What is a .SHADER file?
.SHADER is a Unity / IL2CPP file (Games). Analyser identifies a .SHADER file and reads the metadata in its header, right in your browser.
- Did you know
- A Unity shader is a GPU program deciding how each pixel of a surface is lit and drawn, written in Unity's ShaderLab wrapping HLSL code.
- Unity compiles one shader into many variants for different lights, fog and features, so a project can end up with thousands of permutations.
- Surface shaders, Unity's high-level shortcut, auto-generate the lighting code so artists need not write it by hand.
- What Analyser reads
- Identify and read Unity engine files, including IL2CPP-compiled games: the IL2CPP symbol map (.usym - version, symbol count) and global-metadata.dat (magic-gated - metadata version, mapped to a Unity release), Addressables binary catalogs (catalog.bin, content-gated) and their catalog.hash, ShaderLab shaders (.shader) and shader variant collections (.shadervariants), asset bundle manifests (core_assets.manifest), renamed .NET metadata blobs (.pd_ - BSJB runtime version) and House Flipper photo thumbnails (.hfthumb - JPEG wrapped, re-openable as an image). Plus generic hash/checksum text (.hash).
- Depth of analysis
- .SHADER 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 .SHADER file
- Drag a .SHADER 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.
- Related formats
- .USYM · .PD_ · .SHADERVARIANTS · .HFTHUMB · .HASH. See all supported file types.