What is a .wps file?
Microsoft Works / WPS Office Document · Document · Microsoft (Works); Kingsoft (WPS Office) · 1987
A .wps file is a word-processing document from either Microsoft Works, the discontinued budget office suite, or from Kingsoft's WPS Office Writer, which reuses the same extension for its own format.
What is a .wps file used for?
Old .wps files come from Microsoft Works (1987-2009), a lighter, cheaper sibling of Office that shipped on countless home PCs. Works documents are OLE2 compound files, like legacy Word documents, but Word needs a converter to read them.
Modern .wps files usually come from WPS Office, the popular Chinese office suite, whose Writer format is unrelated to Works despite the shared extension. WPS Office itself, or conversion to DOCX, is the way in for those.
What opens a .wps file?
The .wps format opens in the following apps, grouped by operating system. If one app does not work, try another from the same list.
Windows
- WPS Office Writer
- LibreOffice Writer (Works import)
- Microsoft Word (with Works converter)
macOS
- WPS Office Writer
- LibreOffice Writer
Linux
- WPS Office Writer
- LibreOffice Writer
Open a .wps file step by step
- Confirm the file really is a .wps. Drop it into the WhatFileType identifier, which reads its signature in your browser without uploading anything.
- On Windows, open it with WPS Office Writer or LibreOffice Writer (Works import).
- On Mac, use WPS Office Writer or LibreOffice Writer.
- On Linux, try WPS Office Writer or LibreOffice Writer.
- Still stuck? Convert the .wps to docx, which opens more widely.
Why can't I open my .wps file?
Almost always because no installed app understands WPS. 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 .wps 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 .wps file
You can convert a .wps file to docx, pdf, rtf, txt using a conversion tool or the export menu of an app that opens it.
What is the .wps file signature (magic bytes)?
A .wps file starts with the hex bytes D0 CF 11 E0 A1 B1 1A E1. Programs identify WPS by those bytes, not by the filename, so a renamed file still gives itself away.
These are the documented signatures for WPS. For a full breakdown, see the OLE2 Compound File file signature page.
| Hex signature | Offset | ASCII | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| D0 CF 11 E0 A1 B1 1A E1 | 0 | - | OLE2 compound file |
See the full magic-numbers reference for every format.
Frequently asked questions
What is a .wps file?
A .wps file is a word-processing document from either Microsoft Works, the discontinued budget office suite, or from Kingsoft's WPS Office Writer, which reuses the same extension for its own format.
How do I open an old Microsoft Works .wps file?
LibreOffice Writer imports most Works documents directly. Older Word versions could too via the Works converter; today LibreOffice is the practical route, then save as DOCX.
Why does my new .wps file not open in Word?
It is probably a WPS Office document, not a Works one. Open it in the free WPS Office suite, or export it there to DOCX or PDF for Word.
Are Microsoft Works and WPS Office related?
No. Works was Microsoft's budget suite, discontinued in 2009. WPS Office is Kingsoft's suite that independently uses the same .wps extension.
Related formats
Sources
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