How can I change the file extension. What should I do if I need a file in a different format? What is a file extension

Today, dear friends, we will look at a very important issue that interests a huge number of computer and laptop users. But before we start talking about this, let’s find out what an extension is and why it needs to be changed. Let's go in order.

The extension is necessary so that the operating system can quickly determine what type of format a particular file belongs to. Let's say you downloaded a photo.jpg to your desktop. If the system did not automatically detect the extension, then every time you would look at a photo, you would have to manually select the program through which this image would be opened. It's difficult, don't you agree?

Why might you need to change the extension? Here's a simple example: you have m4a files on your computer that your iPod can't read at all. What to do in such cases? Alternatively, you can use special programs that allow you to remake formats. However, such programs are often expensive and take up a lot of free time. Therefore, the most optimal solution can be considered to simply change the extension, because the file itself does not change, but the iPod can easily read it.

Changing the extension using the standard method

I’ll tell you right away, friends, that there is no fundamental difference in this matter between the operating systems Windows XP, Vista or 7, so we will show an example based on the last of them.

Open the Start panel - Control Panel - Folder Options.

A new window has opened in front of you. Select the “View” tab and scroll down until you see the inscription “Hide extensions for known file types.” Uncheck the box next to it, and then click “Apply” and OK.

Now what? And now we go to the desktop or to the folder where the desired file is located, select it, right-click and select “Rename” from the menu. Now you can safely change the file extension to whatever you need. As you can see, the whole process took only a minute of your free time.

As for Windows XP, the folder options section in this operating system is not located in the control panel, but in the “Tools” section (open any folder and see it in the top menu). Otherwise there are no differences.

Using a file manager

You can always use a file manager if it is installed on your computer. As a last resort, such a program can be downloaded on the Internet - they are usually distributed completely free of charge. In this case, we will show an example based on Total Commander.

Open your file manager, select the drive and folder where the file is located. Hover your mouse over it, select Rename and change the extension.

We use WinRAR

This method is designed for real maniacs and can only be used for personal satisfaction, since it is too unusual, although simple.

Surely most of you have a program installed on your computer for archiving and unzipping files. It will be useful to us.

Take the file and zip it using WinRAR. Then open the archive, select the desired file, change the extension and unzip.

We hope we helped you with the answer. If you have questions or any advice, do not hesitate to post them through the comments, we will be interested in reading them. Sincerely.

The information stored on our digital devices can be in different formats. Many users periodically face the question - how to change the file extension? This need is periodically caused by the need to translate an image into the required format, adapt a document downloaded from iTunes and other mobile content stores to the characteristics of the device, reformat text content into a web page, and other reasons. How can you change the extension so that the information retains all its properties? Let's try to figure it out.

What is a file extension or format

Before changing the extension replacement function, the user needs to find out what it is and what this characteristic affects:

First, it limits the range of applications that can open the file.
Secondly, it was created so that the device would be able to determine its type.

Each document has its own format, which is indicated after the name. Using this property, the system determines what type of information it is dealing with - video, audio, etc. The extension characterizes this parameter and helps the system select the optimal application to open. Before changing the properties of a file to suit your needs, you need to remember how to find out the format, and only then think about how to change the existing file extension.

To do this, right-click and select the “Properties” tab. The extension will be indicated in the “File type” line. This property in most cases takes the form of a combination of 3-4 letters and numbers. By way of illustration:

audio files come with the extension mp3, wma;
video files – mpeg, avi;
graphic images - gif, jpg.

When the system sees this letter combination, it understands which program to open the document with and, as a rule, can decrypt it. When changing the format, it is very important to correctly carry out the algorithm of actions, taking into account the features of a particular operating system, otherwise you can damage the information by setting the wrong format, and in the future the system simply will not be able to perform the decryption procedure, etc. To prevent this from happening, we have prepared step-by-step instructions for you on how to change the extension for different OSes and other useful tips.

