What is an MBOX file?
An .MBOX file is an email mailbox archive. It stores a collection of email messages in a single text file. Each message is saved one after another, starting with a "From " header. Many email services use this format for backups. For example, Google Takeout provides .MBOX files when you export your Gmail account data.
How to open MBOX files?
You can open .MBOX files with desktop email clients. Mozilla Thunderbird and Apple Mail can import these archives. You can also view the raw text using text editors like Notepad++, but the emails and attachments are difficult to read in plain text. Command-line tools like `grep` can help search for specific text inside the archive.
Inspect and View Online
Because the .MBOX extension has multiple possible internal structures and variants, viewer.online/mbox can analyze .MBOX files to identify the exact format and creator software, inspect the file structure, extract readable text, and check whether an online preview is available. Use this tool to identify the actual format of your file.
Convert MBOX Files
If you need to share your emails in a standard document format, we recommend file conversion to sensible target formats on convert.guru. You can easily convert your .MBOX archives to .PDF, .PST, .EML, or .CSV formats.
Summary
viewer.online/mbox is useful for identifying, inspecting, and understanding .MBOX files without installing software or dealing with compatibility problems.