.EDB File

The edb file extension is associated with the Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) technology, that was developed by Microsoft and introduced in the Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system. Extensible Storage Engine database is similar to Microsoft Jet database engine, that is used in Microsoft Access, but not compatible with it.

The Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) is an advanced indexed and sequential access method (ISAM) storage technology. ESE enables applications to store and retrieve data from tables using indexed or sequential cursor navigation. It supports denormalized schemas including wide tables with numerous sparse columns, multi-valued columns, and sparse and rich indexes. It enables applications to enjoy a consistent data state using transacted data update and retrieval.

A crash recovery mechanism is provided so that data consistency is maintained even in the event of a system crash. It provides ACID (Atomic Consistent Isolated Durable) transactions over data and schema by way of a write-ahead log and a snapshot isolation model. Transactions in ESE are highly concurrent, making ESE useful for server applications. It caches data to maximize high performance access to data. In addition, it is lightweight, making it useful for applications that serve in auxiliary roles.

The Extensible Storage Engine is used by various applications from Microsoft such as Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Live Messenger, Microsoft Windows Mail, Microsoft Windows Live Mail, Microsoft Desktop Search etc..

Windows stores its EDB database with search results in:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\Windows.edb

Windows.edb file can take a lot of storage space after few months of Windows installation. You can use this short instructions to rebuild EDB database and save storage space:

Search for "Indexing Options" (under "Settings"). Open it.

Search "services" (or run "services.msc") and find "Windows Search". Stop the service.

Delete the Windows.edb file

Click "Modify" in the already-open "Indexing Options" panel, then click "Delete and Rebuild" for the index. You can also specify a different drive to store the index on.

An edb file extension is related to Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) that enables applications to store and retrieve data from tables using indexed or sequential cursor navigation. An edb file stores ESE database.

How to open:

The *.edb files can be viewed in third party applications such as EseDbViewer or Kernel Exchange EDB Viewer.

How to convert:

Use compatible tools to export *.edb files to other formats.