Open BA2 files in your browser
The archive Fallout 4, Fallout 76 and Starfield keep their data in, and many of their mods come with. Open one right here, its files listed like a folder. Nothing leaves your device.
Or drop it anywhere on this page
What you'll see
Your file opens like a folder, its files listed on the left, with a page beside them on what it is and what it holds.
- Listed like a folder • Unpacks only what you pick
- A page on what it is • From its own manifest or index
- Pictures, sounds and text • Each opens in its viewer
- Export • Save as ZIP or Extract all
About BA2
Bethesda made BA2 for Fallout 4 in 2015, and Fallout 76 and Starfield keep their data in it too. A mod's plugin often comes with two: MyMod - Main.ba2 with its meshes, sounds and scripts, and MyMod - Textures.ba2 with its textures.
A BA2 is one of two kinds. A general archive keeps whole files, packed with zlib, or with LZ4 in Starfield's. A texture archive keeps each DDS texture without its header, its mipmaps in chunks, and only the facts that header needs: its size, its format and how many mipmaps it has.
Filepeek reads every file's record and name and lists them like a folder, with a page naming the game and the kind. Textures come out as DDS files again, their headers written from those facts, so they open as pictures. xWMA music and WAV sounds play, and settings and scripts' sources open as text.
Bethesda Archive 2
.ba2
Format
- MIME type
- application/octet-stream
- Made by
- Bethesda Game Studios
- Released
- 2015
Inside the file
- Kinds
- General files or textures
- Packing
- zlib, or LZ4 in Starfield
- Textures
- Mipmaps in chunks, no DDS header
- Versions
- 1, 2, 3, 7 and 8
Opens in every browser
No browser opens a BA2: they download it. Filepeek opens it as a folder in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.
- YouChromeOpens through Filepeek
- YouEdgeOpens through Filepeek
- YouFirefoxOpens through Filepeek
- YouSafariOpens through Filepeek
Apps that open BA2
- WindowsBSA Browser and Bethesda Archive Extractor • The Creation Kit's Archive2
- MacNo app built in opens it
- iPhone and iPadNo app opens it
- AndroidNo app opens it
Questions
Why does my mod come with two BA2 files?
The Creation Kit packs textures apart from everything else, since a texture archive keeps them in a form of its own. MyMod - Main.ba2 holds the meshes, sounds and scripts, and MyMod - Textures.ba2 the textures. The game loads both with the plugin.
Why can't my tools open Fallout 4's archives since its update?
Fallout 4's next-gen update of 2024 saved the game's archives as versions 7 and 8, which tools made before it refuse. Update the tool, or open them here, since Filepeek reads every version.
Can I turn the textures into PNG?
Yes. Pick a texture to open it in the image viewer, then choose Export, then Save as PNG or JPEG.