Open NFO files in your browser
The info file that comes with a release, its logo drawn in DOS's characters. Read one right here with its art as it was drawn. Nothing leaves your device.
Or drop it anywhere on this page
What you'll see
Your NFO opens in DOS's characters, unwrapped, its art's blocks and lines touching as drawn.
- DOS's code page 437 • Blocks, shades and lines
- Unwrapped, as drawn • Wrap it when you like
- Search • Every match counted and marked
- Line numbers • Files of any size
About NFO
NFO, short for info, is the text file release groups have put beside their releases since the 1990s: a logo in ASCII art, what the release is, how to install it and the group's greetings. Releases of software, music and books still carry one, and BBSs and FTP sites read a short FILE_ID.DIZ from each file for their file lists.
An NFO is plain text in DOS's code page 437, not Windows' or Unicode's: its art is made of CP437's blocks, shades and line drawing, at 80 columns or less. Opened as Windows text, those bytes turn into accented letters and the art falls apart. Windows' System Information saves its reports as .nfo files too, in XML.
Filepeek reads NFO and DIZ files as CP437 and shows them in the text viewer as drawn: unwrapped, with rows close enough for the blocks to touch. Search finds any word, and the text copies as Unicode. A System Information report opens as a tree of its categories and values.
Release info file
.nfo • .diz
Format
- MIME type
- text/plain
- Made by
- Release groups
Inside the file
- Text
- DOS's code page 437
- Art
- Blocks, shades and line drawing
- Width
- 80 columns or less
- Holds
- What it is, how to install it
Opens in every browser
Filepeek shows NFO files in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari. On their own, browsers download them or show their art garbled.
- YouChromeOpens through Filepeek
- YouEdgeOpens through Filepeek
- YouFirefoxOpens through Filepeek
- YouSafariOpens through Filepeek
Apps that open NFO
- WindowsNotepad, with its art garbled • NFO viewers show it as drawn
- MacTextEdit, with its art garbled
- iPhone and iPadNo app shows its art
- AndroidText editors, with its art garbled
Questions
Why does my NFO file look garbled in Notepad?
Notepad reads it as Windows text, so the blocks and lines of its art turn into accented letters. Filepeek reads it in DOS's code page 437, which it was written in, so the art shows as drawn.
What's a FILE_ID.DIZ?
A short description of a file, in the same DOS characters, that BBSs and FTP sites read into their file lists. It opens here the same way.
My .nfo is from System Information. Does it open?
Yes. Windows' System Information saves its reports as .nfo files in XML, and Filepeek opens one as a tree of its categories, items and values.
Is it safe to open an NFO file?
Yes. It's only text, and Filepeek shows it as text.