File Extension Guide📖 What is a QBW File?
QBW files are where QuickBooks Desktop stores a company. Customers, vendors, accounts, items and every transaction sit in one place. Intuit's File types and extensions used by QuickBooks Desktop says QuickBooks creates a .qbw when you create a company.
The extension belongs to QuickBooks for Windows. Intuit lists the company files of QuickBooks for Mac as QB2016 and QB2019, so a Mac company does not end in .qbw. A .qbw is also not the backup. When you back up a company, QuickBooks writes a .qbb that restores into a new .qbw, as Intuit's Restore a backup of your company file describes.
One rule to remember
Copy the .qbw to a local folder before you open it anywhere else. Work on that copy. The original stays as it was.
🔎 Which QuickBooks Format Do I Have?
The extension tells you what you hold. Find yours among the four cards below.
.qbw files
The live company of QuickBooks Desktop. Intuit calls it the QuickBooks Company file.
YourCompany.QBW.qbb files
A backup that QuickBooks makes from a company. It restores into a new .qbw. Read more in the QBB file guide.
YourCompany.QBB.qbm files
A compressed copy of a company for email or moving. Univik software does not read .qbm.
YourCompany.QBM.qbx and .qba files
Intuit names .qbx the Accountant's Review Copy / Transfer file and .qba the Accountant's Copy file.
YourCompany.QBX🗂️ What Sits Beside a QBW File?
QuickBooks keeps two helpers around a company. Intuit describes both in its article on extensions. Neither one holds your lists or transactions.
| File | Intuit name | What it does |
|---|---|---|
.TLG | Transaction Log file | Keeps track of changes to the company since your last backup. The log resets at your next backup. |
.ND | Network Data file | QuickBooks creates it when you start using Multi-user mode. |
A company that works in Multi-user mode therefore shows an .nd next to the .qbw.
🧱 What is Inside a QBW File?
A .qbw is a database, so Excel cannot read it. In the QuickBooks Desktop 2019 and 2024 companies Univik checked, the database is SQL Anywhere. The 2024 sample is 53 MB and holds 310 tables with 145,103 records. Other versions hold 271 tables and up.
These are the lists that Univik software shows for the 2024 sample.
| List | Records in the sample |
|---|---|
| Customers & Jobs | 146 |
| Vendors | 54 |
| Chart of Accounts | 116 |
| Items | 90 |
| Invoices | 113 |
| Bills | 197 |
| Checks | 232 |
The database stores its data in 4096-byte pages. The last four bytes of every page hold a check value, so a reader can tell a damaged page from a good one. Vendor tax IDs, account and card numbers and employee SSNs are stored encrypted. The sample held 19 such fields. They open only with the QuickBooks Admin password.
A .qbw can also hold older rows that QuickBooks no longer shows. The sample held 1,891 rows that may be deleted entries or earlier versions. Univik marks them unverified and lists them in QuickBooks forensics software.
“A .qbw looks like one block, but it is a database. In the 2024 sample every list and every invoice sat inside, 145,103 records in all. Make a copy before you do anything else.”
📂 How Do You Open a QBW File?
QuickBooks Desktop opens it from File > Open or Restore Company. A PC without QuickBooks has no such menu, so Windows asks which app should open it.
Univik QBooks Recovery reads a .qbw with no QuickBooks on the PC. Copy it to a local folder and press Select QuickBooks File. A company with protected fields asks for the QuickBooks Admin password. Skip loads everything else. The lists and transactions then show on screen, as the QuickBooks file viewer guide explains. The original is only read and stays unchanged.
🛠️ What if a QBW Will Not Open?
Intuit's Fix data damage on QuickBooks Desktop company file puts Rebuild Data and Verify Data in the Utilities menu. It names QuickBooks File Doctor as the next step. These tools need QuickBooks and change the damaged company itself.
Univik tested a different route. Its software read a 2024 company after 40 pages were corrupted and still recovered 144,860 of 145,103 records. A copy cut to 80 percent of its size gave 121,495 records. Every row from a damaged page carried a warning mark. The QuickBooks data recovery software page shows the full test.
⚔️ How Do QuickBooks Files Compare?
| File | What it holds | Made when you | Opens in |
|---|---|---|---|
| .qbw | One company: lists, transactions and settings | Create a company | QuickBooks Desktop or data software |
| .qbb | A backup of the company | Back up the company | QuickBooks restore or data software |
| .qbm | A compressed copy for email or moving | Create a portable copy | QuickBooks Desktop |
| .qbx | A backup for your accountant | Back up for your accountant | QuickBooks Desktop |
| .tlg | Changes since your last backup | Work in QuickBooks | QuickBooks Desktop |
Rows follow Intuit's file types article, read on 11 November 2026.
❓ QBW File Questions
It is the company of QuickBooks Desktop. Intuit calls it the QuickBooks Company file. One .qbw holds the lists, transactions and settings of one company. In the 2019 and 2024 companies Univik checked, it is a SQL Anywhere database.
QuickBooks Desktop opens it from File > Open or Restore Company. Univik QBooks Recovery also reads a .qbw on a Windows PC with no QuickBooks installed and does not change it.
Yes. Data software that understands the format can read it. Univik QBooks Recovery shows the lists, transactions and reports of a .qbw on screen. Copy it first and select the copy.
Not directly. A .qbw is a database and Excel cannot read it. Data software can read it first and save the lists as an Excel workbook.
A .qbw is the live company. A .qbb is a backup that QuickBooks makes from it. Restoring a .qbb in QuickBooks creates a new .qbw, as Intuit explains.
Intuit calls it the Transaction Log file. It keeps track of changes since your last backup and resets at your next backup.
Intuit calls it the Network Data file. QuickBooks creates it when you start using Multi-user mode.
Yes. QuickBooks data converter software saves the lists and transactions as Excel, CSV or HTML. A .iif for QuickBooks Desktop is also possible. A trial export holds 25 items per list.
QuickBooks may be missing or the data may be damaged. Intuit suggests Rebuild Data and Verify Data in the Utilities menu. Univik software can still read rows from a damaged company and marks the ones it took from damaged pages.
No. Intuit lists QB2016 and QB2019 as the company files of QuickBooks for Mac. Univik has not tested Mac data and does not support it.
📝 QBW Files in Summary
- .qbw is the QuickBooks Desktop company file
- .qbb is the backup that restores into a new .qbw
- .tlg logs changes since your last backup
- .nd appears when you use Multi-user mode
- A .qbw is a database, not a spreadsheet
- Protected fields need the Admin password
- Work on a copy of it
- Find Rebuild Data and Verify Data in the Utilities menu
Open a QBW file without QuickBooks: Univik QBooks Recovery →
Guide review: Nick Rogers Univik founder
Checked 11 Nov 2026
Nick Rogers read this guide and approved it on 11 November 2026. Facts about QuickBooks come from the Intuit help articles linked where they first appear. The structure facts and counts come from Univik's own reading of QuickBooks Desktop 2019 and 2024 company files.
QuickBooks and Intuit are trademarks of Intuit Inc. Univik has no tie to Intuit.