Select a table, view or procedure on the left.
Database objects
Univik Online MDF Viewer
100% private. Runs only on your device
Open an .mdf database file without SQL Server, SSMS or any install. Tables, rows, views and stored procedures, read on your own device. Nothing is uploaded.
Or pick it from your device. The database opens in this tab on your own computer, phone or tablet. Add the .ndf files of a multi file database in the same pick.
Other online MDF viewers upload your file to a server, attach it to a SQL Server instance there and send the results back. This one is a single web page. When you pick an .mdf file, your browser reads its 8 KB pages straight from your disk, reads the system catalog and decodes the rows itself.
No upload, no account and no server. Open the page, go offline and it still works. Safe for customer databases, HR and finance tables and database evidence in a case.
The file is opened read only and never attached, so a version mismatch, a missing log file or a database that refuses to attach does not stop you from looking inside it.
This viewer opens and reads any table right here. Saving or exporting the data is a job for the Univik MDF Converter. It writes every table to CSV, Excel, a SQL script with INSERT statements, Access, MySQL, PostgreSQL or SQLite.
Short answer: this tool opens SQL Server .mdf files on Windows, Mac, Linux, Chromebook, iPhone, iPad and Android in any modern browser. No SQL Server, SQL Server Express, LocalDB or Management Studio is needed and nothing is uploaded.
Edge, Chrome or Firefox on Windows 11, Windows 10 or an older PC. No SQL Server Express install, no attach and no change of file ownership. The file stays exactly as it is.
Safari or Chrome on macOS opens the file directly. No Docker container, no SQL Server for Linux and no Azure Data Studio to read a few tables.
Firefox or Chromium on any distribution. A database copied off a Windows server can be checked on a Linux workstation without installing mssql-server.
ChromeOS cannot run SQL Server at all, so this page is the way to read a data file from the Files app or Google Drive.
Save the file to the Files app, open this page in Safari and tap Choose. Small and medium databases open on a phone; on an iPad the table list and the grid sit side by side.
Chrome, Samsung Internet or Firefox picks the file from Downloads or Drive and decodes it on the phone. Nothing leaves the device.
The viewer reads the SQL Server data file format directly, page by page, the same way the database engine does. It was built from the same reader that powers the Univik MDF Converter.
Heaps and clustered tables with int, bigint, decimal, money, float, bit, char, varchar, nvarchar, text, ntext, xml, date, time, datetime2, datetimeoffset, uniqueidentifier, binary, varbinary, image, sql_variant, hierarchyid and spatial points. Sparse and computed columns are handled too.
Tables compressed with ROW or PAGE compression are expanded in the browser, including prefix and dictionary compression, vardecimal numbers and Unicode compression (SCSU) of nvarchar values.
varchar(max), nvarchar(max), varbinary(max), text, ntext and image values stored on separate LOB pages are read back in full, so long notes, documents and pictures come out whole.
The Columns tab shows every column, its data type and the primary key. The Script tab rebuilds the CREATE TABLE with its indexes, primary keys, foreign keys and check constraints, plus the T-SQL of views, stored procedures, functions and triggers. Objects created WITH ENCRYPTION are listed and marked as encrypted.
char, varchar and text columns are decoded through their own collation, so Turkish, Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, Thai, Japanese, Chinese and Korean code pages read correctly. Unicode columns show every script. UTF-8 collations of SQL Server 2019 and later are supported.
Pick the .mdf together with its .ndf files and tables spread across filegroups are read complete. Files of many gigabytes are read in pages, not loaded into memory, so a 20 GB database opens on a laptop. Torn page bits from older databases are restored before decoding.
Drag the .mdf file onto the box at the top or click Choose .mdf files. For a database with secondary files select the .mdf and its .ndf files together, or use Select a folder.
Tables, views, procedures and functions appear on the left with their row counts. Click a table to see its rows in the grid. Switch to the Text tab for a fixed width listing, or open Columns and Script for the definition.
The online viewer is read-only. To export the data, use the Univik MDF Converter. It writes a table or the whole database to CSV, Excel, .sql, Access, MySQL, PostgreSQL or SQLite.
An .mdf file is the primary data file of a Microsoft SQL Server database. It reaches you in a few common ways and the viewer handles all of them.
A database detached from a server, or an .mdf copied out of C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL16.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA. The matching .ldf log file is not needed to read the data pages.
Accounting, POS, ERP and CRM programs that came with SQL Server 2000, 2005 or 2008 Express. When the program is gone the data is still in the .mdf, and the viewer reads those older page formats.
An .mdf in an App_Data folder or a LocalDB instance. Open it here to check tables without attaching it to a running instance or fixing a version conflict.
Databases with several filegroups keep tables in .ndf secondary files. Select the .mdf with its .ndf files together and every table is read in full, even when it is stored entirely in a secondary file.
