Guide

How to view a SQLite database on Windows

Published

Windows doesn’t come with a SQLite viewer, and double-clicking a .db file usually just asks which app to use. Here are three ways to look inside one, from no install at all to a full desktop app.

First: show file extensions

File Explorer hides extensions by default, so data.db appears as just data. Turn them on so you can see what you’re dealing with:

  • Windows 11: in File Explorer, choose View → Show → File name extensions.
  • Windows 10: in File Explorer, open the View tab and tick File name extensions.

Option 1: In your browser (no install)

  1. Open opensqlite.com in Edge, Chrome or Firefox.
  2. Drag the database from File Explorer onto the drop zone, or click Open SQLite file and choose it.
  3. Pick a table to browse its rows. Click a column name to sort, search within the table, and click a row to see every field.

The file is read by SQLite running inside the browser tab and never uploaded. It’s opened read-only, so it can’t be changed. If the file has an unusual extension, or none at all, drag it in rather than using the file picker.

Option 2: DB Browser for SQLite (desktop app)

DB Browser for SQLite is a free, open-source app with a spreadsheet-like view, a SQL editor, editing and CSV export. Download the installer from its website, or install it from a terminal with winget (included with current versions of Windows 10 and 11):

winget install -e --id DBBrowserForSQLite.DBBrowserForSQLite

To browse without risk of editing anything, use File → Open Database Read Only.

Option 3: The sqlite3 command-line tool

The official sqlite3 shell isn’t included with Windows, but it’s one command away:

winget install -e --id SQLite.SQLite

Alternatively, download the sqlite-tools-win-x64 zip from the SQLite download page, extract it, and run sqlite3.exe from that folder.

Open a new terminal window after installing, then open your database read-only. In File Explorer, Shift + right-click the file and choose Copy as path to get its full path, quotes included:

sqlite3 -readonly "C:\Users\you\Downloads\mydata.db"

At the sqlite> prompt:

.tables
.schema Track
.mode box
SELECT * FROM Track LIMIT 10;
.quit

In order: list the tables, show how a table is defined, draw results as a neat table, show the first 10 rows, and exit. (Track is a table in the Chinook sample database; use your own table names.) Lines starting with a dot are shell commands; everything else is SQL and ends with a semicolon.

Where Windows apps keep their SQLite files

Most apps store data under your user profile, in folders File Explorer hides by default. Paste these into the address bar:

Location What’s inside
%APPDATA% Roaming app data, e.g. Firefox profiles (Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\…\places.sqlite)
%LOCALAPPDATA% Local app data, e.g. Chrome and Edge profiles (Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\History)
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages Microsoft Store apps

Browser files such as History have no extension but are still SQLite databases.

A few things to keep in mind:

  • Close the app and work on a copy. Running apps keep their databases open, so you may get “database is locked” or “the file is in use”. Quit the app, copy the database (with any -wal file next to it) to your Desktop and open the copy. What the -wal and -shm files are.
  • Thumbs.db isn’t SQLite. Those files in your picture folders are Windows’ thumbnail cache, a different format. You can ignore them.

Which should you use?

  • Quick look, nothing installed: your browser.
  • Editing, exporting or regular use: DB Browser for SQLite.
  • Queries and scripting: sqlite3.

New to SQLite files? Start with how to open a .db file.