PTT File Documentation
Summary
In this database a MapPoint Map Template is a saved starting map from Microsoft MapPoint, holding custom settings (symbols, colours, view) used to create new MapPoint maps. Its MIME type is application/octet-stream. Microsoft discontinued MapPoint (sales ended 2014, support 2015), so only a surviving MapPoint install opens a .ptt template. Note that many .ptt files today are instead push-to-talk voice recordings, which open in the app that made them.
Technical details
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Full name | Microsoft MapPoint Template |
| File extension | .ptt |
| MIME type | application/octet-stream |
| Format type | Map template (settings for new MapPoint maps) |
| Developer | Microsoft |
| Introduced | 2000s (Microsoft MapPoint) |
| Container | OLE / proprietary MapPoint container |
| Open standard | No — proprietary, undocumented |
| Magic number | No public signature |
| Status | MapPoint discontinued: sales ended 2014, support 2015 |
| Opens in | Microsoft MapPoint 2010/2013 (legacy install only) |
| Creates | New MapPoint maps saved as .ptm |
| Other common meaning | Push-to-talk voice note (Zello / Voxer / WhatsApp) |
| Also used by | Legacy PowerPoint template |
| Related extensions | .ptm, .mpp, .msa |
What is a PTT file?
As stored in this database, .ptt is a template file for Microsoft MapPoint, the consumer and business mapping and route-planning product Microsoft sold through the 2000s. A MapPoint template is a pre-configured map used as a starting point: it holds custom map settings such as symbology, colours, the saved view and the base-data choices, in the same way a document template seeds new documents. New maps you created from it were saved as MapPoint maps with the .ptm extension.
The format is a proprietary Microsoft container (OLE-based) with no published specification, so there is no reliable public signature to test for and this page does not invent a byte layout for it. It is passive data, not a program. The .ptt extension is also heavily reused by unrelated things, most importantly push-to-talk voice recordings, which is covered below because it is what many people who search for “.ptt” actually have.
The template and the map it creates
MapPoint drew a line between a template and a finished map. The template (.ptt) carries the reusable presentation choices; the map (.ptm) is a specific document made from a template with real data and locations. In practice a .ptt holds three kinds of thing.
| Contains | What it is |
|---|---|
| Template map settings | Saved symbology, colours and default view for new maps |
| Base map / data references | Which MapPoint base data the template targets |
| Pushpins / annotations | Optional pre-placed markers carried into new maps |
Using the template is not a file conversion. Inside MapPoint you create a new map from the .ptt and save the result as a .ptm; that is the template’s intended workflow, seeding a new document rather than transforming the template itself.
MapPoint is discontinued: what that means for your file
Microsoft ended MapPoint: it stopped selling the product on 31 December 2014 and retired support and the related Bing Maps and MapPoint web services during 2015, steering users to Bing Maps and later to other platforms. The practical consequence for a .ptt is stark. There is no maintained software that opens it; the file is usable only with a surviving copy of MapPoint 2010 or 2013 running on a compatible Windows version. Because the format was proprietary and undocumented, there is no modern import path either, and no current GIS reads MapPoint templates. If you have a working MapPoint install you can open the template, print it to a PDF, or rebuild the data in a current tool; without one, the template is effectively locked.
The other .ptt: push-to-talk voice notes
Today most people searching for “.ptt” do not have a MapPoint template at all. They have a push-to-talk voice recording made by a walkie-talkie-style app such as Zello or Voxer, or a WhatsApp PTT audio note (on WhatsApp this is a zipped audio message). These are small audio files, unrelated to MapPoint, and they open in the app that created them rather than in any map program. A separate, legacy use of .ptt is an old PowerPoint template variant, which opens in PowerPoint. The reliable way to tell them apart is by origin: a map template came from Microsoft MapPoint, a small audio file came from a push-to-talk app, and a presentation template came from PowerPoint.
Finding a viewer without getting burned
A MapPoint template is passive and low-risk in itself. The bigger practical hazard is the search for a viewer: queries like “open .ptt file” surface many ad-laden “universal file opener” sites and bundled installers that carry adware, and none of them can actually read a proprietary MapPoint template. There is no legitimate standalone .ptt converter. If your file is really a MapPoint template, the only correct tool is MapPoint itself; if it is a push-to-talk note, open it in the messaging app that made it; if it is a PowerPoint template, open it in PowerPoint. Confirm which one you have before downloading anything that promises to open it.
References
- Microsoft Learn — MapPoint (previous versions / retirement)
- Microsoft — Maps (MapPoint discontinuation)
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