The .MPP file format belongs to Microsoft Project, a popular project management tool created by Microsoft to assist project managers in creating plans, managing resources and tracking project progress.

.MPP files are the default format which Microsoft Project uses to save project information and obviously Microsoft Project can open these files, however the format is not backwards compatible across all versions so you may find that your version of Project is unable to open a .MPP file created with a different version to yours. There are however, a number of different software applications to open or convert an .MPP file (see the associated software list).

Microsoft Project was the third application released by Microsoft back in 1984. There currently two version available, standard and professional. Microsoft now includes Microsoft Project as part of its Office suite of applications (as of Office version 2010).

Microsoft Project (and Microsoft Project Server) are also central to Microsoft Office's Enterprise Project Management (EPM) product.