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EML
What is an EML file?
A single email with headers and attachments, as exported by most mail clients.
What EML is
EML is a plain-text format you can open in any editor. It is used for email and archiving.
The extension is .eml, and the full name is Email Message. Both matter less than what the file can hold, which is what the rest of this page is about.
Where EML came from
It dates from 1982. The specification is RFC 5322.
A format that has been readable for that long is a format worth trusting with something you want back in ten years.
The specification is public
Anyone can implement it without asking permission or paying a licence, which is why it turns up in so many programs and why files written twenty years ago still open.
What opens EML
Mozilla Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook and Apple Mail read it, and so do most programs of the same kind.
If a file will not open, the format is rarely the problem — it is more often that the program predates it. Converting to something older is the reliable way past that, and it is what the rest of this site is for.
Opening it in a browser
No browser reads it.
That is the single most common reason to convert it: not that the format is bad, but that the place you want to show the file cannot read it.
It is a delivery format
EML is meant to be handed over rather than worked in. Editing one is possible and rarely pleasant; the sane approach is to change the source and export again.
The facts, in one place
| Extension | .eml |
|---|---|
| Media type | message/rfc822 |
| First published | 1982 |
| Specification | RFC 5322 |