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SQLITE converter

A .sqlite file is a complete relational database in one file: tables, indexes, views, triggers and the schema that describes them, all readable by a library rather than a server. It is almost certainly the most widely deployed database format in existence, and it is a documented, stable file format rather than an implementation detail.

Private for supported formats — processed in your browser

Convert supported files

Runs on your device

Drop SQLITE files here

Batch files can each use a different output. Nothing uploads for local conversions.

Working inputs include camera RAW, browser-local audio/video, PDF, CBZ/CBR comics, office documents, ebooks, markup, 3D models, structured text, images, and archives.

Where SQLITE comes from

D. Richard Hipp wrote SQLite in 2000 for a US Navy programme that needed a database with no administrator. He placed it in the public domain, and it ended up everywhere: every Android and iOS device, every major browser, Windows, macOS, aircraft avionics and countless desktop applications. The on-disk format has been backwards-compatible since version 3.0.0 in 2004, and the US Library of Congress recommends it as a storage format for datasets.

How SQLITE works

  • The file begins with the 16-byte string 'SQLite format 3' followed by a null byte.
  • Storage is a set of B-trees in fixed-size pages, typically 4096 bytes, with the schema itself held in an ordinary table called sqlite_schema.
  • Typing is dynamic: a column has a type affinity rather than a strict type, so a TEXT column can legitimately contain an integer.
  • Write-ahead logging keeps changes in a sidecar .wal file, so a database copied mid-transaction without its WAL can be missing recent writes.
  • The whole database, including multiple tables and their relationships, is one file that can be copied like any other.

When to use SQLITE

  • Exporting the tables of an application database for analysis
  • Reading a browser, phone or desktop application's stored data
  • Turning a shared dataset into a spreadsheet without installing a database
  • Archiving structured data in a format designed to still be readable decades from now

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

  • Self-contained, server-free and extremely widely supported
  • A documented, deliberately stable file format with long-term-preservation backing
  • Full SQL, including joins, indexes and transactions, over an ordinary file

Limitations

  • Type affinity means a column's contents may not match its declared type
  • A database copied without its -wal sidecar can be missing the newest rows
  • Concurrent writers are limited by design; it is not a client/server database

Compatibility

SQLite ships with Python, PHP, Ruby, Android, iOS, macOS and most Linux distributions, and browser builds run it in WebAssembly. Novus Convert opens .sqlite files locally in the browser and exports to JSON, XLSX or a ZIP of per-table files; nothing is uploaded and no database is persisted after the tab closes. Attached WAL sidecars cannot be supplied through a single-file conversion, so a database is read as it stands on disk.

Table and column names and the declared schema are read and carried into worksheet and JSON structure; indexes, triggers and views are described in the conversion summary rather than exported as data.

Convert SQLITE to another format

Convert other formats to SQLITE