Universal Stata Data Converter — portable Windows CLI
StataBridge is a portable Windows CLI tool for research teams working across multiple Stata
versions. Drop the .exe anywhere and run — no Python, no installation, no dependencies.
Convert .dta files across all 13 Stata versions (7 through 19) and bridge to/from
four additional formats used in academic and applied research:
| Format | Read | Write |
|---|---|---|
| Stata .dta (all versions) | ✓ | ✓ |
| CSV | ✓ | ✓ |
| XLSX / XLS | ✓ | ✓ |
| DBF (dBASE III/IV) | ✓ | ✓ |
| RData / .rda / .rds | ✓ | — |
StataBridge ships as a portable Windows executable (.exe).
- Windows 7, 8, 10, or 11 — 64-bit
- No Python installation required
- No additional dependencies
Reading
.RData/.rda/.rdsfiles requires R 4.0+ installed on the system.
Double-click stata_bridge.exe or run it from a terminal:
stata_bridge.exe
The interactive menu guides you through:
- Language selection
- Conversion mode — single file / multiple files / batch folder (with optional recursion)
- Input file or folder path (drag & drop supported)
- Output format
- Target Stata version (when writing
.dta) - Output directory (blank = same folder as input)
- Overwrite confirmation
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| Single file | One input → one output |
| Multiple files | Comma-separated paths or glob patterns (*.dta) |
| Batch folder | All supported files in a folder |
| Batch + subfolders | Recursive, preserves directory structure |
| Target | Format written | Key characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| Stata 7–12 | 114 | Latin-1, str ≤ 244 chars |
| Stata 13 | 117 | strL support, Latin-1 |
| Stata 14–15 | 118 | Unicode (UTF-8), strL |
| Stata 16–19 | 119 | Unicode, 32,767+ variables |
- strL truncation — long strings clipped to 244 chars (format 114) or 2045 (format 117+) with a per-column warning
- Unicode → Latin-1 fallback — unmappable characters replaced when targeting old formats
- Column name sanitization — illegal Stata names fixed automatically
- Metadata preservation — variable & value labels carried through Stata ↔ Stata conversions
English · Indonesian · Vietnamese · German · French · Spanish · Italian · Portuguese · Japanese · Chinese
StataBridge/
├── stata_bridge.exe # Portable application — run directly
└── StataBridge_Documentation.md # Quick-start guide
MIT — free for academic and commercial use.
Built at the University of Göttingen · @akirawisnu · April 2026