Some files do not have any extension and it is easiest to change their format. The user needs to right-click and select “Rename”. Then a dot is added to the name, followed by the letter value of the extension of interest. If the properties after renaming fully comply with the required format, the information will be opened by the necessary applications.

On operating systems of the Windows family, the extension is hidden from users by default. The ability to convert a file is provided in one of the sections of the control panel. By going in and making the appropriate changes to the settings, you will be able to give the files you are interested in the desired format. The procedure has some differences for different versions of the operating system. Converting information is not such a complicated process, and its implementation is accessible even to users without advanced skills.

On Windows 7

For users of the Windows 7 operating system, changing the extension is relatively easy. To do this you need to perform the following procedure:

Click the “Start” button, open “Control Panel”;

select the “Small icons” view type;

select “Folder Options”;

select the “View” tab and uncheck the “Hide extensions for registered file types” option, save the changed settings;

after that, by right-clicking on the document, you can rename it, changing not only the name, but also the extension.

Some users may be interested in how the format is changing for the Windows Vista operating system. This process is completely identical to the procedure for Windows 7. The control panel interface of both operating systems has much in common, and changing the format type for Vista according to the instructions provided will be easy. For XP OS, the format changes in a similar way, but the Folder Options item is located in the top menu of the Tools group window.

On Windows 8

For Windows 8 OS the procedure is similar to Windows 7:

go to the “Control Panel”;

set “Small icons”;

open folder options;

select the “View” tab, go to “Advanced options”; Uncheck the box next to “Hide extensions for known file types.”

That's all! After completing these steps when renaming, you can simultaneously convert the information into the format you need. This is easy to do if the sequence of actions is followed, and this task can be completed not only by an experienced user, but also by a beginner who has paid attention to studying the circuit in detail.

How to rename the extension of several files at once

If there is a need to rename the extension of several files at the same time - convert several dozen files from .txt to .html, change image extensions, etc. - you should acquire special software. The Total Commander program is well suited for these purposes. It has a user-friendly interface and is distributed free of charge - you can use it without even registering. You can download the program here: ghisler.com/download.htm.

The procedure for changing the format using Total Commander is extremely simple:

select the required documents using the CTRL+A button combination;

press CTRL+M – a combination that activates group renaming;

indicate the required format, names, numbering and other parameters that interest you;

After this, the selected icons are converted to the format you need

Online

The Internet presents many specialized sites that allow you to change the extension automatically in real time. As an illustration, the site doc.investintech.com/ provides users with the opportunity to convert text files of the .docx format into .doc, readable by a large number of text editors. You can follow the procedure for changing the format on such sites as follows:

using the “Browse” or “Browse” button, select the desired file;

its extension is indicated in the corresponding window;

the button to confirm the operation is pressed;

the new format file is downloaded to the computer’s hard drive

After changing the format using an online converter, it is recommended to check whether the procedure was completed correctly by trying to open the updated document using the desired application. If it opens without problems, everything went correctly. Its properties were not damaged, and you were able to change the document extension without errors. This means that you can continue to use the online converter in the future.

List of existing file extensions: table

To ensure that you do not have any difficulties or errors in reformatting documents, we have compiled a table for you that lists common extensions, their properties, letter values, file assignments and the software with which these documents are opened. After familiarizing yourself with its contents, you can acquire the necessary applications for opening certain documents.

