How to change file extension in Windows. What to do if you need a file in a different format

How to change a file extension in Windows 7. If you have the file extension visibility feature enabled, then changing this extension is not a problem. Another question is, is it worth changing it? Not always, but even almost always, such a change ends with your file no longer opening until you return everything to its place. For such file conversions you need to use specialized programs or online services, of which there are many on the Internet and often they are free. Changing the extension manually is possible and necessary only if your file has an incomprehensible appearance, does not open, and you know exactly what program it was created in. But by default in operating systems Windows extensions hidden from view so that the user does not accidentally erase it when renaming a file.

How to change the file extension inWindows 7

What is a file extension

If we talk in simple language, then this is a special encoding of three or four Latin letters, which is written at the end of the file after the period. There must be a period!

Even simpler - what is written from end to end is the file extension. It serves to identify files. There are many such extensions, each program has its own. For example, at text editor Word extensions . doc(Word 2003) and . docx(Word 2007/2010). Knowing the file extension, you can accurately determine which program can open and view it. That's what they exist for.

What are the file extensions?

There are a great many such extensions. We will talk about this later. And now I’ll tell you for those who don’t yet know how to change the file extension in Windows 7. I’ve already talked about how to do this in Windows XP, so I won’t repeat myself. If anyone is interested, read my article. There is also video video on this topic.

If the file extension is not visible, what should I do?

Sometimes operating system configured so that the file extension is hidden and only the file name is visible. This is done so that when renaming a file, a novice user cannot accidentally change the extension. Otherwise, the file may no longer open.

Making a file extension visible is not difficult. In the Windows 7 operating system, you can make file extensions visible in this way.

Enter the menu Start and go to Control Panel.

IN Control panels in the right top corner there is a window Search. Enter the word in it Folders.

A new window will open Folders settings. Go to the tab View. IN Additional options find the entry Hide extensions for registered file types. If there is a checkmark next to this entry, then uncheck it and click the button below Apply.

Now all your files will have their extensions visible.

Most computer users have at least once had the need to change the video format. Most often, video translation from one format to another is needed to:

• watch videos on a mobile device;
• post videos on the Internet;
• Compress video so that it takes up less disk space.

Movavi Video Converter allows you to complete any of these tasks in seconds. In this case, the user absolutely does not need to understand video formats and characteristics. The program has a simple and intuitive interface in Russian, so even a beginner can work with it.

Changing video file format

Movavi Video Converter supports all popular video and audio formats: AVI, MP4 (MPEG-4), MOV, 3GP, FLV, MKV, WMV, MP3, WAV and others. In addition to transcoding videos to another format, the program also allows you to “convert” DVDs (VOB format files) into regular video files. In the process of this “remodeling” you can choose audio tracks and subtitles.

Saving videos for mobile devices

Holders mobile phones and players often encounter problems playing videos on their devices. When reworking a video and preparing it for portable devices you need to know not only what format to convert to, but also what video parameters (resolution, bit rate, etc.) to set. If you don't want to understand video formats for phones, video formats for players, etc., you can simply download Movavi Video Converter. The program has ready-made profiles for all kinds of mobile devices: Apple iPod, iPhone and iPad, Nokia, Samsung, Sony PSP, Android phones and many others. You will only need to select your device from the list to convert the video to the appropriate format for it.

Preparing videos for uploading to the Internet

Do you have a video that you want to show to your friends - post it on your Facebook or VKontakte page, upload it to YouTube, Vimeo or another site? You don't need to understand what video formats and resolutions these sites support. Movavi Video Converter is not just a program for changing the video format, it can make your life easier because it contains ready-made profiles for popular websites. And if you want to post the video on your own website, then you also have access to flexible settings to convert videos into web-compatible formats, all you have to do is embed the resulting video in the HTML code of your page.

How to change video format

At first glance, the conversion process may seem complicated and confusing, but this is not the case at all. You can change the format of your videos in just a couple of clicks. Download Movavi Video Converter and see for yourself!

Each file has its own extension, which is used by the operating system to identify it. This is necessary to define a program that can work with a specific object or an action that should be performed when it is clicked.

The extension is a set of letters that is indicated after the name. There are many situations in which there is a need to see the type of an object, or there is a need to change it. By default, the Windows 10 operating system hides the format of elements from the user.

How to show hidden file extension in Windows 10?

Sometimes users encounter Windows problem 10, when it is not possible to change the format, since the system hides it by default. This is intended for security purposes so as not to accidentally damage the necessary system data. How can I change this setting so that I can see the expansion of objects?
The first method is to click on the “Start” button in the lower left corner of the screen. Enter “Folder Options” into the search form, and then select the item found. In the window that opens, in the “View” tab, you need to uncheck the “Hide extensions for registered file types” line.

To perform the second method, you will have to open a random folder on your computer and click on the “Arrange” button in the upper left corner. After this, a menu will open where you need to select the line “Folder and Search Options”. A window will open, where on the “View” tab you need to uncheck the “Hide extensions for registered file types” line.

