What Is a DEB File?

This article explains what a DEB file is, how to open one on your computer, and how to convert one to a different format like RPM or IPA.

What Is a DEB File?

A file with the DEB file extension is a Debian software package file. They're used mainly in Unix-based operating systems, including Ubuntu and iOS.

Every DEB file consists of two TAR archives that make up the executable files, documentation, and libraries. It may or may not be compressed using GZIP, BZIP2, LZMA, or XZ.

Similar to this format are micro deb files (.UDEB) that include some but not all the same information as a regular DEB file.

How to Open a DEB File

Open DEB files with any popular compression/decompression program, the free 7-Zip tool being one example. Any of these types of programs will decompress (extract) the contents of the file, and some create DEB compressed files.

While some of these file zip/unzip tools will work on Linux machines, too, they don't actually install the package like you'd expect them to—they just extract the contents of the archive.

To install a DEB file, use the free gdebi tool, which supports right-clicking the file and opening it from the context menu.

While not as easy as using gdebi, you can also install one with dpkg using this command, substituting /path/to/file.deb with the path to your own .DEB file:

 dpkg -i /path/to/file.deb

Several DEB files can be installed using this command:

 dpkg -i -R /path/to/folder/with/deb/files/

Uninstall DEB files like this:

 apt-get remove /path/to/file.deb

How to Convert a DEB File

A free file converter like FileZigZag can convert a DEB file to file formats like TGZ, BZ2, BZIP2, 7Z, GZIP, TAR, TBZ, ZIP, and others.

Convert one to RPM using this alien command:

 apt-get update
apt-get install alien
alien -r file.deb

You can find lots of tutorials online for converting a DEB file to an IPA file (an iOS app), like this one at JailbreakErra. Install a DEB file on a jailbroken iOS device with iFunbox.

Still Can't Open It?

If you can't get your file to open, you might be confusing another file format for one that uses the DEB file extension. When this happens, the programs mentioned above won't be able to open your file.

For example, a DEM file might look related to a DEB file because their file extensions are similar, but those are most likely either video game demos or Digital Elevation models.

EDB is similar, but instead of having anything to do with a software package, that file extension is reserved for database files, such as Exchange Information Store and Windows Search Index database files, both used by Microsoft Windows software.