Menu
4 file types use the .nfo file extension.
- 1.System Information File
- 2.Warez Information File
- 3.Age of Empires Player File
- 4.Folio Views Infobase File
File Type 1System Information File
The.nfo extension may also be associated with encrypted and compressed information databases (infobases) in the Folio Infobase format, generally requiring a key to read their contents. Such.nfo files cannot be viewed in a text editor. Software to open or convert NFO files You can open NFO files with the following programs. NFO File Summary. Twenty-three known software programs (notably, Microsoft System Information developed by Microsoft Corporation) are related to the NFO file extension.In addition, they are categorized under four distinct file types, but mainly identified as the System Information File format.These files can be categorized as System Files, Text Files, or Game Files.
Developer | Microsoft |
Popularity | |
Category | System Files |
Format | N/A |
What is an NFO file?
Data file used by Microsoft's System Information tool, a Windows software utility for gathering system information and for diagnosing problems; stores information gathered by the program.
The System Information program has the filename Msinfo32.exe.
Open any file on your Mac with File Viewer.Programs that open NFO files
File Type 2Warez Information File
Developer | THG |
Popularity | |
Category | Text Files |
Format | Text |
.NFO File Association 2
Plain text file that includes information about a pirated software program (warez); contains release notes and commonly includes information about the piracy group responsible for distributing the warez; generally included as part of the program and related files; first used in the late 1980s by a cracking group named The Humble Guys (THG).
NFO files often contain ASCII art identifying the piracy group. NFO readers such as NFOPad can render the text characters as the intended graphic. For standard text editors, it's generally best to view the text with a fixed width font.
NOTE: Since Microsoft Windows' System Information tool also uses the '.nfo' file extension, Windows may unsuccessfully try to open NFO files in the System Information viewer. Instead, open the files directly in a text editor or an NFO viewer.
Mac |
|
Windows |
|
Linux |
|
Updated 3/22/2018
File Type 3Age of Empires Player File
Developer | Microsoft |
Popularity | |
Category | Game Files |
Format | Binary |
.NFO File Association 3
File created by Age of Empires, a real-time strategy (RTS) game where players control units and build empires; contains the player name and campaign progress; saves the player profile and in-game progress.
Windows |
|
File Type 4Folio Views Infobase File
Developer | The FIEN Group |
Popularity | |
Category | Data Files |
Format | Binary |
.NFO File Association 4
File used by Folio Views, a program used for viewing help documentation; contains indexes, articles, and other help documentation; used to create searchable documentation for customer support and program installations.
Folio Views, once owned by Folio Corporation, was subsequently sold to NextPage, FAST, Microsoft, and lastly to The FIEN Group under the name Rocket Folio Views.
Windows |
|
An NFO file is a ReadMe on crack – it includes all the basic information about the downloaded movie, game or application, often with a nice ASCII text art finish.
Most people out there have already discovered that these files can be opened by Notepad or another text processing application. This ‘works’ in the most basic sense of the word, but it’s clumsy and pretty ugly – you’re missing out on a lot of the fun.
To really use NFO files to their full extent you’ll need an NFO File Reader or Viewer – an application specifically designed to deal with these files. Today we’ll take a look at three of the best free NFO File Readers (and one creator) on the software market.
ACiDView 6
ACiDView is currently one of – and in my personal opinion, the best NFO file reader out there. This free application is actually an all-around image viewer, with support for JPEG, GIF, and other popular image formats. It might not be the best image viewer you’ll encounter, but as an NFO viewer it easily beats its competitors because of all the extra functionalities.
Perhaps one of the most useful features is the browsing sidebar, which allows you to quickly select your NFO and other files. I’ve tried out several other NFO viewers in my technological past, and this is a feature you’ll start to miss fast.
You can also autoscroll the NFO files, view them fullscreen, and change the resolution and basic formatting options such as font type and colour palette.
For the real freaks, ACIDView can stream an NFO file to simulate the desired speed of a certain modem connection and slow down the animation accordingly.
DAMN NFO Viewer
DAMN NFO Viewer makes a good second to ACiDViewer. It’s not as graphically oriented as other applications, but instead more like a text viewer with ASCII support. As such, it’s got a tighter letter spacing and a reversed (or actually, ‘normal’ colour palette). This makes it a lot better for reading, but less ‘fun’ and good-looking for the ASCII (fear not, this can be fixed).
DAMN NFO Viewer supports NFO-, DIZ- and TXT files. It’s the basic package, without too much extra stuff – just read your NFO’s and optionally tweak your formatting a little bit.
NFOlux
Last but not least is NFOlux. This tiny application will both let you view or create NFO files. Although the viewer doesn’t stand up to big guys like ACIDViewer, it’s extremely rare and useful to have an NFO reader and creator in one – to my knowlege, this is the only application that does this.
The special features are to be found in the creation section. There’s an ‘auto generator’ that’ll create an NFO for you, based on some basic release information, with a Movie- and an Application template included. Custom characters can be added with the integrated characters palette and the click of a button.
NFOlux won’t do anything special in the reading department, but offers a few unique functions for creating NFOs – it’s the combination of these two applications that makes NFOlux a winning formula.
What NFO file reader application do you use? Something fancy, or haven’t you been able to leave Notepad yet? Let us and your fellow MakeUseOf readers know in the comments section below – we’d love to hear how do you open nfo files!