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An MBOX file is the simplest possible email archive — multiple email messages concatenated in a single text file, each separated by a 'From ' line. The format dates back to the earliest Unix mail systems and remains in use because of its sheer simplicity. Google Takeout exports your entire Gmail as an MBOX file.
The lack of structure is both a strength and weakness. MBOX files are easy to create, easy to parse, and readable in any text editor. But accessing a specific message in a large MBOX requires scanning through the entire file, and concurrent access is problematic. Maildir format solves these issues for servers, but MBOX persists for archival and export.
Thunderbird imports MBOX files natively (use the ImportExportTools add-on for direct import). Apple Mail can import MBOX via File → Import Mailboxes. For searching and browsing large MBOX archives, tools like mboxgrep (command-line) or Thunderbird's search work well.