What is Tuning Editor

Tuning Editor is a free application for Windows that lets you view and edit ECU calibration data — the tables and values stored inside an engine control unit's memory, commonly called a ROM or binary. It opens the files those ROMs are saved in, shows the calibration maps they contain in readable tables and graphs, and lets you change them safely and export the result.

The Tuning Editor workspace with a collection open

Figure 1

Note — Tuning Editor works on calibration files. Reading the data out of a vehicle and writing it back is done with separate tools or hardware; Tuning Editor is where you understand and edit what those tools produce.

What you can do with it

Open ECU binaries in the common formats (Intel HEX, Motorola S-record and raw BIN) and browse their maps.
Edit maps in a spreadsheet-style table, a 2D plot and a 3D surface, with full undo.
Keep your work organised and safe in collections that hold multiple versions, so the original file is never lost.
Verify and correct checksums so an edited file is accepted by the ECU.
Import a definition file (A2L) to label maps automatically, import and export in batches, and package maps for reuse.
Analyse data logs, compute with built-in engineering calculators, and use the online services to find files or request an automatic tune.

The core ideas

A few concepts appear throughout the rest of this documentation:

Collections and versions — a collection is your project; each change can live in its own version, so you always keep the stock file.
Maps — the lookup tables the ECU uses (fuel, ignition, boost and so on), edited in the map editor.
The sealed file — a collection saves as a single self-healing .mtxCol file that can be password-protected; see file security.
Checksums and plugins — integrity values the ECU checks, handled with help from plugins; see checksums.

Finding your way around the docs

The documentation is organised by what you are trying to do:

Getting started — ECU tuning basics & glossary, download and installation, the interface, and your first calibration.
Working with files — import and export binaries, the hex editor and the 2D file editor.
Editing maps — the map editor, comparing and navigating, and map packs.
Organising your work — collections and versions and file security.
Definitions & batches — A2L import, batch import and batch export.
Validation — checksums, the generic checksum and plugins.
Data & analysis — the log analyzer, the calculators and the analyzers.
Online services — your account, finding similar files, finding files online and AutoTune.
Customising — preferences, external tools, keyboard shortcuts and updates.
If you get stuck — troubleshooting and the FAQ.

New to ECU tuning?

Start with ECU tuning basics & glossary, which explains every term in plain language, then follow your first calibration: a guided walkthrough to do the whole process once from start to finish.

Warning — always keep an unmodified copy of the original ECU file. Tuning Editor's versioning makes this easy, but a stock backup is your safety net if anything goes wrong.

What you need

Tuning Editor runs on Windows 10 or later (64-bit) and is free to use under its licence. The installer is self-contained — see download and installation to get started.