What's inside a Trados .sdlppx package, how to open and translate it in memoQ, Wordfast Pro, Smartcat or by unzipping it, and when you still need Trados.
To open an SDLPPX file without Trados, import it into a CAT tool that reads Trados packages, such as memoQ, Wordfast Pro or Smartcat, or rename it to .zip and unzip it to get at the SDLXLIFF files inside. Opening it is the easy part: sending back a return package (.sdlrpx) that Trados accepts is harder, so check how your tool handles that before you accept the job.
The usual situation: an agency sends you a Trados package, you don't have a Trados licence, and double-clicking the file does nothing. Here is what the file contains, every way to work on it, and where the limits are.
An .sdlppx file is a Trados Studio project package. The project manager builds it in Trados with the Create Project Package wizard, and it carries your part of the job in one file. RWS describes a package as a zip file with an XML manifest that lists its contents. Depending on what the sender chose, it can hold:
An .sdlrpx file is the return package, the one you send back. According to RWS, it contains only the project files, not the translation memories, termbases or AutoSuggest dictionaries, and Trados lets you create one only for files that came to you in a project package. When the project manager opens it, the translated files replace the untranslated ones in their project.
The same idea exists in other tools: one file goes out to the translator, one comes back. See project package in the glossary.
memoQ imports Trados packages as projects, with their SDLXLIFF documents, translation memories and termbases (you can choose to skip the TMs and termbases). When the translation is done, memoQ exports the return package as an .sdlrpx that holds only the translated files. memoQ translator pro runs on Windows. Of the options here, it is the most complete round trip documented by the vendor.
Wordfast Pro lists SDLPPX among its supported formats and imports a Trados package into a new project with Import SDL Package in the Project List view. The return trip is the weak spot. Wordfast's own wiki says the feature that creates a return package doesn't work correctly and the result won't open in Trados (it also doesn't keep the package's folder structure), and advises working on the SDLXLIFF files directly. On a Mac, Wordfast Pro needs Apple's Rosetta, and Wordfast says it can't guarantee the program will run on macOS 27.
Smartcat announced Trados package support in 2018. You upload the package, Smartcat splits it into its files and translation memories, shows the deadline and comments from the package, and when the work is finished you download the project as a return package to open in Trados. You can't add files to a project created from a package. The announcement is several years old, so try it with a small package before a real deadline.
Phrase says plainly that SDLPPX and SDLRPX packages are not supported. Its help also advises against importing SDLXLIFF files, because translating Trados bilingual files outside Trados can cause incompatibilities. You can still bring the translation memories and termbases in as TMX and TBX.
MateCat, a free, open-source CAT tool that runs in the browser, accepts SDLXLIFF files but not packages. Unzip the package, upload the SDLXLIFF files and send back translated SDLXLIFF files rather than a return package.
OmegaT doesn't open Trados packages, and neither its manual nor the Okapi Filters Plugin lists SDLXLIFF among the supported formats. Some translators do translate SDLXLIFF files in OmegaT through the plugin's XLIFF filter, but it isn't documented, so test a file with the client before you rely on it.
Rename the .sdlppx to .zip, or open it with 7-Zip, and extract it. The SDLXLIFF files sit in language folders; use the ones in the target-language folder, which contain the target segments. Any translation memories are .sdltm files and termbases are .sdltb files.
That is enough to look inside without installing anything:
Zipping your translated files and renaming the zip to .sdlrpx doesn't make a return package. A real one includes a manifest written by the tool that created it.
You can:
You can't, or not reliably:
If most of your clients send Trados packages and expect a return package without surprises, compare the options in Trados alternatives and memoQ vs Trados.
memoQ has its own version of the same workflow. A project manager using the project manager edition sends a handoff package, a single file ending in .mqout. It contains the documents plus translation memories, term bases and project settings; local memories go in as a TMX export and local term bases as a CSV export. You can work on a handoff package in memoQ translator pro, where it opens as a regular local project.
When you finish, you export a delivery package ending in .mqback and send it to the project manager, whose memoQ uses it to update the master project. If that update fails, memoQ's documentation says to unzip the delivery package and import the XLIFF files inside (.xlf or .mqxlz). Those memoQ bilingual files can be checked in the QA checker too.
Yes, to look inside: unzip it, count its words in the quote tool and convert its TMs with the SDLTM converter. MateCat is free for translating the SDLXLIFF files. A return package needs a tool that supports one, such as memoQ or Trados.
SDLPPX is the project package the client sends you, with files and resources. SDLRPX is the return package you send back, with the translated files only.
Trados Studio is officially supported on Windows only; RWS says Mac users can run it through Windows with Parallels. memoQ translator pro also runs on Windows. Smartcat and MateCat run in the browser, and Wordfast Pro needs Rosetta on a Mac.
Ask the client first. Most accept the translated SDLXLIFF files from the target-language folder, with their original names.
Vendor documentation checked on 14 October 2026:
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