File types	File formats	Extensions	Programs
	Text Document	.txt	Notepad, WordPad, Microsoft Word
Text	Rich Text Format	.rtf	WordPad, Microsoft Word
	Microsoft Word Document	.doc .docx	Microsoft Word
Help	Complited HTML help file	.chm .hlp	Microsoft HTML Helper
Web page	HTML document	.htm.html	Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla FireFox, Google Chrome
Font	Font file	.ttf	Windows Font Viewer
	Portable Document Format	.pdf	Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader, Foxit Reader
E-books	DjVu Image	.djvu	DjVu Reader, WinDjView
	FictionBook 2.0	.fb2	FB Writer, FBTools HaaliReader for Windows Cool Reader
Archives	Archive RAR, ZIP	.rar .zip	WinRAR, WinZIP
Tables	Microsoft Excel workbook	.xls .xlsx	Microsoft Excel
Presentation	Microsoft Power Point	.ppt .pptx	Microsoft Power Point
Database	Microsoft Access	.mdb .accdb	Microsoft Access
	CD Audio	.cda
	Windows sound file	.wav
Audio	Windows Audio Format	.wma	Windows Media, Winamp
	Audio format MPEG 1 Layer 3	.mp3
	Video format for Windows	.avi	Windows Media, Light Alloy
	MPEG video format	.mpg .mpeg	Windows Media, Light Alloy
	Quick Time Movie	.mdv	Quick Time Movie Player
Video	MPEG-4 video file	.mpg4	QuickTime Player, Windows Media, Light Alloy
	Flash compatible video file	.flv	Media Player Classic, Adobe Flash Player
	Flash animation	.swf	Browser with Flash module
	DivX encoded video file	.divx	DivX Player, CyberLink PowerDVD, QuickTime Player with DivX codec
	Windows Media Video File	.wmv	Windows Media Player, CyberLink PowerDVD, Browser with Windows plug-in, Media Player
	DVD Video Object File	.vob	CyberLink PowerDVD, Media Player Classic
	Windows Bitmap	.bmp
	Compuserve GIF	.gif	ACDSee, InfanView, XnView, programs like gif animator
Images	JPEG file	.jpg .jpeg	Paint, ACDSee, InfanView, XnView
	Tagged Image File Format	.tiff	ACDSee, InfanView, XnView
	Portable Network Graphic	.png	Windows Photo Gallery Viewer ACDSee, Photoshop
Virtual disk	Disk image	.iso .mdf .mds .bin .nrg	Alcohol, Daemon Tools, UltraISO, IsoBuster, Nero
Command, executable	Windows Executable File DOS Batch File	.exe .bat	operating system

In this tutorial we will look at, how to change file extension, but I should immediately warn you that you should not change the extension of a file in which you are not sure that it will work after this operation. He may simply not be able to open and that’s it!

In general, first of all, let's look at what is the file extension? The extension was invented so that the type of file format could be determined. Each file has its own extension, it is added after its name. The file extension allows the operating system to determine which program can open it.

For example, audio files have extensions such as .mp3 .wma, etc., so when we try to open such files, the system immediately understands that they need to be played by the player that is installed on the computer by default. Or when you see a .jpg or .gif extension, the system understands that this is an image and opens it using the image viewer, which is also installed on the system by default.

It's your business why you wondered how to change file extension, I’ll just show you how this can be done on Windows 7 and XP.

Change file extension in Windows 7

Let's go to " Start - Control Panel" Now select the viewing type “Small icons” and go to “Folder Options”.

In the window that opens, go to the “View” tab, go down and uncheck the “”. Then save by clicking the “OK” button.

That's all! Now we right-click on the file whose extension we want to change, and select “ Rename” from the list that appears.

And now the file name is highlighted, and then comes the file extension, which can be changed.

This is how you can change file extension in Windows 7. Now let's move on to XP.

Change file extension in Windows XP

Changing a file extension in Windows XP is almost the same as in “Seven”, but here the display of the extension is enabled in a slightly different way. Let's take a closer look.

Go to any folder and at the very top select the menu “ Tools – Folder Property».

And in the window that opens, we do everything the same as in the case of Windows 7. Go to the “View” tab and uncheck the “ Hide extensions for registered file types" Once everything is ready, save by clicking the “OK” button.

Now we try to change the extension, right-click on the file we need and select “ Rename” from the list that appears.

You can change the extension!

There is another way to change the file extension; the process is the same for any system. It consists of using the program, if you use it, then using it will be the easiest way for you to change the file extension.

Open it, select the drive on which the file is located, go to the desired folder, in one word you get to the file whose extension you need to change.

Then, just like in the first and second cases, right-click and select “Rename”, or simply select the file and press the F2 key on the keyboard.

