.VCS File Extension
vCalendar Event
| Developer | Internet Mail Consortium |
| Popularity |
3.8 | 78 Votes |
| Category | Data Files |
| Format | Text |
What is a VCS file?
A VCS file is a calendar event saved in the vCalendar format. It is a plain text file that specifies an event's title, date and time, location, and other information. VCS files are similar to and have largely been replaced by .ICS files.
The Internet Mail Consortium created the VCS format in 1996. Many calendar programs support or previously supported the VCS format, but it is most notably used by Microsoft Outlook. While most calendar programs have now removed the ability to export events as VCS files, Outlook still allows users to export and import VCS files. Additionally, some previous versions of Outlook could export events as either VCS or ICS files, but import only VCS files.
VCS and ICS files both begin with the line BEGIN:VCALENDAR. However, VCS files typically contain the line VERSION:1.0, while ICS files typically contain the line VERSION:2.0.
NOTE: Some VCS files may contain data that is encoded using quoted-printable encoding, and therefore is not human-readable.
How to open a VCS file
You can open a VCS file with Microsoft Outlook (multiplatform), Apple Calendar (Mac, iOS), Google Calendar (multiplatform), and several other calendar applications, to import the event it contains to your calendar.
If you cannot open your VCS file with a calendar app, try renaming the file to use the .ics extension, then importing it. If that doesn't work, you can use the information below to convert your VCS file to the ICS format.
You can also open a VCS file with any text editor (such as Microsoft Notepad or Apple TextEdit) to view the information it contains.
How to convert a VCS file
You can use VCS to ICS Calendar Converter (multiplatform) to convert VCS files to the .ICS (iCalendar) format. (Doing so may discard some non-compatible information your VCS file contains.)