Free online SOR to TXT converter

What the SOR format is

SOR is the Bellcore/Telcordia Standard OTDR Record format, commonly used to store optical time-domain reflectometer measurements. An SOR file can contain the fiber trace, launch and receive settings, wavelength, pulse width, range, event locations, splice loss, reflectance, attenuation, and instrument metadata.

OTDRs and analysis applications from manufacturers such as EXFO, VIAVI, Fluke Networks, Anritsu, and Yokogawa create or read SOR records. The format is binary and structured, so opening it in a basic editor normally shows unreadable characters rather than the measurement report.

What the TXT format is

TXT is an unformatted plain-text file containing characters, lines, and optional delimiters such as tabs or commas. It opens in Notepad, TextEdit, command-line tools, spreadsheets, database importers, and document-management systems without requiring an OTDR application.

TXT is useful for searching measurements, copying event tables into reports, processing values with scripts, and storing a small human-readable extract. It does not preserve the graphical trace, proprietary viewer layout, interactive markers, or every binary element of the SOR record.

How to convert SOR to TXT

Using the online converter

1. Open the SOR conversion tool on 101convert.com; the service can be used free without installing software.
2. Choose or drop the .sor file into the upload area.
3. Select TXT as the output format and start the conversion.
4. Download the generated .txt file, then open it in a text editor and verify that the expected measurement fields and event records are present.

Using the instrument manufacturer's software

For files containing sensitive network information or for conversions requiring vendor-specific fields, open the SOR record in a compatible OTDR application such as EXFO FastReporter, VIAVI FiberTrace, or the viewer supplied with the instrument. The exact commands differ by version, but the usual workflow is File → Open, select measurement.sor, then use File → Export, Report → Export, or Save as and choose a text, CSV, or ASCII output option. If the program offers CSV rather than TXT, save the CSV and rename it only when the receiving system accepts delimited plain text; changing the extension alone does not convert the data.

Quality and compatibility limits

The result depends on the SOR sections supported by the converter. A TXT export may include metadata and event tables but omit the trace samples, custom annotations, pass/fail thresholds, or manufacturer-specific extensions. Check wavelength, distance units, reference settings, and decimal separators before using exported values in a test report.

Keep the original SOR file as the authoritative record. TXT has no standard schema, so one application may use tab-separated columns while another produces labeled lines; automated processing should inspect the output structure before importing it. Use UTF-8 when selecting an encoding unless the receiving system requires a different character set.