What is a .MPQ file?
MPQ (Mo’PaQ) is Blizzard’s game-data archive, used by Diablo, StarCraft and WarCraft.
- Did you know
- Blizzard’s MPQ format, from 1996, packed the data for classics like Diablo and StarCraft.
- “Mo’PaQ” stands for Mike O’Brien Pack, named after the Blizzard programmer who designed it for Diablo.
- Files inside are found by hashing their name into an encrypted hash table, and Blizzard later moved on to its CASC system.
- What Analyser reads
- Inspect game ROMs, patches and engine assets: iNES/NES2.0, Game Boy/Color/Advance, SNES, Nintendo DS/DSi, Nintendo 64, and Sega Genesis ROM headers (title, mapper, region, checksum); IPS/BPS/UPS/PPF patches; Doom WAD lumps; Minecraft NBT/schematics and Bedrock bundles; Aseprite sprites; Godot .pck; Quake/id Tech PAK/PK3; Source BSP/VPK/VTF/VMT; KTX/KTX2 textures; Tiled maps; LÖVE games; PICO-8 carts - plus MPQ, 3DS/Switch and Ren’Py/RPG Maker identification.
- Depth of analysis
- .MPQ is an identification-grade format: Analyser recognises it from its bytes and decodes the header metadata it carries, rather than opening it in a full viewer. Formats that do get a full viewer are marked "Full" on the formats page.
- Open a .MPQ file
- Drag a .MPQ file onto the Analyser home page (or tap to pick one). It is identified entirely in your browser - nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and it works offline once installed.