How to change the file extension (format). How to change a file extension How to change a file extension in windows xp
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.
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 can be seen 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.
In contact with
File extensionis part of the file name separated from the main name by a dot. There are many file format extensions. And in order for the operating system to determine which program to open a certain file, its extension is placed after the file name.
For example, file Landscape.jpg, jpg extension indicates that this is a graphic file and can be opened by any standard or third-party graphics editor or image viewer.
I will give examples of some categories of files and their extensions.
| Audio files | mp2, mp3, wav, midi, mpa, ogg, wma |
| Video files | 3fp, avi, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, mpeg, wmv |
| Raster images | bmp, jpeg, jpg, png, tif, zif |
| Text, documents | doc, docx, txt, xps, readme, fb2, emlx, bdr |
Each program on your computer is designed to work with specific files and extensions. Therefore, if you want to open any file, then first you need to find out which program uses the extension of this file, then download it and install it.
Change file extension in windows 7possible for different purposes. For example, to create bat, html, xml files. Each person interested in this issue has his own goal, but the general task is to change the file extension.
So let's get started. To change the file extension, follow these steps:
First, you need to make sure that the file extension is displayed.
Step 1 . Click Start and select Control Panel. To more fully display all components of the control panel, change view of small or large icons . Then click on the link.
Step 2 . In the window that opens, go to the tab View. In the block Extra options drag the slider down and uncheck the box Hide extension for registered file types. After that, click on the button OK.
Greetings, dear readers! In this article I will tell you how to change the file extension, or what is the same, the file format.
I won’t go into details why you might need to change the file extension (format), because since you found this article, it means you need it.
Unfortunately, people often make mistakes when trying to change file extensions. Still, it’s better to use converters that will do everything for you, without errors.
Anyway! First of all, I must explain in simple language what a file format (extension) is.
What is a file extension (format)?
File extension (format)- this is the part of the file name that is separated from the main one by a dot and stands at the very end. Usually it shows what type of file it is (audio, video, picture, download file, etc.).
For example, a file called “Krab.jpg” is a picture, since it has the extension “.jpg”, and a file called “Pobeg.avi” is a video recording, since “.avi” is a video file format
I hope you get the point. Below I will write the most popular extensions and what type of file they define.
- Programs: exe, com;
- Documents (MS Word): doc;
- Tables (MS Excel): xls;
- Presentations (MS PowerPoint): ppt;
- Text files (Notepad): txt;
- Web pages: htm, html;
- Windows help: hlp;
- Drawings (photo): bmp, jpg, gif, ico, tif;
- Music: mp3;
- Video: avi, mpeg;
- Archives: zip, rar.
Well, now you can go directly to the topic of the article, how to change the file extension (format)! I will tell you how to do this in three versions of Windows OS: Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8.
How to change the file extension (format) in Windows XP?
Open “Start” -> “Settings” -> “Control Panel” -> “Folder Options”.
In the window that opens, select the “View” tab (in the menu at the top). In the window we find the list of “Advanced options” and, scrolling down, we find the item “Hide extensions for known file types”. If this item is checked, then it must be unchecked, as shown in the figure:
Don't forget to click on the "Apply" button, otherwise the changes will not be saved and you will have to do everything again.
Now we find the file whose extension we want to change, select it with one click of the left mouse button, call up the context menu by right-clicking on the file and select “Rename”. We will highlight both the file name and extension. Next, without changing the file name, we change the extension itself to the one you want. As soon as you make the changes, press Enter, a notification will pop up, read it and press “OK”. Then the file will be renamed and the extension will change.
It is done!
Open “Start” -> “Control Panel”. In the “View” menu, select “Small Icons”. Next, find and click on “Folder Options”:
A window will open, in the top menu select the “View” tab, in the “Advanced Options” panel, scroll down and find the “Hide extensions for registered file types” item. If there is a tick on it, then remove it. If there is no checkmark, then we do nothing. Then click “Apply”, otherwise the changes will not be saved and you will have to do everything again:
Next, we find the file whose extension or format needs to be changed, select it by single-clicking on it with the left mouse button, call up the context menu by right-clicking on it, and select the “Rename” item.
Next, we will highlight the part of the name that is located before the dot. We are not interested in it, so we select and correct what is after the point. Then press Enter and the file extension will be changed!
Here, in fact, everything happens almost exactly the same as in Windows 7. But I’ll describe everything again!
Move the cursor to the lower left corner all the way until it becomes visible. Then we lift it up, but do not move it to the left. A menu will open in which you need to click “Options”.
Another menu will open in the same location. There you need to select “Control Panel”.
