How to open a .bson file
Quick, free ways to open BSON on any system.
A .bson file is a Binary JSON. If double-clicking does nothing, your computer simply does not have an app that reads BSON yet. Here is how to fix that on each operating system, using free software wherever possible.
Open a .bson file step by step
- Confirm the file really is a .bson. Drop it into the WhatFileType file identifier, which reads its signature without uploading anything.
- On Windows, open it with MongoDB tools (mongorestore) or Python (bson).
- On Mac, use MongoDB tools or Python (bson).
- On Linux, try MongoDB tools or Python (bson).
- Still stuck? Convert the .bson to json, which opens more widely.
Best apps to open .bson files
Windows
- MongoDB tools (mongorestore)
- Python (bson)
- MongoDB Compass
macOS
- MongoDB tools
- Python (bson)
- MongoDB Compass
Linux
- MongoDB tools
- Python (bson)
!
Before you open it: Safe. BSON is structured data, not code. A database library reads its typed fields.
Frequently asked questions
Why can't I open my .bson file?
Almost always because no installed app understands BSON. Install one of the apps above, or convert the file to a format your existing software already reads.
What is the difference between BSON and JSON?
BSON is binary and adds types JSON lacks (dates, binary, precise numbers) for faster machine reading. JSON is text and human-readable. MongoDB stores BSON internally.
How do I open a .bson file?
It usually comes from a MongoDB dump. Restore it with mongorestore, or read it with a BSON library such as Python's bson module.