How to change a file extension in Windows. Group renaming of files in Windows How to replace a file extension in Windows 7

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.

Many PC users have to face the need to change the file format - for example, to play a video in mkv format on a device that only supports mp4 or 3gp. To make changes, you can use special programs, online services, and even those editors where data with such an extension is created. Most applications are completely free or shareware and are easy to use.

What is the file format?

The term file format refers to the information used by a computer to open a specific area of data. Thanks to this information, the appropriate program is selected - in most cases, the operating system does this automatically. For new extensions that have not yet been opened by the system, the user must select the application manually - if problems arise with this, information about the specific format can be obtained on the Internet.

The extension is 2-4 characters after the period in the name - in Windows it is recognized, including displaying this information; file managers such as Total Commander provide this opportunity immediately. When the opening application is already installed, its icon changes - experienced users can use the icon to draw conclusions about the type of data.

Text in .docx format will open in the Word office application by default. In this case, the icon will look like a blue letter W. If MS Office is not on your computer, but OpenOffice is already installed, the document will open in this program. The default option can be changed - for example, by forcing .txt files to open not in Notepad, but in a text editor.

Programs for changing file formats of various types

A simple and fast way to both change the file format and convert it to a new type is special converter programs. With their help, the extension for the following types of data is changed:

Images. Almost any graphic editor is suitable for this, from Paint, which works with PNG, JPG, BMP and GIF extensions, to Adobe Photoshop, which can convert information received from digital cameras.
Audio. Sound objects can be converted by almost any music editing software.
Video. This format can be changed in video editors such as VSDC Free Video Editor or Photo Montage.

In addition to programs that can change a specific group of files, there are a number of universal applications that can handle the transformation of several types of data at once. For example, Format Factory and SuperC work with video, images, and audio. And utilities such as Any Video Converter Free, Any Audio Converter and ImBatch, changing only the sound, videos and pictures, support the conversion of a group of files. To work with applications, you need to download them, install them, open them, select the necessary data and specify a new format. The process takes minimal time, although the exact duration depends on the number of objects being modified.

If you need to change the file format for a document with a .doc, .pdf or .org extension, use the same programs in which it can be created. For text it will be Word or OpenOffice, for spreadsheets - Excel. Electronic documents are converted by a program such as Adobe FineReader. It is worth noting that analogues of these applications are created not only for Windows, but also for Android and iOS. And if you wish, you can use online resources for the same purpose.

Online services for converting files

The advantage of sites that can change the format is that there is no need to install additional software on your computer. Sometimes this allows you to solve the problem with the user not having administrative rights and being prohibited from making changes. In other cases, this feature saves space on the system disk and does not occupy the computer's RAM.

The list of services that provide format changes includes:

Converter convertio.co/ru/, working with audio, video, text documents, presentations and even archives. With the help of online software, you can change several files at once.
The resource docspal.com/ru/ is a multiconverter that can not only convert data, but also work with 5 elements simultaneously.
Service convertonlinefree.com. Despite the almost “talking” name, the site works not only with PDF and DOC formats, but also with various versions of texts, images and even e-books.

Another well-known and popular resource is online-convert.com/ru, when you go to the main page of which you can see a list of 8 conversion options. The service is able to change documents, images, videos, music, archives, e-books and even web services and hashes. To work with a resource, select the final format and click on the “Start” button next to the selected type. After this, you can select a file from your computer, from a cloud storage, or via a link, start the conversion and download the resulting data back to disk.

Changing file extensions in Windows

In most cases, simply changing the file format by renaming it, but without actually converting it, does not provide the user with any additional capabilities. A picture with a docx extension will not open in Word, a table renamed from xlsx to rar will not become an archive. However, sometimes it is really necessary to change the format. For example, to obtain an executable bat file from text with a txt extension. Such a replacement will be useful and, if necessary, make an html web page from the same txt.

