Open REG files in your browser
The file Registry Editor exports and merges, keys and values as text. Look through one right here, every value decoded, before it touches your registry. Nothing leaves your device.
Or drop it anywhere on this page
What you'll see
Your registry file opens as a tree of the keys it sets, nested by their path, on a page as wide as a book.
- Keys and values • Each value's type
- Hex decoded • Text, lists and numbers
- What it deletes, marked
- Search keys, names and values • Every match counted
About REG
Registry Editor, built into Windows, exports a key and everything under it as a .reg file, and a double-click merges one back into the registry. Programs, tweak guides and IT departments share settings this way, from turning one feature off to a whole app's configuration.
A .reg file is text: a first line, Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 in UTF-16 since Windows 2000 or REGEDIT4 in Windows 95's code page, then a [key] line for each key and a "name"=value line for each value under it. Text is quoted, a DWORD is dword: and eight hex digits, and every other type is hex(n): and its bytes, which can run over many lines. [-key] and "name"=- delete what they name.
Filepeek opens a .reg file as a tree of the keys nested by their path, each value with its type: expandable strings and lists of strings decoded from their hex into their text, DWORDs and QWORDs as numbers with their hex beside them, and the keys and values it deletes marked. Search finds any key, name or value, and nothing is merged into any registry.
Windows registry file
.reg
Format
- MIME type
- text/x-ms-regedit
- Made by
- Microsoft
- Released
- 1995
Inside the file
- Holds
- Keys and the values they set
- First line
- Version 5.00 or REGEDIT4
- Values
- Text, numbers, lists and bytes
- Markup
- Plain text, UTF-16 or ANSI
Opens in every browser
Filepeek opens REG files in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, on any computer or phone. On their own, browsers only download them.
- YouChromeOpens through Filepeek
- YouEdgeOpens through Filepeek
- YouFirefoxOpens through Filepeek
- YouSafariOpens through Filepeek
Apps that open REG
- WindowsRegistry Editor, built in, merges it • Notepad shows its text
- MacTextEdit shows its text
- iPhone and iPadNo app opens it
- AndroidText editors show its text
Questions
Is it safe to open a .reg file?
Here, yes: Filepeek only reads it and no registry changes. On Windows a double-click merges it into your registry, so look through what it sets and deletes here first.
What will merging it change?
Every key and value in its tree is something merging it sets. Those marked Deleted come from [-key] lines, which remove a key with everything under it, and from values set to -.
Why does Notepad show hex(2) and hex(7) instead of text?
Registry Editor writes expandable strings, lists of strings and other types as their bytes. Filepeek decodes them back into their text, and a list of strings into a list.
Can I read it as text?
Yes. Choose Text by the tree for the file as it is, in UTF-8 whatever it was saved in.