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MBOX File Extension

A Plain Text File!


A Brief Information about what is .mbox File Extension?

MBOX extension is a plain text file which holds the email messages as 7-bit ASCII text and the attachments are stored in encoded format.

Generally MBOX file is used for storing or organizing messages in a single text file which also stands for MailBox.

The starting of each message is specified by "From" tracked by a white space character and end of each message is specified with a blank line.

MBOX Family contains four Common Variants

  • mboxo:

    It is main Mbox format which uses the constant string "???@???" in place of sender's e-mail address.

  • mboxrd:

    It is variation of mboxo mailbox format.

  • mboxcl:

    It is the mailbox format used by Unix 'System V' mailboxes.

  • mboxcl2:

    "mboxcl2" mailbox format is similar to mboxcl.

Application Category

Database Files

MIME Type

text/x-mailbox

Technical Specifications

File Signature Details

Hexadecimal Signature 00 0D BB A0

Default Storage Locations

Default location is /User/Library/Mail/Mailboxes/directory, but varies by client:

  • Apple Mail: /User/Library/Mail/[account]/INBOX.mbox/Messages/
  • Mozilla Thunderbird: C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\
  • Entourage 2008: C/Users/user_name/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2008 Identities/Main Identity
  • The Bat: C:\Users\\App Data\Roaming\The Bat\Mail\profile folder
  • PocoMail: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\PocoMail\Mail.
  • Mulberry: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Cyrusoft\Mulberry\Mailboxes
  • Evolution Mail: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\.evolution\mail'
  • SeaMonkey: C:\Documents and settings\Administrator\ApplicationData\Mozilla\SeaMonkey\Profiles\nz8lvw59.default\Mail.
  • Netscape: C:\Documents and settings\Administrator\ApplicationData\Mozilla\Profiles\default\2yv6fh2e.slt\Mail.
  • Opera Mail: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data\Opera\Opera\mail\store\account1

Applications Supported

Supported by 20+ desktop mail clients including:

Mozilla Thunderbird
Entourage
Evolution
AppleMail
Eudora
Mulberry
Spicebird
SeaMonkey
Pocomail
Sylpheed
Netscape
Cone
Mutt
OperaMail
Gnu Mail

How to Open and View MBOX file

The MBOX or MBOXO or MBOXRD are types of Mail Box files that are used by various open source softwares. Hence, this file extension can be opened using all these applications that generate MBOX file. For Example, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, Evolution, SeaMonkey and more.

Tools that Open MBOX File Extension

SysTools MBOX Viewer

Specialized MBOX Utility


Official Tool View Tool

Freeviewer MBOX Viewer

Free MBOX Reader


Free Tool Read More
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