MSG to EML Converter Software: Free Download for Windows

How to download and use MSG to EML Converter Software

1. Load your .MSG and .EML files

Use Add Files, Add Folder, or drag-and-drop. Add Folder walks subfolders too, so the top of an export tree is enough to point at.

2. Set header and body options

On the Convert tab, name output files by mail subject or by the source file name. Keep the original message headers is on by default and copies the stored Received, DKIM and Message-ID block when the message carries one. Decode RTF message body is on by default and rescues RTF-only Outlook mail that other tools reject.

3. Start the batch and read the summary

Progress shows N of M with the current file name. Stop finishes that file instead of killing the worker thread. Read the summary before you close the window.

Why Not Just Rename the File?

Renaming .MSG to .EML is the first thing people try, and it is the reason attachments go missing. A .MSG file is a compound binary container built around MAPI properties. Rename it and your mail client gets a binary noise, not a message.

A Real Conversion Pays Off Later

What MSG to EML Converter Software changes once the mail is in .EML:

Confidential mail never leaves your computer.
Nothing to log into. The MSG to EML Converter opens files that already sit on the disk, not a mailbox on a server.
Plain text archives can be opened years later without a proprietary reader.
A migration turns into one import instead of a pile of manual saves.
One file in, one file out. You can count the output against the input.

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Inside the MSG to EML Converter Software

Both directions, one queue

The program checks the file signature, not the extension, and labels every row in the list. Mix .MSG and .EML in the same run and each file goes the right way. That covers the EML to MSG converter download case without a second tool.

The full header block

When a message carries its stored internet headers, the whole Received chain moves into the .EML, DKIM-Signature and Authentication-Results lines included. Mail that travelled through SMTP usually carries them. The signature will not verify afterwards, though. The body gets repacked, so the body hash no longer matches. When the property is missing, headers are rebuilt from the MAPI fields instead.

Every recipient, not just the first

To, Cc and Bcc are parsed in full, along with Date, Message-ID, References, In-Reply-To, Return-Path, so the threading fields travel with the message. Recipients are written as standard SMTP addresses. One thing to know: Bcc recipients become visible in the .EML. That is right for an archive, so check before you pass a converted file on.

Attachments and inline pictures

Attachments come out byte for byte identical, checked with sha256 hashes in our round-trip tests. Inline pictures stay inline through multipart/related instead of being dumped at the bottom of the message as ordinary files.

Japanese and Cyrillic subjects come out right

Non-ASCII subjects and display names are written as RFC 2047 encoded-words, folded at 78 characters per line. Going the other way the encoded-word is decoded first, so the subject is stored as readable text again instead of a raw =?UTF-8?B? string.

Long queues without a frozen window

The batch runs off the interface thread and lets you continue work while a long queue grinds along. The end summary keeps converted, copied, skipped and failed apart, so a non-mail file in the folder does not read as a failure.

Who Uses an MSG to EML Converter

For IT admins running a migration

Thunderbird and most IMAP clients cannot read .MSG at all. Convert the export folder first, then feed the client one predictable file per message.

For legal and e-discovery work

Case mail has to keep its metadata. The log stores file names and sizes, never the subject line or the address book. Chain of custody has a wrinkle: when a recipient has both an Exchange and an SMTP address, the SMTP one is what lands in the .EML.

For anyone who was sent a .MSG file

A colleague mailed you an Outlook item and you have no Outlook. Convert that one file and open it in whatever mail app is already on the machine.

Formats and Where the Result Opens

Both formats work in both directions. Thunderbird opens the .EML straight away, and so do eM Client, Apple Mail and the rest of the standard clients. Runs on Windows 10 and 11.

Format	Extension	Direction	What happens
Outlook message	.MSG	Input and output	OLE compound file holding MAPI properties. Read on input, written on output.
Internet message	.EML	Input and output	Plain text per RFC 822 and RFC 5322, written with MIME parts and encoded-word headers.
Pseudo-MSG	.MSG	Input only	RFC 822 text saved under a .MSG name, common in old archives. Copied byte for byte and reported as copied, not as converted.
Non-mail file	any	Skipped	An HTML page named .MSG is reported as skipped. We do not pass it off as a converted message.

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MSG to EML Converter Software

Languages

File Size

3.5 Mb

Version

1.0

Last updated on

14/05/26

$ 2.99

🖥️ System Requirements

Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 (32/64 bit)
Intel i3, AMD Ryzen 5 or above
4 GB of RAM or above
NVIDIA® GeForce® series 8 and 8M, Intel® HD Graphics 2000, Quadro FX 4800, Quadro FX 5600, AMD Radeon™ R600, Mobility Radeon™ HD 4330, Mobility FirePro™ series, Radeon™ R5 M230 or higher graphics card with up-to-date drivers
1280 × 768 screen resolution, 32-bit color
1 GB of free hard disk space or above

🙋 Frequently Asked Questions

❓ How do I save an Outlook MSG file as EML?

Classic Outlook for Windows has no .EML option in Save As. It writes .MSG. The new Outlook and Outlook on the web can download a single message as .eml, one message at a time. For a whole folder of .MSG files, run them through this MSG to EML Converter Software: output lands in the folder you pick, one .EML per message.

❓ Are MSG and EML the same format?

No, and on disk they have nothing in common. Outlook writes .MSG as a binary container packed with MAPI properties. An .EML you can open in Notepad and read the headers straight off, which is why nearly every other mail client handles it. Going from one to the other means rebuilding the message as MIME parts.

❓ What program can open MSG files without Outlook?

Short answer: convert the file to .EML and open it in the mail client you already have. Long answer: some viewers show .MSG contents read-only, but you cannot reply or import from them. An .EML lands in Thunderbird or eM Client as a normal message you can work with.

❓ How do I batch convert MSG to EML for a whole folder?

Point Add Folder at the top of the tree. There is no fixed cap on queue size. If the output has to sort a certain way, set a Rename prefix or suffix on the Tools tab before you start.

❓ How do I convert EML to MSG in bulk?

Same MSG to EML Converter program, reverse direction. Load a folder of .EML files and each one is written as an Outlook item with the IPM.Note message class and Unicode text properties. No second download for the way back.

❓ Can I open a MSG file in Chrome?

Not really. Chrome either downloads the file or shows binary garbage, because .MSG is not a text or web format. A few browser extensions render the text, but they are viewers only. Convert it to .EML and open it in the mail client instead.

❓ Will my attachments survive the conversion?

Yes. Watch the nested case though. A mail attached inside another mail, when it carries non-ASCII text, comes out with 8bit encoding: fine for opening and archiving, less so for pushing the file back through a plain SMTP relay.

❓ What happens to Cyrillic or emoji in the subject line?

Non-ASCII subject lines come through as RFC 2047 encoded-words, which is what mail clients expect. Encoding is where a lot of converters break: one widely used open-source script needed a manual patch to stop mangling wide characters in headers. Expect one side effect. Non-ASCII bodies are stored as quoted-printable, which costs three characters per byte, so a Cyrillic message can grow by roughly 43% on disk.

❓ Does the free trial limit how many files I can convert?

There is no file cap. The unregistered software converts the whole queue, however long it is. What it does instead is show a waiting screen before the first file and again every five files: five seconds the first time, ten more on each appearance after that. Registering the program removes it.

Download MSG to EML Converter for Windows: Read Outlook Mail Without Outlook