Works | San Diego | 0.00 | No |
| C-1004 | Atlas Field Group | Denver | 3925.75 | Yes |
| C-1005 | Morrow Office Co. | Boston | 1840.00 | Yes |
| C-1006 | Juniper Systems | Austin | 6710.25 | Yes |
| C-1007 | Westline Studio | Chicago | 210.00 | No |
| C-1008 | Redwood Partners | Sacramento | 9575.00 | Yes |
What does a DBF file contain?
The file begins with a header describing the table, followed by field definitions and fixed-length records. Fields can contain text, numbers, dates, logical values and references to memo data.
Which programs use DBF?
dBase, FoxPro, Visual FoxPro, Clipper and many older accounting, inventory, GIS and line-of-business systems created DBF tables. The same extension can therefore represent several related format versions.
What are DBT and FPT files?
Some DBF tables store long memo or binary values in a companion .dbt or .fpt file. A DBF viewer can still show the main table without that companion file, but the referenced memo contents will be unavailable.
Can DBF be converted to CSV?
Yes. CSV preserves the visible rows and columns for use in spreadsheets, although field types, deleted-record flags, indexes and memo relationships are not preserved.
Why do some characters look wrong?
Older DBF files can use code pages that differ from modern Unicode text. If accented or non-Latin characters appear incorrectly, the file may require its original application or an encoding-aware conversion tool.