INI File Viewer – Open & Inspect .INI, .CFG, or .CONF Files Online

View any INI or config file in your browser

INI files are plain text, so Notepad will open one, but a long php.ini, game config, or driver .inf is hard to scan as a wall of text. This viewer parses the file into its sections and keys, lists them in a searchable table, highlights the raw source with line numbers, and points out the lines that a program is likely to misread: unclosed section headers, duplicate keys, stray text, and quotes that never close.

Everything runs on your device. Config files often hold database passwords and API keys, so values that look like secrets are hidden on screen by default.

How to open an INI file online

1. Drop the file onto the box above or click to choose it. Files without an extension, like .env or .gitconfig, work too.
2. Browse the Sections view, or type in the search box to find a key or value anywhere in the file.
3. Check the Issues tab. Click any line number to jump to that line in the highlighted source.
4. If the file uses colons, multiline values, or case-insensitive names, adjust the parser options to match the program that reads it.
5. Export the parsed data as JSON or CSV, or download a cleaned copy of the INI file with consistent spacing.

INI file format basics

An INI file is a list of key = value lines grouped under [section] headers. Lines starting with a semicolon or hash are comments. There's no official standard, so each program reads the format a little differently, but almost all agree on this core:

; Comment lines start with ; or #
[database]
host = db.example.com
port = 5432
[paths]
log_file = "C:\Logs\app.log"

Keys that appear before the first section header are called global or default keys. Values are always stored as text; whether 5432 becomes a number or true becomes a boolean is up to the program reading the file.

File types this viewer opens

Nginx and Apache .conf files use their own block syntax, not INI, so most of their lines will show up as issues here. TOML looks similar to INI but has typed values, arrays, and nested tables that an INI parser won't understand.

Why the same INI file reads differently in different programs

Because INI never had a formal spec, parsers disagree on details that matter. Windows' built-in API ignores case in section and key names; Python's configparser lowercases keys but keeps section names as written. Some programs let a later duplicate key override an earlier one, others keep the first, and a few reject the file. Inline comments after a value work in PHP but are read as part of the value by the Windows API. The parser options above let you match whichever program will read your file, and the Issues tab tells you where the behavior would change.

Frequently asked questions