# Firefox bookmark questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2026, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bookmark-questions/1028431 "2026-03-13T17:27:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bookmark-questions/1028431/1 "2026-03-13T17:27:11Z")
I bought a new computer last year when my old drive died. I took the non-responsive SSD to a shop and they managed to make a copy of the C drive for me. I copied over all the files I needed and kept the old info on a USB stick. I imported my old Firefox bookmarks to the new computer. I deleted a couple of old bookmark file folders that I thought I didn’t need. Turns out I was wrong and there are a couple of Internet sites I would like to view again. Try as I might I cannot find the right search terms to locate those web pages. I inserted the USB drive and located the old Firefox backups from last year and copied the most recent onto my current C drive. But how do I view that file to find a couple of web sites? It is a JSONLZ4 file. If I click on it Firefox does not open it. Text editors do not work. All I want to do is view and search in it. All I can think of is to run Firefox and have it import the complete old backup bookmark file, locate and make a note of the sites I want and then restore Firefox with today’s backup file. Is there any other way to have Firefox open the old bookmarks without overwriting the present bookmark files? ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bookmark-questions/1028431/2 "2026-03-13T18:43:55Z")
You can use a tool like this: [Firefox Bookmark Backup Reader/Decompressor — Fx File Utilities](https://www.jeffersonscher.com/ffu/bookbackreader.html) Drag the JSONLZ4 file into it and it’ll open it for you. You can either read the raw code to find the bookmarks you need, or export it to a variety of formats (like HTML for Firefox re-import). Or if your bookmarks aren’t private and you want some help, feel free to DM the file to me and tell me what you’re looking for and I can grab it for ya. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bookmark-questions/1028431/3 "2026-03-13T18:51:12Z")
Disclaimer: I’m 75 with erratic memory issues, but… I had the same question a couple of years ago and IF memory serves I solved it by creating a second User Profile in Firefox and then importing the backup JSON file into it. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-bookmark-questions/1028431/4 "2026-03-13T18:57:15Z")
JSON is an archival format that is both machine and human readable so any text editor can handle it. But .lz4 is a compression format like .zip so you need to use a program to handle that first, it;s not human readable. .jsonlz4 is Mozilla’s combo and handled like the other posts suggest.