Free online DBF to MDB converter

Legacy accounting, GIS, inventory, and dBASE applications often export tables as DBF, while older Microsoft Access or Windows software may require an MDB database. Converting the file makes the records available in Access for queries, editing, and storage with other Access objects.

What the DBF format is

DBF is a table format used by dBASE and compatible systems such as FoxPro and Clipper. It stores rows and typed fields, including character, numeric, date, logical, and memo data, and remains common in older accounting, inventory, cadastral, and GIS applications.

Some DBF variants store memo or long-text values in a companion file, usually .dbt or .fpt. Keep the matching companion file in the same folder as the DBF during import; without it, memo contents may be missing.

What the MDB format is

MDB is the Microsoft Access 2000–2003 database format used by the Jet database engine. Unlike a DBF, which normally represents one table, an MDB file can contain multiple tables, indexes, queries, relationships, forms, reports, macros, and Access-specific metadata.

MDB is appropriate when the destination application requires an older Access file, when users need Access queries and forms, or when several imported DBF tables must be stored in one database. Newer Access versions normally use ACCDB, but they can create MDB files for compatibility.

How to convert the file with Microsoft Access

1. Make a backup of the DBF and place any matching .dbt or .fpt file beside it.
2. Open Microsoft Access for Windows and create a blank database. In Access 2007 or later, use File → New → Blank database.
3. Choose External Data → New Data Source → From File → dBase File, then select the DBF.
4. Choose Import the source data into a new table in the current database. Review the detected field names and data types, and set a primary key if the table has a suitable unique field.
5. Open the imported table and verify record counts, dates, decimal values, nulls, memo fields, logical values, and non-ASCII characters.
6. Save the database as MDB. In Access 2007 or later, choose File → Save As → Access 2002–2003 Database (*.mdb).

Microsoft Access is a Windows application and has no native macOS version. On a Mac, run Access in Windows through a virtual machine or use a separate Windows computer; the conversion can also be performed on 101convert.com without installing software. Do not upload confidential database contents unless the service is suitable for that data.

Quality and compatibility limits

The import transfers the DBF table and available field values, not the original application. FoxPro or dBASE indexes, validation rules, stored procedures, forms, reports, menus, and relationships must be recreated in Access. A DBF collection containing several related tables requires a separate import for each table and manual relationship setup.

Access may map DBF types differently, shorten or alter field definitions, reject unsupported values, or infer an identifier containing leading zeros as a number. Check identifiers, date formats, decimal precision, deleted-record handling, memo text, and character encoding. Older DBF files often use a regional code page rather than Unicode, so accented or non-Latin characters may need correction after import.

An MDB file has an approximately 2 GB maximum size, including its database objects and overhead. Split very large imports or use a newer database format when the resulting database may exceed that limit.