Open ESP files in your browser
The plugin a mod for Skyrim, Fallout or Oblivion adds to the game. Open one right here to see what game it's for, what masters it needs and every record it adds or changes. Nothing leaves your device.
Or drop it anywhere on this page
What you'll see
Your file opens as a tree, its first levels unfolded on a page as wide as a book.
- Fold and unfold • Files of any size
- Search keys and values • Every match counted
- Tree, Table or Text • Show shape
- Export • Save in another form, or just a part
About ESP
Bethesda's games keep their worlds in plugins: the game's own masters (.esm), like Skyrim.esm, the plugins mods add (.esp), and from Skyrim Special Edition and Fallout 4 on light plugins (.esl). A plugin adds records or changes those of the masters it names, and the load order says which change wins.
A plugin starts with a TES4 record, TES3 in Morrowind's, holding its author, description and masters. Then come groups of records, each with its type, like WEAP for a weapon, its flags and FormID, holding subrecords, like EDID for its editor ID. A record's flag can say it's packed with zlib, and a localized plugin keeps its names in STRINGS files.
Filepeek reads every group and record into a tree: each record by its type, FormID and editor ID, its subrecords as text or bytes, and packed records unpacked. The top names the game, the version, the masters, the author and how many records it holds, and a record that changes a master's says whose.
Bethesda plugin
.esp • .esm • .esl
Format
- MIME type
- application/octet-stream
- Made by
- Bethesda Game Studios
Inside the file
- Header
- TES4, or TES3 in Morrowind's
- Records
- In groups, by type and FormID
- Packing
- zlib, record by record
- Games
- Morrowind to Fallout 4
Opens in every browser
Filepeek opens a plugin as a tree in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari. On their own, browsers only download it.
- YouChromeOpens through Filepeek
- YouEdgeOpens through Filepeek
- YouFirefoxOpens through Filepeek
- YouSafariOpens through Filepeek
Apps that open ESP
- WindowsCreation Kit • xEdit
- MacNo app opens it
- iPhone and iPadNo app opens it
- AndroidNo app opens it
Questions
What's the difference between ESP, ESM and ESL?
An ESM is a master other plugins build on, like the game's own Skyrim.esm. An ESP is a plugin, and an ESL a light plugin, which takes none of the 254 places a load order has. A flag in its header can make an ESP load as a master or a light plugin too.
Which masters does a plugin need?
Its header names them, in the order its FormIDs count them. Filepeek lists them at the top, and a mod manager won't load the plugin without them.
Why do some names say In its STRINGS files?
A localized plugin, like the game's own masters, keeps its names and descriptions in .strings files for each language, and only their numbers in the plugin.