Files copied off a failing disk or an old backup often still hold intact data pages. The viewer reads what the catalog can locate. For deep recovery of dropped tables, damaged headers and torn catalogs use the desktop Univik MDF Converter.
A .bak backup is a different format, a Microsoft Tape Format container around the data pages. Restore it first, or open the .bak directly in the Univik MDF Converter, which reads backups, transaction logs and data files.
Univik makes both. Use this online page for a quick look at any database on any computer. Use the Univik MDF Converter when you need every table converted, a .bak or .ldf file opened, or dropped and damaged data recovered.
| Feature | Online MDF Viewer | Univik MDF Converter |
|---|---|---|
| Install needed | None, opens in the browser | Windows setup |
| Operating system | Windows, Mac, Linux, Chromebook, iOS, Android | Windows 7 to 11 and Server |
| SQL Server needed | No | No |
| Files uploaded | Never, runs on your device | Never, runs on your PC |
| File types | .mdf and .ndf | .mdf, .ndf, .bak, .trn and .ldf |
| Row and page compression | Yes | Yes |
| Save / export records | Read only, opens and reads the tables | Every table to CSV, Excel, SQL, Access, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite and more |
| Deleted and dropped data | Ghost rows still on the page | Dropped tables, deleted rows, damaged catalogs |
| Transaction log analysis | No | Yes, who changed what and when |
| Price | Free | Free trial, paid license |
Direct answers about opening SQL Server data files in a browser without SQL Server, on any device.
An .mdf file is the primary data file of a Microsoft SQL Server database. It holds the tables, rows, indexes and the whole schema in 8 KB pages. A database can also have .ndf secondary data files and an .ldf log file. This online MDF viewer reads the .mdf and any .ndf files and shows the tables and rows in your browser.
Yes. The online MDF viewer is free, with no sign up, no registration and no watermark. Open the page and read your database. Saving or exporting the records to CSV, Excel or a SQL script is done by the desktop Univik MDF Converter, which is a paid tool.
No. This page contains the whole viewer. Your browser reads the file from your device in 8 KB pages and decodes the rows itself. There is no server involved and the page keeps working with the internet switched off. The file is opened read only and is never changed.
Yes. Drop the .mdf file into the box at the top and the table list appears. You do not need SQL Server, SQL Server Express, LocalDB, SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or any install. The viewer reads the system catalog inside the file to find the tables, then decodes the data pages directly.
SQL Server 2000, 2005, 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2025, including Express and LocalDB editions. The version, database name, collation and checkpoint are read from the boot page and shown in the Info tab. Older files with torn page detection have their sector bits restored before decoding.
Yes. ROW compression stores numbers in as few bytes as possible and PAGE compression adds column prefixes and a page dictionary on top. The viewer reverses all three stages and also decodes the SCSU form that compressed nvarchar values use. Columnstore indexes are not shown.
Yes. The file is not loaded into memory. One pass reads the page headers to map every table, then rows are decoded only for the table you open and only as far as you scroll. A 20 GB data file opens on an ordinary laptop. On a phone stay under a few gigabytes.
Select the .mdf and all of its .ndf files in one pick, or use Select a folder. The viewer reads each file's own file id from its page headers, so the order does not matter. The Info tab lists every file the database expects, which tells you if one is missing.
The count next to each table comes from the catalog, the same number sys.partitions reports, and SQL Server does not always keep it exact after deletes. Once you scroll to the end of a table the viewer shows the number of rows it actually decoded. Rows deleted but not yet cleaned off the page are shown as deleted records with the Deleted rows switch.
Yes. Turn on the Deleted rows switch and the viewer lists rows that were deleted but still sit on the data pages as ghost records. It is a quick way to view deleted records before SQL Server overwrites them. For deep recovery of dropped tables and columns use the desktop Univik MDF Converter.
Often, yes. A database that SQL Server refuses to attach, or an orphaned .mdf with no log file, usually still has readable pages. The viewer skips damaged rows instead of stopping. When the boot page or the system catalog itself is destroyed the viewer cannot find the tables. That is the job of the desktop Univik MDF Converter, which pulls tables and columns out of the surviving pages.
It is as safe as your own computer, because the file never leaves it. The viewer never writes to the file, never attaches it and changes no header. Page numbers and slot numbers are shown for every row so a value can be traced back to its place in the file. For reports, hashing and bulk export use the desktop converter.
No. The page is the app. There is no browser extension, no plugin and no setup. Bookmark it and come back whenever you need to look inside a SQL Server data file.
Free, private and nothing to install. Your database stays on your device.
Choose an .mdf fileThis online viewer opens and reads your MDF file right here in the browser. Saving and exporting the records is a job for the desktop Univik MDF Converter. It writes every table to CSV, Excel, a SQL script, Access, MySQL, PostgreSQL or SQLite.
One‑time desktop licence · keeps your data on your own machine