On the left side we have the name of the file, on the right we have its extension.

After making the change, press the “Enter” key on the keyboard.

These are the ways change file extension, so use the one you like best!

That's all, bye everyone and see you soon!

In this small but useful note, I want to talk about how to change the extension of any file on your computer. And if in windowsXP this procedure is unlikely to cause difficulty for anyone, then in windows7 everything is a little more complicated. File extensions there are often hidden from editing.

Someone may have a question - what kind of expansion are we talking about? If we take a file, for example a Word document, we will see that it is written something like this - “Changing the file extension.doc”. Everything that comes before the dot is the file name, and what comes after the dot (.doc) is the extension of this file. Extensions play a very important role; they help the operating system recognize the type of file and determine which program is best to open it. There are a variety of extensions - .txt, .iso, .jpg, .rar and many, many others. Accordingly, there are programs and applications for reading each of them.

It is often necessary to change the extension. For example, when editing a printer color profile, we had to change the .icc extension to .icm. Otherwise, the Color DarkRoom program simply would not recognize this file.

In windowsXP the extension is easy to change. Right-click on the desired file and select Rename. Now both the file name and its extension can be easily changed using the keyboard.

But in windows7, when performing similar actions, only the name is often edited, and the file extension is hidden. In this case, you can do it in several ways.

1. Click on the Start menu (the circle with the logo in the lower left corner). At the very bottom, enter Folder Options in the search form and select the line with this name from the list. In the window that opens, on the View tab, uncheck the box in the line Hide extensions for registered file types.

Now you can change the extension in the usual way, as described above.

2. The second way we do this is to open any folder on the computer and in the upper left corner click on the Arrange button. In the menu that opens, select the line Folder and Search Options, by clicking on which we will again see the window familiar to us from the first method, where on the View tab we uncheck the line Hide extensions for registered file types.

There are a couple more ways to change the file extension in windows7, but I think these are enough for you.

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Useful programs for the Internet

sublimaster.ru

How to change a file extension in Windows 7 and XP?

Changing the extension using the standard method

I’ll tell you right away, friends, that there is no fundamental difference in this matter between the Windows XP, Vista or 7 operating systems, so we will show an example based on the last of them.

Open the “Start” panel - “Control Panel” - “Folder Options”.

Using a file manager

Open your file manager, select the drive and folder where the file is located. Hover your mouse over it, select Rename and change the extension.

We use WinRAR

This method is designed for real maniacs and can only be used for personal satisfaction, since it is too unusual, although simple.

Surely most of you have the WinRAR program installed on your computer for archiving and unzipping files. It will be useful to us.

Take the file and zip it using WinRAR. Then open the archive, select the desired file, change the extension and unzip.

We hope we helped you with the answer. If you have questions or any advice, do not hesitate to post them through the comments, we will be interested in reading them. Sincerely.

fulltienich.com

How to change file extension in windows 7

An extension is a set of characters after a file name that define its purpose. Thanks to these symbols, the personal computer understands what actions need to be taken when starting a given object. For example, "test.txt" is a text document, "qwerty.html" is an HTML markup page, and "track.mp3" is an audio recording. It is the words after the period (“.txt”, “.html”, “.mp3”) that tell the computer about the type of information being stored. This article describes how to change a setting such as a file extension in Windows 7.

Why is this necessary?

There are a myriad of reasons why users might want to change the object type. However, all of them are rarely used in everyday life and are used mainly by computer specialists and web developers.

The most striking example of a reason to change a file extension is the creation of a bat file.

A bat file is a small program that can be written even by an untrained user, which sequentially executes a set of Windows console commands. For example, you can make a bat that will remove the “Hidden” attribute from all objects in the current folder by placing just one line “attrib -h /s /d” in it.

However, it is impossible to create a document with the .bat extension through Windows Explorer. Therefore, users take a plain text (.txt) document and edit it, after which all that remains is to change its type. The following article describes in detail how to change the file extension in Windows 7.

