An MBA file is an archive created by Benetech Martus, an open source tool used by human rights activists to securely collect and manage confidential data about people. It stores encrypted data records about one or more people exported from Martus.

To export encrypted records from Martus in an MBA file, select the records to be exported and click the "Export" icon in the taskbar. To export unencrypted records from Martus in an .XML file, select the records you want to export, click the "Export" icon in the taskbar, and uncheck "Encrypted." To import encrypted records stored in an MBA file, click the "Import" icon in the taskbar. Martus is designed specifically for professionals, such as journalists and human rights activists, that work with vulnerable people, like refugees or abuse victims. Martus allows users to enter information about a person, then automatically encrypts the entered data and sends it to a network of secured servers. Martus users can then view, analyze, report, and visualize the data within the app. Data in MBA files can only be exported and imported by Martus.

An MBA file contains an activity created by Inclusive Technology MyBoard, an interactive educational tool for classrooms. It stores information about a learning activity, such as a coloring book, literacy game, dot-to-dot tracing sketch, or board game. MBA files are compressed with Zip-compression.

You most likely will only encounter a MyBoard Activity MBA file if you teach in a formal classroom and use MyBoard software. You can create an activity from scratch in MyBoard and save it as an MBA file, download an MBA file from the Internet, or receive an MBA file from another teacher via email. Since MBA files are Zip-compressed, you can rename the .mba file extension to .zip, then extract the contents in the .ZIP file. Contents in the file typically include .XML, .JPG, and .SWF files that make up the activity.