Open Skype files in your browser
Your Skype chat history, as Skype's export page saved it, read back as your conversations. Open it right here, with the photos shared in them. Nothing leaves your device.
Or drop it anywhere on this page
What you'll see
Your chat opens as its conversation, each message in a bubble in its sender's color, with the days, replies, reactions and calls, and the photos and voice notes the export holds.
- Every conversation • Each person in a color of their own
- Search • Every match counted, and a date jumps to its day
- Stats • Who wrote how much, by hour, weekday and month
- Export • Save as PDF, CSV or text
About Skype
Skype let anyone download their chat history from its export page, and since Microsoft closed Skype on 5 May 2025, those downloads are all that's left of years of conversations. The export is a TAR named after the account, holding messages.json and, when Files was picked too, the photos and files shared in chats in its media folder.
messages.json keeps every conversation in one file, each message's text in Skype's own markup, with quotes, shared files, calls and emoticons as tags. Skype never read its exports back, and anywhere else the file reads as code.
Filepeek reads the TAR, or messages.json on its own, into your conversations as bubbles, each person in a color. Quotes, shared files, calls, reactions, edits and a group's changes read as words, and emoticons as emoji. Photos open from the export, Search counts every match, Stats shows who wrote how much and when, and Export saves the chat as PDF, CSV or text.
Skype chat export
.tar • .json
Format
- MIME type
- application/x-tar
- Made by
- Skype's export page
Inside the file
- Format
- JSON in a TAR
- Media
- In media, when Files was picked
- Holds
- Every conversation of an account
- Written by
- Skype's export page
Opens in every browser
Filepeek opens Skype exports in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, however long the history. On their own, browsers only download the TAR and show messages.json as code.
- YouChromeOpens through Filepeek
- YouEdgeOpens through Filepeek
- YouFirefoxOpens through Filepeek
- YouSafariOpens through Filepeek
Apps that open Skype
- WindowsSkype wrote it • No app reads it back
- MacSkype wrote it • No app reads it back
- iPhone and iPadNo app opens it
- AndroidNo app opens it
Questions
How do I open my Skype export?
Drop the TAR you downloaded, named like 8_live_yourname_export.tar, on this page. It needs no unpacking first, and messages.json on its own opens too, without the photos.
Why don't my photos show?
The photos and files are only in the export when Files was picked beside Conversations. Without them, each shared file shows its name and size where it was sent.
Can I still export my Skype chats?
No. Skype closed in May 2025, and its export page with it. An export saved before then still opens here.
Can it read an old Skype's main.db?
Yes. Skype 3 to 7 kept every chat in main.db, in your account's folder under Skype in %APPDATA% on Windows or Application Support on a Mac. Drop it here, and its conversations open with their calls and files.
Can I turn my Skype chats into a PDF?
Yes. Open a conversation, choose Export, then Save as PDF. CSV and text are there too, for a spreadsheet or a plain copy.