The third method suggests going through the Start menu to the Control Panel utility. There, select viewing in the form of small icons, go to “Folder Options”. In the new window, find the “View” button again, scroll to the very end and uncheck the “Hide extensions for registered file types” option.

In Windows 10, it is possible to make such changes most quickly. To do this, you will need to open any folder, or Explorer itself, and open the “View” menu section.


Check the box next to “File name extensions”, after which not only the name, but also their format will be displayed for all files on the computer.

How to change file type in Windows 10 using the context menu

The easiest way is to use the "Context Menu". To do this, you need to select the desired element, then click on it right click mouse, select “Rename”. After which it will be possible to change it. To do this, you just need to enter the desired value.

In a new dialog box, confirm that you want to change the file type.


Before changing the file extension, it is recommended to make sure that the data in it can be run by the intended program. Sometimes it’s easier to find special software for a certain file type than to change it manually.

How to change the extension of a group of files

To do this, you need to go to the folder where the files are stored. Then, while holding down the Shift key, right-click on an empty space in the folder. After the manipulations have been completed, a command window will open.
In the command line that opens, write the command: ren *.jpg *.png, where: “*.jpg” – original; “*.png” is the final value.

How to change file format using conversion

It often happens that an object is not launched by the program even after changing the format. But this is not surprising, since it is intended solely to map an executable object to a program. The object itself is defined by its content.

If the format is not supported by programs installed on your computer, you can try converting it. For this there are many special programs, which can be downloaded for free. They differ in functionality depending on the tasks that need to be solved. These programs can be divided depending on what formats they can convert. Sometimes you can resort to using standard utilities.

Saving with a specific extension

In most cases, in order not to be fooled later by how to change the extension, it is easier to immediately specify the one you need, changing it while saving. For example, to make changes to the system, you may need an element with the .bat extension or hosts without .txt. To create them, you just need to launch notepad and select “All files” in the “File type” field when saving. If necessary, you can specify any other required format.

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 most simple method What can be confusing is changing 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 about 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 should appear system applications, from which you need to select “Folder Options”.

In order not to search for a long time among this multitude, you can use 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 old file and creates a new one with the required 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 required file, the 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.

In contact with

Before moving on to the topic of how to change the file format, I suggest you define file terminology. Instead of the word “format” you may also come across the word “extension”.

These are two words with equal meaning, between which you can put a mathematical equal sign, although this is not entirely correct from the point of view of mathematics:

file extension = file format

Any user sooner or later faces the need to change, and some of them find it difficult to perform this action.

You can find many special programs that can be used to change the file format. Such programs are called converters. They can be freely downloaded from the Internet, or you can simply not go through the procedure of installing programs on your computer or on a device that replaces a PC.

Before we start changing the format, let’s clarify what, exactly, we are going to change.

What is a file extension (format) and why is it needed?

The file extension or format is the part of the file name that comes after the period. It is this part, which is written in the title (name) of the file, that indicates what type (format) the file belongs to.

Why is the file format needed?

The file format is needed by the operating system Windows system so that it can quickly determine which program to open a particular file for the user. And if there is no such program, then the system can inform the user that it does not understand what to do with the “strange” file.

Why might a simple user need the ability to understand a little about the file extension (format)? First of all, in order to easily open files taken from the Internet or from other sources. Or just to understand that to open each file format you need a suitable program.

For example, a file named hope.txt has a .txt extension, which means it text file. Therefore, this file can be opened, for example, using , and, if necessary, make edits to it, save it with a different name, etc.

The file nadezhda.mp4 has the extension .mp4, which means we are dealing with a video file, which means that you can open, edit and, in general, deal with this format using appropriate video programs. But the Notepad program, designed for working with text, is not at all suitable for opening the video file nadezhda.mp4.

How to determine file type by format

Let me give you examples:

• “On the sea.jpg” - we read what is written after the dot (jpg) and understand that this is an image, since jpg is an image format.
• “Protection of the report.pptx” – we read what is written after the period (pptx) and understand that this is a presentation.
• “Look at me.avi2” is a video file, since avi is a video file format.

Now let's look at what formats they have Various types files, so that you can also easily determine the file type by extension yourself or resort by entering a query there like “bmp what format”.

The following extensions have

• archivers: rar, zip, arj;
• executable programs: exe, com;
• web pages: htm, html;
• texts: txt, rtf, doc, docx, pdf;
• graphics: bmp, gif, png, jpg, jpeg;
• audio: wav, mp3, midi;
• video: avi, mpeg, mp4.

Among the files Microsoft Office There are formats such as:

• documents: doc, docx;
• tables: xls, xlsx;
• presentations: pptx, ppt, pps;
• publications: pub.

How to open a file without knowing its format

You can simply double-click on the file with the mouse and it is likely that it will open. But this does not always happen, so automatic way We move on to the manual option in order to ultimately open the file.

This can be done using the context menu. Sometimes it is also called the PKM menu (menu). A context menu offers a set of specific actions that the system is able to do at the location where the user calls the menu.

