What is MBOX File Extension?

Description of MBOX File Extension

MBOX stands for Mail Box.

A Brief Introduction of MBOX File Format

MBOX file structure is a mailbox which holds emails in a plain text file format. Moreover, the .mbox file extension that contains the email messages as 7-bit ASCII text and the rest things like attachments are stored in the encoded file format. This file format can be used through multiple clients such as Thunderbird, Entourage & Eudora etc. which helps to store and organize the mails. All e-mail messages are concatenated and stored in MBOX text file format. This file format is unique which is generally used by e-mail clients for organizing and storing their mails in database.

About MBOX File Structure

Entire e-mail messages of mailboxes are saved as a long plain text file in a string of concatenated mail messages. The starting point of each message is specified by “From” followed by a white space character and ending of each messages is indicated within a blank link. MBOX family consists several modified formats those are mentioned below:

• Mboxo: It is different from real MBOX file format and it uses constant string like "???@???" in place of senders mail address.
• Mboxrd: It is a variation of Mboxo mailbox file format. The beginning of the message is stated in the form of header or body.
• Mboxcl: This mailbox file extension is used by Unix 'System V' mailboxes.
• Mboxcl2: This mailbox file format is similar to Mboxcl. It cannot transform before a message is being appended to mboxcl2 mailbox file.

Location of .mbox file

If users want to know the location of MBOX file on their Desktop then, follow this path:

/User/Library/Mail/Mailboxes/directory

Note: By Default, the location of .mbox files that depends on the Operating systems and e-mail clients. Thus, this is the standard path has mentioned above and might change for any of mail clients.

MIME Type

The MIME type of .mbox file format is text/x-mailbox.

Major Issues of .mbox file

During accessing the MBOX files, the users faced certain issues that can delay the whole process. Some of the frequently observed issues are occurred as:

Unable to Open Emails

While opening an Eudora MBOX mails then users received an error indicating that the MBOX file does not exist or it has been moved. The MBOX file is at its original location. Still, users cannot read email files. If any urgent requirement to view MBOX file, then user need to use software which can open the mailbox file.

Oversized MBOX file

Multiple users have received hundreds of emails every day due to which MBOX has grown too large. It causes difficulty in mails while accessing the account. Sometimes it takes much time in loading new mails, which is quite difficult for the users.

Repairing data items of .mbox

Most of users might face an issue that consists MBOX file got corrupted due to unknown causes. Users have tried to repair MBOX files by all possible means but they become failed to access those files again without the loss of data.

Unable to load emails

MBOX files are the desktop client supported files, sometimes its very difficult to work with them. It has been reported that these applications evolve much trouble in opening Mailbox MBOX file format and hampers its use.

Platform Dependent

Entire applications that supports MBOX file structure are desktop client applications. They save the complete database at local storage. It restricts the accessibility of mailbox messages to the desktop only. Thus, users find it difficult to access their e-mails anywhere and any-time.

Conclusion

MBOX files are the most significant e-mail files that are most reliable source of communication for business purpose. As the business requirements are increasing, multiple email clients are coming into existence. Understanding the various aspects of file, we have presented the entire information to let the users understand about what is MBOX file structure and its specification details. Also, we have discussed the major issues while accessing the MBOX files.