Pros and Cons of using MBOX File

MBOX is a standard file format used by a number of email clients to store emails. For example, Thunderbird, Google Takeout, Apple Mail, Spicebird, Pocomail, Entourage, Eudora, Mulberry, SeaMonkey, Opera Mail, and Netscape. The file contains every detail of the email messages. The format is convenient and flexible. The file is in plain-text file format and stores emails in single file, where each email is separated with a line. This allows users to easily view MBOX files using any text editor.

Like any other data file, there are advantages (pros) as well as disadvantages (cons) of using MBOX file. In this post, we will discuss some pros and cons of using MBOX file.

Read More about MBOX File Extension.

Pros of using MBOX file

Some of the pros of using MBOX file are given below:

• Simple file format: MBOX file is highly used due to its plain text format which is easy to view and read. This makes the file easily accessible by any user with or without much technical knowledge.
• Capacity to hold messages: The messages in MBOX file are in 7-bit ASCII text which boosts reliability and makes it compatible with other email clients.
• Saving of attachments: Since attachments are encoded, these can be extracted and are safe for other uses.
• Available in multiple file variants: MBOX files can be found in multiple file variants, such as MBOXO, MBOXRD, MBOXCL, and MBOXCL2.
• Save Huge Data: The MBOX file format is capable to save huge data as it supports large size data.

Cons of using MBOX file

MBOX file format has some cons that you need to be aware of. These are given below:

• Other Email Client Support: MBOX file format isn’t supported by some popular email clients, such as Microsoft Outlook. Therefore, users who want to move to MS Outlook cannot directly transfer the MBOX files to Outlook.
• Low Encryption and Safety: Safety is an issue with MBOX file format as the messages are in simple text format. Encryption of data is low. This means that your data is not much safe.
• Less Messages Holding Capacity: The messages in MBOX file are in 7-bit ASCII text, which means its message holding capacity is 128 characters.

How to move MBOX file data to other formats?

To avoid the above disadvantages, you can move the MBOX file data to other more accessible and secure file formats. For this, you can take help from third-party MBOX to PST converter software, like Stellar Converter for MBOX. This software is designed to meet the needs of users who want to convert their MBOX file into different file format, either to keep a backup of the data or to migrate to a different email client with a different file support. It can convert MBOX file into PST (Outlook’s proprietary format) and other popular file formats, such as RTF, HTML, and PDF.

The conversion process from MBOX to PST or any other format is easy and quick. It does not require proficiency in technical knowledge. Any user with basic understanding can successfully complete the process.

Conclusion

MBOX is a standard file format that saves emails in plain-text format that allows you to view the file simply by using any text editor. However, it also has certain limitations, such as its holding capacity of just 128 characters and no support for other email clients, like MS Outlook. So, if you want to utilize features of MS Outlook, then you will find it difficult to move the MBOX files to Outlook as the former does not support MBOX format. In this case, you need to convert the MBOX file to Outlook importable PST format. To easily and quickly convert the MBOX file to PST, you can use a specialized MBOX to PST converter software, like Stellar Converter for MBOX.

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About The Author

Shelly Bhardwaj

I am a Product Consultant and is associated with Stellar Data Recovery from last 8 years. I write about the latest technology tips and provide custom solutions related to Exchange Server, Office 365, MS Outlook, and many other Email Clients & different flavors of OS Servers. Read More