Calling up the menu is simple - just right-click on the file name. On touch screens, in particular, context menu opens if you hold your finger (or pen) in the right place, for example, on a file name.

In Fig. 1 shown:

1 – Right-click on the file name.
2 – A context menu opens for the file whose name was clicked. The “Play” option suggests opening the video using .
3 in Fig. 1 – If the default program is not suitable for us, click “Open with”.
4 – A list of programs will appear that can be used to open the file if the default program is not suitable.
5 – The “Select program” option will prompt you to search for a suitable program option on the Internet.

Rice. 1. The file can be “Played” using the default program, or through the “Open with” option you can select another program

• video to video (for example, video.avi to video.mpeg format),
• picture to picture (for example, extension of picture.png to picture.jpg)
• and so on.

How to change file format on Windows 7

By default, file extensions are hidden from users. The Windows developers did this on purpose so that users would not mess things up by changing extensions, deleting “extra” files and rendering the system inoperable.

• Hover your mouse over "
• then go to the "Control Panel" menu
• there click on “Small icons”,
• then stop at the “Folder Options” item.
• Next, the “Folder Options” window will appear, where you need to select the “View” tab (1 in Fig. 2).

Rice. 2. How to allow Windows 7 to show file extensions

• Go lower by moving the slider (2 in Fig. 2).
• Stop at the phrase “Hide extensions for known file types” (3 in Fig. 2).
• There should not be a checkmark; it must be unchecked, if there is one, and then confirm the action with the “OK” button (4 in Fig. 2) so that the changes are saved.

Making a copy of the file to be on the safe side

Let's say you have a video file in avi format (title.avi), and you want to convert it to mpeg format (it will be title.mpeg). Since after changing the file format, theoretically it may become inaccessible (stop opening), in this regard, I recommend making a copy of the file to be on the safe side.

• To do this, you need to right-click on the file (right mouse button), after which a menu will appear in which you click on “Copy”.
• Then on free space Right-click again and select “Paste” from the menu that appears.
• The same file will appear with the word “copy” prefixed to the name, more precisely, “title - copy.avi” (1 in Fig. 3).
• Below is an example on Windows based 7, for others Windows versions(8, 10, XP) actions are exactly the same.

Rice. 3. Make a copy of the file, then click “Rename”

It is for this new copied file that we will change the extension.

• Click on the name “title – copy.avi” (1 in Fig. 3) with the right mouse button,
• then click “Rename” (2 in Fig. 3).
• And now, without changing the file name, we change only its extension, that is, after the dot, write down the format that you need, in my case it is “title - copy.mpeg”.
• After this operation, press “Enter”, as a result we will get (Fig. 4) a duplicate of the file, or rather, a copy of it:

Rice. 4. Changed the file format “title – copy.avi” to the format “title – copy.mpeg”

Rice. 5. Warning about the consequences of changing the file extension

If you are sure, then you just have to click “Yes”. Having completed these steps, all that remains is to check that the file with the new extension opens. Then you can delete extra file, which was saved under the old name, in in this example, is the title.avi file.

How to change file format on Windows 10

To the operating room Windows system 10 showed extensions rather than hiding them, you can enable this option by following these steps.

Click “Start” (1 in Fig. 6), then “Control Panel”. The “Configure computer settings” window will open, in which we click the “Explorer Options” command (2 in Fig. 6):

Rice. 6. Open the Panel Windows management 10

The “Explorer Options” window will open (Fig. 7), in which:

• open the “View” tab (1 in Fig. 7),
• using the slider (2 in Fig. 7) we look for the option “Hide extensions for registered file types”,
• uncheck the checkbox or make sure that it is not there (3 in Fig. 7) opposite the line “Hide extensions...”
• click “OK” (4 in Fig. 7):

Rice. 7. Open extensions Windows files 10

Changing the file format on Windows 8

The process of changing the file format in Windows 8 occurs exactly the same as in 7 (seventh).

• Through "Start" go to "",
• where you need to click on “Small icons” (1 in Fig. 8).
• After this, go to “Folder Options” (2 in Fig. 8), where you need to click on the “View” tab (3 in Fig. 8) and go to “Advanced Options”.

Rice. 8. Opening file extensions in Windows 8

Then we check whether extensions are hidden: there should NOT be a checkmark next to the option “Hide extensions for registered file types” (4 in Fig. 8). Then accept the changes if they have been made (5 in Fig. 8).

Algorithm for changing the file extension in Windows XP

• Hover your mouse over ,
• Next you need to go to the “Settings” menu,
• there select “Control Panel” and
• Click on "Folder Options".

In the window that appears on the screen, select the “View” tab. Then you need to click on the “Advanced options” item, and then go down and hover your mouse over the phrase “Hide extensions for known file types.” If there is a checkmark here, then it must be unchecked. If you uncheck the box, be sure to confirm the action by clicking “Apply” so that the changes are saved.

The same can be done using the “My Computer” window, more details.

Now you can start changing the format the desired file. To start changing the format, hover your mouse over your file, click on it so that the window appears. Then select “Rename” at the bottom.

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