3 file types use the .idea file extension.

What is an IDEA file?

Image created by Adobe Ideas, a vector image editing touch app for Android tablets; can include vector objects, layers, color themes, and other graphics; commonly used for quick hand editing before completing final edits with the desktop versions of Photoshop and Illustrator.

More Information

Category: Vector Image Files

Tresor IDEA Encrypted File

Encrypted file created by Tresor, a file and folder encryption program; contains an encrypted file that can only be opened in the Tresor application with the same password that was used to encrypt it.

The IDEA file is encrypted using IDEA (International Data Encryption Algorithm) block encryption. it uses 64 bit data blocks and a 128 bit key length. It produces a 160-bit hash value from the password you create and uses 128 bits of the hash value for the IDEA encryption key. When you provide your password again, the file will be decrypted.

NOTE: Tresor requires Mac OS between 9.0 - 10.6 with Motorola 68k and PPC processors in order to run. IDEA files cannot be accessed in Mac 10.7 or later.

Programs that open IDEA files

Updated: January 23, 2014

IntelliJ IDEA Settings Directory

An IDEA file may also be a directory that contains an IntelliJ IDEA project's settings. It includes several .XML files and may also include an .IML file. The .idea folder and directory-based project format replaced IntelliJ IDEA's previous file-based project format, which utilized .IPR files.

IntelliJ IDEA is an Integrated Development Environment ( IDE ) used to develop Java applications. To allow developers to more efficiently manage IDEA projects' settings while using version control systems, such as GitHub, IntelliJ transitioned IDEA to save project settings within several separate XML files, instead of one IPR file. This makes it less likely that merge conflicts will occur when a developer commits changes to their project. Each project's settings-related XML files are stored in its .idea folder.

Some of the XML files an .idea folder contains include:

When a developer commits their project to Git, they typically tell Git to ignore most of the files contained in the .idea folder by specifying those files in their .GITIGNORE file. The only files you might want to commit to your version control system are indexLayout.xml and vcs.xml .

How do I update an IntelliJ IDEA project to use an .idea folder instead of an IPR file?

To convert your IntelliJ IDEA project from a file-based project to a directory-based project, select File → Manage IDE Settings → Save as Directory-Based Format from IDEA's main menu.

.idea files are not meant to be opened. To open an IntelliJ IDEA project, select that project's main directory from IDEA's Open prompt.

Programs that open or reference IDEA files

Updated: May 19, 2021