What is .TAB File Format and How to Open it?
The .TAB file format is a vector-based data format used to store geographic data and related attributes. It is commonly used in geographic information systems (GIS) to store information such as points, lines, and polygons. It is similar to the shapefile format but is more compact.
TAB files are often used by software programs that work with geographic data, such as mapping programs and GIS software. They are usually encoded in ASCII text and saved with the .tab extension. The data in a TAB file is organized in rows and columns, with each row representing a feature and each column representing an attribute of that feature.
TAB files can be opened and viewed using most GIS software programs, such as ArcGIS, MapInfo, QGIS, and Global Mapper. Some text editors and spreadsheet programs, such as Microsoft Excel, can also be used to open and view TAB files. To open a TAB file, the user will need to set the file type to “TAB” in the program’s open file dialog box.