Configuring Explorer

To prevent inexperienced users from accidentally changing the parameters of any files important for the operation of the system, this function is disabled by default. Therefore, first you need to activate it:

How to change the file type

After the above steps, the name of each object will also display its extension. In order to change it, users need to right-click on the file, select “Change” and replace the old type (2-4 characters after the dot) with a new one.

windowsTune.ru

How to change the file extension?

A file extension is a sequence of characters that are added to the file name after a period. This sequence of characters indicates the file type and helps the operating system determine which program should open the file.

By default, the Windows 7 operating system hides file extensions in Explorer for registered file types. This means that if you have the WORD program installed, you will not see in Explorer the extensions of the files that are opened by this program.

How to change the file extension? | Video lesson

When it becomes necessary to change the file format, many users begin to get lost, because when they try to rename a file, its extension is not shown, but only the name. To rename a file, right-click on its name and select “Rename”.

If you select “Properties” in the same menu, more detailed information about the file will be displayed, as well as its extension and the name of the program that opens it. But in this case you cannot just change the file extension.

The example in the screenshot shows two files with the extensions txt and html. An html file is obtained from a txt file by replacing the extension. For these purposes, you can use various programs or other file managers, for example Total Commander, but we will consider the case of how to change the file extension in Windows 7 Explorer.

First, we need to configure Explorer so that it shows us the extensions of all files. To do this, go to “Start / Control Panel / Appearance and Personalization / Folder Options”.

Next, in the “Folder Options” window that appears, on the “View” tab, scroll the slider, find the line “Hide extensions for known file types” and uncheck the box. After clicking the “Ok” button, file explorer should display extensions for all files.

Now you can change the file format when renaming the file.

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How to change the file extension in Windows 7 and 8, step-by-step instructions

What is a file extension or format

Before changing the extension replacement function, the user needs to find out what it is and what this characteristic affects:

First, it limits the range of applications that can open the file.
Secondly, it was created so that the device would be able to determine its type.

audio files come with the extension mp3, wma;
video files – mpeg, avi;
graphic images - gif, jpg.

When the system sees this letter combination, it understands which program to open the file with and, as a rule, can decrypt it. When changing the format, it is very important to correctly carry out the algorithm of actions, taking into account the features of a particular operating system, otherwise you can damage the information by setting the wrong format, and in the future the system simply will not be able to perform the decryption procedure, etc. To prevent this from happening, we have prepared step-by-step instructions for you on how to change the extension for different OSes and other useful tips.

How to change file name extension in windows 7

For users of the Windows 7 operating system, changing the extension is relatively easy. To do this you need to perform the following procedure:

Click the “Start” button, open “Control Panel”;

select the “Small icons” view type;

select “Folder Options”;

select the “View” tab and uncheck the “Hide extensions for registered file types” option, save the changed settings;

after that, by right-clicking on the document, you can rename it, changing not only the name, but also the extension.

Some users may be interested in how the format changes for the Windows Vista operating system. This process is completely identical to the procedure for Windows 7. The control panel interface of both operating systems has much in common, and changing the format type for Vista according to the instructions provided will be easy. For XP OS, the format changes in a similar way, but the Folder Options item is located in the top menu of the Tools group window.

How to change file format in windows 8

For Windows 8 OS the procedure is similar to Windows 7:

go to the “Control Panel”;

set “Small icons”;

open folder options;

select the “View” tab, go to “Advanced options”; Uncheck the box next to “Hide extensions for known file types.”

How to rename the extension of several files at once

The procedure for changing the format using Total Commander is extremely simple:

select the required files using the CTRL+A button combination;

press CTRL+M – a combination that activates group renaming;

indicate the required format, names, numbering and other parameters that interest you;

After this, the selected icons are converted to the format you need

Replacing file extension online

using the “Browse” or “Browse” button, select the desired file;

its extension is indicated in the corresponding window;

the button to confirm the operation is pressed;

the new format file is downloaded to the computer’s hard drive

After changing the format using an online converter, it is recommended to check whether the procedure was correct by trying to open the updated file using the desired application. If it opens without problems, everything went correctly. Its properties were not damaged, and you were able to change the document extension without errors. This means that you can continue to use the online converter in the future.

