What is a .abw file?
AbiWord Document · Document · AbiSource community · 1998
An .abw file is a document from AbiWord, the lightweight open-source word processor. The format is plain XML, so even without AbiWord the text inside is recoverable with any text editor.
What is a .abw file used for?
AbiWord was for years the go-to word processor for older or low-powered machines: small, fast and free. Its .abw format stores the document as readable XML; .zabw is the same thing gzip-compressed.
Development has slowed and Windows builds stopped being current long ago, so .abw today is mostly a legacy format. AbiWord on Linux still opens them, and LibreOffice Writer imports them for conversion to ODT or DOCX.
What opens a .abw file?
The .abw format opens in the following apps, grouped by operating system. If one app does not work, try another from the same list.
Windows
- LibreOffice Writer (import)
- any text editor (raw XML)
macOS
- LibreOffice Writer (import)
- any text editor (raw XML)
Linux
- AbiWord
- LibreOffice Writer (import)
Open a .abw file step by step
- Confirm the file really is a .abw. Drop it into the WhatFileType identifier, which reads its signature in your browser without uploading anything.
- On Windows, open it with LibreOffice Writer (import) or any text editor (raw XML).
- On Mac, use LibreOffice Writer (import) or any text editor (raw XML).
- On Linux, try AbiWord or LibreOffice Writer (import).
- Still stuck? Convert the .abw to odt, which opens more widely.
Why can't I open my .abw file?
Almost always because no installed app understands AbiWord. Install one of the apps above, or convert the file to a format your existing software already reads. If double-clicking opens the wrong program instead of nothing at all, the file association is set to the wrong app rather than the file being broken.
The other possibility is that the file is not really a .abw at all. Drop it into the file identifier to check it by its bytes instead of its name. Nothing is uploaded.
How to convert a .abw file
You can convert a .abw file to odt, docx, rtf, txt using a conversion tool or the export menu of an app that opens it.
AbiWord has no fixed magic number, so there is no signature table on this page. Its bytes alone do not prove the format: identification relies on the extension, the structure of the content and the program that created it. The magic-numbers reference lists the formats that do carry one.
Frequently asked questions
What is a .abw file?
An .abw file is a document from AbiWord, the lightweight open-source word processor. The format is plain XML, so even without AbiWord the text inside is recoverable with any text editor.
How do I open an .abw file without AbiWord?
LibreOffice Writer imports .abw documents; open and save as ODT or DOCX. In a pinch, open the file in a text editor: the content is readable XML.
What is a .zabw file?
A gzip-compressed AbiWord document. Decompress it (it is a normal gzip stream) and you get the same XML an .abw file contains.
Is AbiWord still maintained?
Development continues slowly on Linux, but current Windows builds stopped years ago, so most people treat .abw as a format to convert out of.
Related formats
Sources
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