How can a browser open a SQLite file without a server?

The SQLite on-disk format is fully documented and stable. This tool implements a reader in JavaScript that parses the file header, walks the table b-trees and decodes each record, all in the browser — no WebAssembly engine or upload needed.

Is my database uploaded anywhere?

No. The file is loaded with the FileReader API and parsed in memory on your device. Nothing is transmitted to a server, which matters for databases that contain personal or proprietary data.

Why are only 200 rows shown?

The preview is capped at 200 rows per table to keep the interface responsive on large databases. To export every row of a table, use the companion SQLite to CSV exporter.

Are very large rows or BLOBs fully displayed?

Large rows that spill onto overflow pages are read up to the page boundary, and BLOB columns are shown as a size placeholder rather than raw bytes. Text and numeric columns are decoded in full.

SQLite Database Viewer

The SQLite Database Viewer lets you open a .db or .sqlite file and browse its contents without installing DB Browser, the sqlite3 CLI or any other desktop application. SQLite stores an entire relational database in a single file using a documented page-based b-tree format, which means it can be read directly in the browser. This tool lists every table and view and shows a preview of the data inside each one.

How it works

A SQLite file is divided into fixed-size pages (commonly 4096 bytes). The first 100 bytes form the database header, which includes the magic string SQLite format 3 and the page size at byte offset 16. Every table is stored as a b-tree: interior pages (type 5) point to child pages, and leaf pages (type 13) hold the actual rows.

The schema lives in a special table called sqlite_master, whose b-tree always starts on page 1. Each row there records an object’s type (table, index, view, trigger), its name, its root page and its original CREATE statement. The viewer reads that table, then for any table you click it walks that table’s b-tree from its root page, decoding each record.

Records use a compact format: a header of varint-encoded “serial types” describing each column, followed by the column bodies. Serial types map to NULL, signed integers of 1–8 bytes, 64-bit floats, text or blobs. An INTEGER PRIMARY KEY column is stored as NULL and aliased to the row’s rowid, which the tool restores.

Tips and notes

Internal tables whose names begin with sqlite_ (such as sqlite_sequence) are hidden from the table list.
Column names are parsed from the table’s CREATE TABLE statement; if parsing falls short, generic names like col1 are used so no data is hidden.
For full exports rather than a preview, pair this with the SQLite to CSV exporter or the SQLite Schema Viewer.

Everything runs locally in your browser — your database never leaves your device.