Before normal renaming in Windows, you need to enable the extension display. It is usually invisible so as not to interfere with title renaming. The activation method depends on the version of Windows:

The extension is now visible to the user. To change the format of only one file, you can use the context menu and select the rename option.

You can correct the extensions of a group of files by opening cmd. To do this, hold down the Shift key, right-click on the folder with the files to rename in Explorer, select “open command window”. In cmd type the command below and press Enter:

ren *.xxx *.yyy, where xxx represents the initial format, yyy – the final format.

By changing the file format using special programs and resources, they provide the ability to open elements of the same type with certain applications and reduce their size (as in the case of converting BMP or RAW to JPEG). The easiest way to do this with images and documents is to use a regular editor. For some files, you can simply change the extension in Windows, but their number is limited - in most cases, simply changing the label will not give any effect.

Every Windows user may be faced with the need to change the type of a particular file. We invite you to familiarize yourself with the main ways to perform this simple task.

Interesting! The extension or file type usually refers to the part of its name that is contained after the period. For example, the file “Everything about everything.Docx” has the extension “.docx” or the Microsoft Word file extension.

Please note that initially all file extensions are hidden from users. In order to change the file type, we first need to make all extensions visible to us. This can be done through the “Folder Options” window, and you can access it in the following ways:

Method 1. Use the basic explorer of your operating system

Step 1. Open “My Computer” or “Computer”.

Step 2. Depending on the language of your OS, in the upper left corner, click “Arrange” or “Organize” and select “Folder and search options” or “Folder and search options”.

Method 2: Search in the START menu

Step 1. Press the “Win” key/the corresponding icon in the lower left side of the screen.

Step 2. In the search bar, start entering “Folder and search options” or “Folder and search options”, click on the result.

Method 3. Through the “Control Panel”Windows

Step 1. Press the “Win” key or the corresponding icon in the lower left part of the screen.

Step 2. In the menu that opens, select “Control Panel” or “Control Panel”.

Step 3. In the upper right corner, change the view type to “Large Icons” or “Large Icons”.

Step 4. Among all the icons that appear, look for one called “Folder Options” or “Folder Options” and click it.

As a result of using any of the methods described above, the desired window will open in front of you, in which you should uncheck the “Hide permissions for...” or “Hide extensions for known file types” box.

Uncheck the box “Hide permissions for...” or “Hide extensions for known file types”

After this, you will see the extensions of all files on your system. In order to change one file type to another, you need to select it and:

Right-click on it, then click on the “Rename” or “Rename” option, and then change the text following the dot.
Press the F2 key and also change the text after the period.

Important! The extension is the text after the period in the file name. To change the file type, you must LEAVE the period and change the text after it. See the picture below.

Method 4. Use the Windows 7 command line

First, you will need to open a command prompt:

Step 1. Press the Win+R keys at the same time.

Step 2. A window will open in front of you, in the empty field of which you must enter “CMD” and press “Enter” or “Ok”.

Now you need to use the "Rename" command. To do this you need:

type “rename” and press space;
print the full path to the file and the file name itself along with its current extension;
put a space, put an asterisk and immediately after it write a new extension.

A simple example of the full command along with an accompanying screenshot:

“Rename C:\Users\temnikov.s\Desktop\Personal\121.rtf *.docx.”

As a result of using this command, we will change the format of the file called “121” from plain text to Microsoft Word 2010.

Interesting! Please note that by changing the file type you will not change/damage its contents in any way. All you do is indicate to your WINDOWS that this or that file has a format that should be opened through a certain program.

We use third-party programs

The file extension can also be changed using additional software. We suggest using one of the most popular programs “Total Commander”:

Step 1. We open the program and get to the file we need.

Step 2. Press the F2 key, then change the file name after the dot and press the Enter key. We remind you that it is the text after the dot that contains information about the file extension. Now in the “Type” column you will be able to see the file with its new extension.

In this example, we changed the extension of the “Error Codes” file from “.doc” to “.txt”

Video - How to change the file type on Windows 7

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 .jpg photo 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.

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.