The control panel will open. In the “View” drop-down list, select “Small Icons”. Next, find and select “Folder Options”:
A window will open in which you need to go to the “View” tab (via the menu at the top). In the “Advanced options” list we find the item “Hide extensions for registered file types” (you need to scroll to the very bottom using the scroller). If there is a checkmark on it, then you need to remove it and click the “Apply” button. If there is no checkmark, then we do nothing:
Select the file by clicking on it once with the left mouse button, then click on it once with the right mouse button and select “Rename” in the context menu that opens. Select the extension and change it, then press Enter and you're done!
As you know, a user file consists of two parts: a name and an extension. The name is specified by the user and, as a rule, denotes a logical relationship between the name and the contents of the file. The extension assigns data to a certain type and determines which program will open the selected file.
From the description, I have already given examples when you need to know. On disk, the extension is displayed as an abbreviated three-character mnemonic code after a period, for example.exe or .txt - all these are types of file extensions.
How to change in windows
For this simple action, there is the famous and well-worn program “My Computer”. In the standard settings of this file manager, extensions By following a few simple steps, you can display and then change the file extension.
You may ask: “Why hide file attachments?” The fact is that hiding is a standard mechanism for protecting against accidental or intentional changes to important data. By default, Windows hides system files and root partition data completely and hides extensions for all other file types.
To see all add-ons, open the My Computer desktop folder. You should see an explorer window, in the menu of which there is a “Tools” item, a sub-item “directory properties”. Click on it once with the mouse.
Then go to the "View" tab. Scroll through the list of settings to find the “advanced settings” option, at the bottom of which there is a subheading “hide extensions for registered files.” You need to remove the checkbox from it.
Now, if you need to change the add-on, select the file you are editing and right-click on it. Next, select the “rename” option. Since the extension is already available for viewing, you can erase it and enter a new one. The same goes for the file name.
How to change the file extension in all folders on your computer
On the “View” tab, find “Directory View” and click “Apply to all directories”. Now file additions will be displayed in any opened folder, not just the selected one. You already know how to change the file extension.
By changing the extension of one or more files, you thereby instructed Windows to open them with a program that by default worked with this type of file. When, for example, you rename a file with a .doc extension to .bmp and then try to open it, an error will occur. Since you have just assigned this file to run in the default graphics editor, and the data type being opened is formatted text (not graphics), the graphics editor will not display it correctly.
Therefore, before changing the file extension, make sure that your actions are correct. Be especially careful when trying to rename a system file! Accidental changes to it may lead to inoperability of the operating system in the future.
File manager 7z - changing the extension easily and simply
If you have the 7z archiving tool from Igor Pavlov installed on your system, you can quickly and easily change the addition to any file. How it's done? I'll write it down point by point.
- Open the archiver and file manager rolled into one - the 7z program.
- Its window is divided into two panels for convenience. Each of them displays your current location.
- If you need to change the extension of files in a folder, just right-click on the file - “rename”. And then everything is the same as in Explorer: erase the old extension and add a new one.
- There is no need to display anything; all file additions are already shown in both panels.
System files - briefly
If you come across a file like .sys or .dll, then most likely this is system data. Don't try to change their extensions. These services are designed for the correct operation of Windows and should not be changed by the user by default.
Each file that is used in Windows 10 and other versions of the OS has an extension: .txt, .doc., .exe, .jpg and others. Often, users need to know how to change the file extension in Windows 10 to continue working.
Making visible
By default, extensions are not visible in Windows 10. Therefore, to change them, first turn on the display. There are two ways to do this.
In the View tab
In Folder Options
How to change
You can change the extension after it has been opened.
Using the context menu
The easiest way is to use the Context Menu.
Important! Use this method only when you know for sure what you are doing. If after this the file no longer opens, rename it back.
File groups
Important! The change will occur only for those files whose original extension matches the one specified in the command.
Conversion
Often the file is not launched by the program even after changing the extension. But this is not surprising since it is intended solely to associate an executable file with a program. The file itself is determined by its content.
If the file format is not supported by programs installed on your computer, convert it. Special programs are designed for this. You can find them on the Internet. They differ in functionality depending on the tasks you solve.
Video
The video clearly shows the process of opening visibility and changing the extension.
Saving with a specific extension
To make changes to the system, you may need a file with the extension .bat or hosts without .txt extension. To create them, launch Notepad and, when saving, select “All files” in the “File type” field. If necessary, specify the required extension. 
Conclusion
Changing the extension is done using the Context Menu or Command Line when working with a group of files. If the device does not have programs compatible with a particular file, it can be converted to a suitable format using special programs.
