What Is an MRIMG File?

How to open, edit, & convert MRIMG files

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Tim Fisher
General Manager, VP, Lifewire.com
Tim Fisher has 30+ years' professional technology support experience. He writes troubleshooting content and is the General Manager of Lifewire.
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Tim Fisher
Updated on March 06, 2020
MRIMG files in a folder
MRIMG Files.

A file with the MRIMG file extension is a Macrium Reflect Image file created by the Macrium Reflect backup software for the purpose of storing an exact copy of a hard drive.

An MRIMG file may be built so that the files can be restored to the same drive in the future so that you can look through the files via a virtual disk on a different computer, or used to copy all the contents of one hard drive onto another.

Depending on the options that were selected when the MRIMG file was created, it may be a full copy of a disk that includes even the unused sectors, or it might just hold the sectors that contained information. It may also be compressed, password-protected, and encrypted.

How to Open an MRIMG File

MRIMG files that are Macrium Reflect Image files are created and opened by Macrium Reflect. You can do this by following the steps below:

  1. Open Macrium Reflect.

    Screenshot of Macrium Reflect.

  2. Select Restore.

    Selecting Restore in Macrium Reflect.

  3. Select Browse for an image or backup file to restore.

    Selecting to browse for an image file in Macrium Reflect.

  4. From here, browse your hard drive for the MRIMG file.

    Searching for a image file in Macrium Reflect.

  5. Select the file then select Open.

    Opening an image file in Macrium Reflect.

  6. From here, select Browse Image to mount the MRIMG file as a virtual drive in order to look through it and copy out specific files/folders that you want to restore.

    An image in Macrium Reflect.

Dismounting an MRIMG file can be accomplished through Macrium Reflect under the Restore > Detach Image menu.

To actually restore the contents of the MRIMG file back to their original location instead of just browsing through the virtual drive, select Restore Image to choose the destination.

You can not make any changes to the files that are inside an MRIMG file. If you're mounting it as a virtual drive, you can copy files out and even temporarily make changes to them (if you choose to make it writable), but none of the changes are sustained once you unmount the file.

If you find that an application on your PC does try to open the MRIMG file, but it's the wrong application, or if you would rather have another installed program open MRIMG files, you can change the default program in Windows.

Still Can't Open Your File?

One of the simplest reasons for why a file won't open with a program that it should clearly work with is because the file isn't really in a format that's supported by the program. This might be the case if you've misread the file extension.

For example, at first glance, the MRML file extension looks a lot like it says MRIMG, but MRML files will not work with Macrium Reflect. MRML files are actually XML-based 3D Slicer Scene Description files created and used by 3D Slicer to render 3D medical images.

The best thing to do if you've tried all of the above to mount or open your file is to make sure that it's really an MRIMG file. If it's not, then research its actual file extension to learn which programs can be used to open or convert it.

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