Access to Firebird Converter

Tables, keys, and rows from an Access file into a Firebird database - once, or kept in step while you cut over.

Version: 5.4.0
Release Date: Oct. 25, 2026
Size: 123.3 MB
Platform: Windows 10 or later

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Move a Microsoft Access database into Firebird without writing the target schema by hand. DBConvert creates the selected tables, primary keys, indexes, and foreign keys in Firebird, maps every column, and copies the rows straight from the Access file.

Reads .accdb and .mdb files, including files protected with a database password.
Writes to a database on a local or remote Firebird server. Tested against Firebird 3 and Firebird 5.
Runs on Windows as a desktop application.
The same download converts Firebird back into Access.

Prepare the migration before moving data

Connections, tables, and mappings have their own screens. Return to any of them as you refine the job, without restarting the setup.

Pick the tables

Select the tables that belong in Firebird. Table and column names arrive as Access spells them, spaces and mixed case included.

Review the types

Every column gets a proposed Firebird type you can change before the run. Anything the target cannot represent as it was, such as a GUID or an expression default, is named in the log.

Save the job

Keep both connections, the table selection, and the options in a job. Run it again from the interface, or by name from a batch file or Task Scheduler with --run-job.

Convert once, or keep Firebird in step with Access

Both modes are part of the same DBConvert application.

One-time conversion

Create the Firebird schema and load the rows in one pass. A value Firebird cannot hold is refused as a row error that names the table and the column, and the rows after it still load.

Synchronization

Keep the Access application in use while Firebird is tested. Rows are compared by key and only the differences are written, so a sync straight after a conversion has nothing to do. Read how keys and direction work. A second job runs the other direction.

How Access types map to Firebird

These are the defaults. Exact numbers stay exact, and text is created in UTF8.

In Access	DBConvert default in Firebird	What to know
AutoNumber	`INTEGER` key with a generator and a `BEFORE INSERT` trigger.	New rows continue from the highest id the copy or a sync wrote, so inserts can resume without resetting anything.
Currency, Decimal	Currency becomes `NUMERIC(18,4)`; Decimal keeps its precision and scale as `NUMERIC(p,s)`.	Firebird 3 holds 18 digits, so a wider Decimal is declared with 18 there. A value that does not fit is refused by name, never stored as a different number. Firebird 4 and 5 take the full width.
Byte, Integer, Long, Single, Double	`SMALLINT`, `SMALLINT`, `INTEGER`, `FLOAT`, `DOUBLE PRECISION`.	Each value range fits its target.
Yes/No	`BOOLEAN NOT NULL DEFAULT FALSE`.	Access has no empty Yes/No, so the target column has none either.
Date/Time	`TIMESTAMP`.	Dates from the year 1000 to the last second of 9999 arrive as they were.
Short Text, Long Text (Memo)	`VARCHAR(n)` and `BLOB SUB_TYPE TEXT`, both `UTF8`.	Long Text values of any length arrive whole.
Binary, OLE Object	`VARCHAR(n) CHARACTER SET OCTETS` and a binary `BLOB`.	Bytes are copied as bytes.
Replication ID (GUID)	`CHAR(38)` holding `{...}` in upper case.	Firebird has no GUID type; the log names the column. A sync matches a GUID key however the other side spells it.
Attachment, multi-value fields	Text: the values joined with `;`, or the attached file names.	The attached files themselves are not copied. The log names each such column.
Default values	`Now()` and `Date()` become `CURRENT_TIMESTAMP` and `CURRENT_DATE`; numbers and text literals are kept.	A default that is an expression is dropped and named in the log.

The Access application stays in Access

The migration covers tables, their fields, defaults, and indexes, and the relationships between them. Queries, forms, reports, macros, and VBA are not converted; rebuild them against Firebird or keep the Access front end linked to the new database.

What the Access side needs

Microsoft's 64-bit Access Database Engine. A free download, not part of the DBConvert installer; if it is missing, Connect says so and links to Microsoft's download.
A file in Access 2000 format or later. An Access 97 file has to be re-saved in a newer format first.
A database password is supported. Workgroup security (.mdw files) is not.

On the Firebird side, the server's port, 3050 by default, has to be reachable from the machine running DBConvert.

Supported versions and services

Access

MS Access .accdb, and .mdb in Access 2000 format or later
Database password; the 64-bit Microsoft Access Database Engine is required

Firebird

Firebird 3.x, 4.x, 5.x

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How to migrate Access to Firebird

Setup: connect Access and Firebird

Pick Convert or Sync, then choose the source and destination connections side by side on one screen. A connection is saved once and reused by every job.

The Setup step in DBConvert: the mode, the Access source and Firebird destination side by side, and the job name

Sync keeps an existing Firebird database up to date with Access: each run carries only the inserts, updates and deletes since the last one.

The Setup step in Sync mode for Access to Firebird: how changes are detected and the direction

Access source

Select the source .accdb or .mdb file and enter its database password if it has one. The 64-bit Microsoft Access Database Engine must be installed.

Look inside the Access file first

To see what an .mdb or .accdb file holds before converting it, open it in the free MDB and ACCDB Viewer: tables with their Access types, relationships as an ER diagram, saved queries and read-only SQL, in the browser, with no upload and no Access installed.

Open the MDB viewer · VS Code extension

Firebird target

Enter the Firebird server's host and the database's path on that server, or its alias, and select the connection character set. See Firebird target settings.

Tables & mapping: see every Firebird type before a row moves

Pick the tables, then open one: each Access column shows the Firebird type it becomes. Change a type or a name in place; the line at the bottom names anything that would fail.

Tables and mapping for Access to Firebird: the table list and one table's columns with their Firebird types

Execution: start it, and the job is saved

Review what the run will do, start it, and read the log as it goes. The job stays in the list to run again or put on a schedule.

A finished Access to Firebird conversion: the summary and the operation log

Every option, in the guide

Naming rules, table options, row filters, scheduling and the command line work the same for every database pair, so they live in one place.

Open the full guide

See all features

More guides for Access ↔ Firebird

Move Access data into Firebird

Download the current build and run the first job against your own database.

Download DBConvert 5.4.0 Order from US$ 199

Windows 10 or later · 123.3 MB