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How to open .MHTML files on Windows

To open .MHTML files on Windows, try double-clicking the .mhtml file to open it in your default browser (commonly Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome/Chromium, depending on your setup).

Step-by-step instructions

  1. Try double-clicking the .mhtml file to open it in your default browser (commonly Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome/Chromium, depending on your setup).
  2. If it does not open correctly: open Chrome/Edge, then drag the .mhtml file into the browser window (or use Ctrl+O and select the file).

Common issues

The file downloads but won’t open (or opens as plain text)

Some apps don’t recognize .mhtml and will treat it like a generic text file even though it is a MIME multipart web archive.

  1. Open it from within a supporting browser (Chrome/Chromium or Microsoft Edge): use the browser’s Open File (Ctrl+O) or drag-and-drop the file into the browser.
  2. If double-clicking uses the wrong program, change the file association so your browser opens .mhtml by default.

Page looks incomplete or broken (missing images/CSS)

MHTML is supposed to embed resources as MIME parts, but some saved archives may be incomplete or rely on external URLs that were not captured.

  1. Re-save the page as MHTML from a Chromium-based browser to ensure resources are included (Chromium documents MHTML as a Save Page As option).
  2. If you received the file from someone else, ask them to re-capture it or provide the original page URL so you can save it again.

Organization policy blocks opening downloaded .mht/.mhtml

In managed environments, browsers may restrict how downloaded MHT/MHTML files are handled due to security controls and zone/mark-of-the-web style considerations.

  1. If you are using Microsoft Edge in a managed environment, check with your IT administrator—Edge policies exist that specifically govern opening downloaded MHT/MHTML files.
  2. As a workaround for legitimate use, view the content in a controlled environment (for example, a non-managed machine or isolated profile) if your organization allows it.

Security note

An .mhtml file is essentially a packaged web page; if it contains active web content, opening it in a browser can run page scripts or load referenced content depending on how it was saved and how the browser handles it. Treat MHTML from untrusted sources like any other web content you didn’t request.

Back to .MHTML extension page