What is a DACPAC file?
A .DACPAC file is a SQL Server Data Tier Application Package. Microsoft created this file type to store the schema of a SQL database. It contains definitions for database tables, views, and execution procedures. Software developers use .DACPAC files to update and deploy database models via SQL Server Data Tools or Visual Studio. Under the surface, a .DACPAC file uses the standard ZIP compression format to package XML configuration files and text documents into a single archive.
How to open DACPAC files?
Database administrators typically open .DACPAC files using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or Azure Data Studio. Because a .DACPAC file is a standard ZIP archive, you can manually inspect its contents. Simply rename the file extension from .DACPAC to .ZIP and extract the package with standard archive utilities like 7-Zip or WinRAR. After extraction, you can view the internal XML files with a basic text editor or a code editor like Visual Studio Code.
Best practices and troubleshooting
Do not confuse .DACPAC files with .BACPAC files. A .DACPAC file contains only the database schema structure. A .BACPAC file contains both the database schema structure and the actual data records. If your system cannot deploy a .DACPAC file, ensure you have the latest version of Microsoft SQL Server installed and that the database targets match.
Software and tools
Command-line engineers frequently use the SqlPackage utility to extract, export, or publish .DACPAC files automatically. You can also generate these files through database projects in Visual Studio during standard software development workflows.
Summary
viewer.online/dacpac analyzes .DACPAC files to identify their exact format and creator software, shows which programs can open the file, and usually previews it. If you have an unknown package file, viewer.online/dacpac can identify the actual format of your file. Because .DACPAC files use the known ZIP format, viewer.online/dacpac can safely open and display them online, eliminating compatibility problems.