What WinOLS is, and what it costs
WinOLS is EVC’s software for reading and editing the maps in an ECU file, and many professional tuners work with it (HP Academy). On EVC’s price list a WinOLS 5 licence is €1,034.11, and the yearly premium features subscription is €98.18 per workstation (EVC). There’s also a free demo for Windows (EVC downloads), which is cut down but enough to open a file and look around (HP Academy).
This page is only about looking at files. TunerPro, RomRaider and WinOLS can also edit them. EcuInside never does, and we don’t explain how to.
The free options at a glance
| Tool | Runs on | What you see | What it needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| EcuInside | Any browser | Names the ECU and its numbers, finds tables by shape, compares two reads | Nothing. It only reads |
| TunerPro | Windows | Tables by name, if you have a definition | An XDF definition for your exact software |
| RomRaider | Desktop | Tables by name, mainly on Subarus | Definitions, installed separately |
| OpenRemap | Command line | What the file is, and how two files differ | Python, and comfort with a terminal |
| WinOLS demo | Windows | A cut-down WinOLS | Nothing extra |
EcuInside
Drop the file in your browser. You see the ECU maker, family and variant, the part and software numbers with the bytes they came from, whether it looks like a whole read, a map of the file, its hex, and the tables we can find by their shape as a grid or a 3D surface. Nothing to install, and the file isn’t kept. It can’t name a table unless a tuner has checked the name for that software, and it doesn’t edit anything. Compare does the same for two reads side by side.
TunerPro
Free, and fully featured without registering (TunerPro). It shows tables by name through an XDF definition, and the definition has to match your file: one written for another software version can show the wrong data (HP Academy). Most XDFs are made by the community, so how good they are varies (HP Academy).
RomRaider
A free, open source tuning suite built by volunteers, mainly for Subarus. It doesn’t come with ECU definitions: you install them separately, and the community keeps them on GitHub (HP Academy, RomRaider definitions).
OpenRemap
A free, open source toolkit (MIT licence) that runs on your own computer from the command line (OpenRemap). It identifies ECU files and compares two of them, offline. EcuInside uses its identify, convert and compare parts behind the scenes, so if you’d rather not upload anything, it’s a good choice.
Which one to use
- Want to know what a file is, or what changed between two reads? EcuInside.
- Have a definition for your exact software? TunerPro.
- Working on a Subaru? RomRaider.
- Want to stay offline and don’t mind a terminal? OpenRemap.
- Changing files for a living? That’s what WinOLS is for.
Start with the quickest look: drop the file on EcuInside. You’ll know what it is and see its tables before you decide whether you need anything more.