List of existing file extensions: table

File types File formats Extensions Programs

	Text Document	.txt	Notepad, WordPad, Microsoft Word
Text	Rich Text Format	.rtf	WordPad, Microsoft Word
	Microsoft Word Document	.doc .docx	Microsoft Word
Help	Complited HTML help file	.chm .hlp	Microsoft HTML Helper
Web page	HTML document	.htm.html	Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla FireFox, Google Chrome
Font	Font file	.ttf	windows Font Viewer
	Portable Document Format	.pdf	Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader, Foxit Reader
E-books	DjVu Image	.djvu	DjVu Reader, WinDjView
	FictionBook 2.0	.fb2	FB Writer, FBTools HaaliReader for windows Cool Reader

It's no secret that our time is marked by the age of information. Right now information price is more important than ever. This is the engine of progress, the key to success and the most important component of business. In addition to the accumulation and preservation algorithm, a person needs to somehow secure information. Many software and hardware solutions have been implemented for this purpose. Speaking about the first method, here we can separate two types of protection and hiding data from the eyes of an attacker. The simplest method, which can be confusing, is to change the file extension.

The second case will be needed when data has been downloaded from the Internet, but for unknown reasons its extension does not correspond to what is needed (for example, you downloaded a *.pdf book, but it was downloaded as *.htm). Here you can try changing it to the required one and opening the file.

In Windows 7, there are two methods for replacing data extensions. All of them are quite simple and do not require specific knowledge.

The first method is “Folder Options”

There are two ways to get to this menu. The first one is the shortest. To do this, press the Window + R key combination and enter the control folders command in the window that opens at the bottom left. If this command is ignored by the operating system, you can use another way.

The second method is a little longer. Click the “Start” button and select “Control Panel”. Then, in the menu that opens at the top, for convenience, opposite the “View” section, select the “Small Icons” category. A list of system applications should appear, from which you must select “Folder Options”.

In order not to search for a long time among this set, you can use the quick search. To do this, at the top of the window, in the appropriate field, you need to enter “Folder Options” and press the Enter button.

A window will open where you need to open the “View” tab displayed at the top. Then in the “Advanced options” list you need to find the “Hide file extensions” item. By default, there is a checkbox here that needs to be unchecked. Then click the “Ok” button and go to the desired file. Hover the mouse cursor over it and right-click, then select “Rename”. In addition to changing the name, the user will be able to change extensions. After editing, the system will ask if you really want to perform this action. Here we click the “Ok” button and see that the extension has been changed to the desired one.

The second method is “Regular Notepad”

This method is ideal for experimentation as it saves the old file and creates a new one with the desired extension. First, you should open the Notepad program. To do this, you can press the Window + R key combination and enter the notepad command.

If this method does not work, then the program can be found in “Start” - “All Programs” - “Accessories”. Here we select notepad.

After starting the program, click on the “File” tab and select “Open”. In the window that appears, you need to select the section at the bottom (All files (*.*)). This is necessary in order to find the necessary data other than the txt extension.

After opening the required file, notepad will most likely display a bunch of incomprehensible characters on the screen. After this, you need to open the “File” section again and select “Save As”. In this window, select from the drop-down list opposite the “File type” item - All files. Afterwards, in the field where you enter the name, you must put a dot at the end and write the required extension. Then click the “Save” button. As a result, the user will receive a data type with the old extension and the new one.

As you can see from the above, these steps are very simple. Even an inexperienced user can handle them. The only thing we can recommend is to use only the second method. Because if the file is damaged, the user will not lose data. It will be possible to continue working by changing the extension again from the “reference” file.

But in some situations, the Notepad utility cannot open certain data. In this case, you can use the first method. At the same time, make a copy of the old file.