What is a MAI file?
A .MAI file serves several different purposes depending on the software that created it. The most common use is an email message queue file or log file for the MailEnable mail server. Another common format is a Microsoft Mail File. This format stores saved email messages from older Microsoft email clients like Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook.
Additionally, MariaDB and MySQL use the .MAI extension for Aria storage engine data files. In this context, it acts as an archive index for the database. Lastly, older Sony CLIE PDAs used the .MAI extension to store movie files.
How to open MAI files?
Because .MAI has multiple possible meanings, you must identify the exact format to open the file correctly. You can often open a Microsoft Mail File or a MailEnable email message with standard text editors or compatible email clients. However, you should never manually open MariaDB index files, because the database server manages them automatically. Sony CLIE movie files require legacy media players.
Inspect and understand MAI files
viewer.online/mai can analyze .MAI files to identify the exact format and creator software, inspect the file structure, extract readable text, and check whether an online preview is available. Since .MAI has multiple possible meanings, we strongly recommend using viewer.online/mai to identify the actual format of your file before you attempt to open it with desktop software.
Conversion and best practices
If you have an email-based .MAI file, you may want to convert it to a modern format like .EML or .PDF for easier sharing and archiving. We recommend file conversion to sensible target formats on convert.guru. Do not attempt to convert database index files, as this will corrupt the data.
Summary
viewer.online/mai is useful for identifying, inspecting, and understanding .MAI files without installing software or dealing with compatibility problems.