nesstar-converter 1.0.2

Read your own data — pure-Python parser for locked Nesstar survey files

Nesstar Converter

Researchers, statistical agencies, and national archives spent years building survey datasets that document the economic and social life of entire populations — often with public money. Those datasets ended up locked in .Nesstar, a proprietary binary format whose only reader was a discontinued Windows desktop application. The company folded. The servers went offline. The licenses expired. But the data didn't stop mattering. nesstar-converter is a pure-Python binary parser that reads the format directly — no .exe, no Windows, no institutional subscription — and writes Parquet, CSV, Stata, Excel, and more. Your data. Open formats. Any platform.

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What this does

• Reverse-engineered binary parser — reads .Nesstar files directly in Python, no proprietary executable involved
• Writes open formats — Parquet, CSV, TSV, Excel, Stata, JSON, JSONL, fixed-width text
• Validates against official exports — cell-level comparison with Nesstar Explorer output
• Runs everywhere — Linux, macOS, Windows; Python 3.10+

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Quick start

Install:

pip install nesstar-converter

Convert:

nesstar-converter convert survey.Nesstar ddi.xml ./output --formats csv,parquet,stata

Validate:

nesstar-converter validate ./output ./exported_text

The DDI XML is auto-detected if it sits beside the .Nesstar file.

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Supported formats

Format	Extension	Best for
parquet	.parquet	Python, R, DuckDB, long-term storage
csv	.csv	Excel, LibreOffice, Google Sheets
tsv	.tsv	Tab-separated workflows
excel	.xlsx	Non-technical users who just want a spreadsheet
stata	.dta	Stata, with leading zeros preserved
json	.json	Web apps, structured interchange
jsonl	.jsonl	Streaming pipelines
fwf	.txt	Fixed-width text

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nesstar-converter vs ihsn/nesstar-exporter

The IHSN tool wraps the official Windows binary. It is not a replacement for it — you still need the .exe.

Dimension	ihsn/nesstar-exporter	nesstar-converter
Core approach	Python wrapper around NesstarExporter.exe	Pure-Python binary parser
Requires NesstarExporter.exe	Yes	No
OS model	Windows-oriented workflow	Linux / macOS / Windows
Reads binary directly	No	Yes
Reverse-engineered format support	No	Yes
Parquet output	No	Yes
RDF / DDI export via official tool	Yes	No
Validation against text exports	No built-in validation layer	Yes
Install model	Repo scripts + external exe path	Standard Python package / console script

Evidence: the IHSN repo's own README, config.json, src/config.py, and src/exporter.py all require a path to NesstarExporter.exe and shell out to it with subprocess.run(...).

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Who uses Nesstar

Institution / repository	Country / region	Status
NSD / Sikt	Norway	Original Nesstar developer and ESS host
UK Data Archive / UK Data Service	United Kingdom	Co-developer and former Nesstar WebView operator
European Social Survey	Pan-European	Disseminated through Nesstar from 2004
Statistics Canada / ODESI	Canada	Licensed the full Nesstar suite
GESIS ZACAT	Germany	Former Nesstar WebView catalog
Sciences Po / CDSP	France	Documented migration away from Nesstar
SSJDA / CSRDA	Japan	Documented Nesstar deployment
IHSN / World Bank	Global	Still distributes Nesstar Publisher and migration tooling
India MoSPI / NSO	India	Active distributor of .Nesstar survey files
DataFirst / Stats SA	South Africa	Legacy archive and testing target

Full evidence and source links: docs/global-coverage.md.

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Validation coverage

Validation distinguishes cell-level (row-for-row, value-for-value match against official exports) from structure-level (file counts and variable counts confirmed, but companion DDI XML was not shipped by the distributor for full binary re-validation).

Survey	Years / rounds	Level	Result
EUS	38th Round (1983)	Cell-level	9/9 blocks, 3.4M rows, zero mismatches
HCES	38th, 45th, 66th	Cell-level	27/28 blocks, 23.4M+ rows, zero mismatches
PLFS	2017-18 to 2022-23	Structure-level	24/24 exports matched NADA dictionary row/column counts

PLFS raw packages include .Nesstar files but omit the companion DDI XML, so current evidence is structural. Cell-level re-validation awaits DDI availability.

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Python API

from nesstar_converter import convert_nesstar, show_info

show_info("survey.Nesstar", "ddi.xml")
convert_nesstar("survey.Nesstar", "ddi.xml", "./output", formats=["csv", "parquet"])

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Limitations

• Expects DDI metadata. Without the companion DDI XML, the parser cannot yet do full extraction from the binary alone.
• Data conversion, not RDF packaging. For DDI/RDF export via the official legacy toolchain, the IHSN wrapper exists — but still requires NesstarExporter.exe.
• Legacy ecosystems vary. Different institutions used different Nesstar-era conventions; community test cases from outside India are especially valuable.

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Contributing

• Test on non-Indian Nesstar files and report results
• Share evidence of .Nesstar / .NSDstat datasets still in circulation
• Help improve metadata recovery for archives that omit DDI XML

Docs: docs/TECHNICAL.md · docs/global-coverage.md

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Citation

If you use this in research, please cite via CITATION.cff.

License

MIT