Open BSA files in your browser
The archive Bethesda's games keep their data in, from Morrowind to Skyrim Special Edition, 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 BSA
Bethesda Game Studios' games keep their meshes, textures, sounds, scripts and menus in BSA archives: Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Skyrim and Skyrim Special Edition. A mod often comes with a BSA named after its plugin, which the game loads with it.
A BSA lists its folders and their files by hashes of their names, then the names themselves. Each file is stored as it is or packed, with zlib up to Skyrim and with LZ4 in Skyrim Special Edition, and from Fallout 3 on a file can keep its path just before its bytes.
Filepeek reads those lists and shows the files like a folder, with a page naming the game its version is for and counting what it holds. A file is unpacked only when it's picked: DDS textures open as pictures, xWMA music and WAV sounds play, and scripts' sources and settings open as text.
Bethesda Softworks Archive
.bsa
Format
- MIME type
- application/octet-stream
- Made by
- Bethesda Game Studios
- Released
- 2002
Inside the file
- Versions
- Morrowind's, then 103, 104 and 105
- Packing
- zlib, or LZ4 from Skyrim Special Edition
- Lists
- Folders and files by name hashes
- Holds
- Meshes, textures, sounds and scripts
Opens in every browser
No browser opens a BSA: 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 BSA
- WindowsBSA Browser and Bethesda Archive Extractor • The Creation Kit's Archive tool
- MacNo app built in opens it
- iPhone and iPadNo app opens it
- AndroidNo app opens it
Questions
Why won't Skyrim Special Edition read my old BSA?
Skyrim Special Edition reads version 105, packed with LZ4, and the original Skyrim's are version 104, packed with zlib, so an archive made for one shows missing meshes or crashes the other. The page here says which version yours is. Pack its files again for the game that loads it, with the Creation Kit's Archive tool or Cathedral Assets Optimizer.
Why does the game ignore my BSA?
The game loads a BSA named after a plugin it loads, like MyMod.bsa or MyMod - Textures.bsa beside MyMod.esp, or one its INI lists. Rename it after its plugin, or add it to the archive list in the game's INI, which Morrowind always needs.
Can I see the textures inside?
Yes. DDS textures open in the image viewer, where Export saves them as PNG or JPEG.