What does Export chat mean on WhatsApp? What you get
Export chat makes a copy of one WhatsApp chat as a file, a .zip or a .txt. See what is inside, how each line is built, and what “omitted” means.
· 7 min read
Export chat on WhatsApp makes a copy of one chat as a file you can keep, read or send. The chat itself stays in WhatsApp. The copy is the messages written out as plain text, plus the photos, videos and voice messages if you include media. On iPhone it always comes as a .zip with a file called _chat.txt inside, and on Android a text-only export is a single file such as WhatsApp Chat with Sam.txt. In that text, every message starts a new line with its date, time and sender.
The .zip and the .txt
What you get depends on the device and on one choice: with media or without.
| Where you export | What you get | Media inside |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone, with media | a .zip with _chat.txt | photos, videos, voice messages, documents |
| iPhone, without media | a .zip with only _chat.txt | none |
| Android, with media | the .txt plus the media files, usually in one .zip | the most recent media |
| Android, without media | one .txt | none |
| WhatsApp Web, Windows | a .zip | none |
WhatsApp's help page on exporting lists the iPhone choices as With all media, With selected media… or Without media. Older versions of the app say Attach Media. On Android you tap the three dots, then More, Export chat, and Include media or Without media, then pick an app such as Quick Share or Gmail. On WhatsApp Web and the Windows app, the page lists All messages or Custom date range. These exports have no media, so they have no voice messages either. For those, export on your phone, or the Mac app, with media.
An export is a copy for reading. WhatsApp's help page says it can't be re-imported, because it is a text file and not a backup.
The chat text file
The text file is the part that matters. Everything else in the .zip is media.
- iPhone: the file is always
_chat.txt. The .zip around it usually carries the chat's name, such asWhatsApp Chat - Marina.zip. - Android: the file is named after the chat, such as
WhatsApp Chat with Sam.txt. On a phone set to another language the words change too. A Spanish phone writesChat de WhatsApp con Sam.txt.
One export holds one chat, whether it is a one-to-one chat or a group. Any phone or computer can open it, and how to open a WhatsApp chat .txt has the steps for each device.
How a line is built
Each message starts with a header that WhatsApp writes the same way every time: date, time, sender, then the text. Here is the same message from an iPhone and from an Android phone, both set to US English:
[3/3/25, 11:20:15 AM] Sam: Running late, start without me
3/3/25, 11:20 AM - Sam: Running late, start without me
| Part | iPhone | Android |
|---|---|---|
| Date | inside square brackets | at the start of the line |
| Time | with seconds: 11:20:15 AM | without seconds: 11:20 AM |
| Before the name | the closing bracket | a dash |
| Sender | name, then a colon | name, then a colon |
| Message | the rest of the line | the rest of the line |
A few rules catch people out.
Long messages keep going. When a message has line breaks, only its first line has a date. The next lines carry on without one:
[3/14/25, 9:02:10 PM] Alex: Shopping list for Saturday:
bread
two bags of ice
Names come from the exporting phone. The sender is the name saved in that phone's contacts. If the person isn't saved, you see their number instead, such as +44 7700 900123. So two people who export the same chat can get different names in their files.
Edits and deletions leave a trace. On iPhone, an edited message can end with <This message was edited>. A deleted message stays as a line that reads “This message was deleted.” or, for your own, “You deleted this message.”
Media lines: “attached” and “omitted”
With media, the line names the file, and the file sits next to the text in the .zip:
[3/3/25, 11:21:02 AM] Sam: <attached: 00000012-AUDIO-2025-03-03-11-21-02.opus>
3/3/25, 11:21 AM - Sam: PTT-20250303-WA0007.opus (file attached)
The file name tells you what it is:
- iPhone: a number, the type in capitals, then the date and time.
00000012-AUDIO-2025-03-03-11-21-02.opusis a voice message and00000013-PHOTO-2025-03-03-11-21-02.jpgis a photo. - Android: a short code, the date, then a counter.
PTTis a voice message,IMGa photo,VIDa video andSTKa sticker, as inIMG-20250324-WA0011.jpg.
Documents usually keep the name they were sent with, such as Invoice March.pdf. Voice messages are .opus files. On Android, a photo's caption sits on the line after the file name.
Without media, the files are left out but the lines stay. iPhone says what was there, with words like image omitted or audio omitted. Android writes <Media omitted>, which doesn't say whether it was a photo, a video or a voice message.
There is one more catch. For an Android export with media, WhatsApp's help page says “the most recent media sent will be added as attachments”. So older lines can name files that are not in the .zip. WhatsApp export limits explains how far back an export goes and how to check yours.
System lines
Some lines come from WhatsApp, not from a person. The encryption notice at the top, a group being created, people joining or leaving, a security code change, and disappearing messages being turned on or off all appear this way.
On Android these lines have no sender, so they are easy to spot:
03/03/2025, 09:15 - Messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted. No one outside of this chat can read them.
03/03/2025, 09:16 - Ana created group "Book club"
On iPhone, the same notices are written with the chat or group name where the sender goes, plus a hidden character before the text. In a one-to-one chat, the encryption notice can look as if your contact sent it:
[3/3/25, 11:20:15 AM] Sam: Messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted. Only people in this chat can read them.
If you count messages per person by hand, leave these lines out.
Why dates look different between phones
WhatsApp writes the date and time the way the exporting phone's language and region settings do. Here is how one Android line can start for 4 March 2025 at 2:30 in the afternoon:
| Phone setting | The line starts with |
|---|---|
| US English: month first, 12-hour | 3/4/25, 2:30 PM |
| Day first, 24-hour | 04/03/2025, 14:30 |
| German: day first, dots | 04.03.25, 14:30 |
| Swedish: year first | 2025-03-04 14:30 |
| French: a word before the time | 04/03/2025 à 14:30 |
An iPhone writes the same date inside square brackets and adds the seconds. Three things follow from this.
The same chat can look different in two exports. Each file follows the phone that made it.
Some dates are ambiguous. 3/4/25 is 4 March on a US phone and 3 April on many others. One line can't tell you which. The whole file usually can: as soon as a day above 12 appears, the order is clear.
Spreadsheets guess. If you import the text into a spreadsheet, it may read the dates in its own order and swap day and month. Opening the .txt in a spreadsheet shows how to stop that.
LogMyChat reads the order from the whole chat, so day-first and month-first files come out the same.
Turning the raw export into something readable
The raw text is tiring to read. The free WhatsApp chat viewer opens the .zip or .txt in your browser without uploading it. It gives you a printable PDF, a clean TXT, a CSV with one row per message, or a single web page. Voice messages stay as file names there.
If the voice messages matter, the free overview on the upload page counts them and their minutes, writes one of them out free and shows the exact price. After that, LogMyChat can write out every voice message under the date and time it was sent, or give you the whole chat as a PDF with the transcripts in place.
Common questions
Can I put an export back into WhatsApp?
No. WhatsApp's help page says an export can't be re-imported, because it is a text file and not a backup. To move chats to a new phone, use WhatsApp's own backup or transfer.
Why is there a line about encryption at the top?
It is a notice WhatsApp adds to the chat. Nobody wrote it, even when an iPhone export shows a name next to it.
Are view once and disappearing messages in the export?
No. WhatsApp's help page says view once messages are not exported. Disappearing messages that have already disappeared are not in the file either, and a WhatsApp Web export leaves out disappearing messages altogether.
Why don't the names match the other person's export?
Each export uses the contact names saved on the phone that made it. Someone who isn't saved shows up as a phone number.