A file format is an extension that allows you to start or open specific material only with the help of specific software or components. The extension is indicated after the file name itself. For example, win32.exe, where exe is the format of the executable file.
Often, users cannot determine the extension, because it may not be displayed, and the computer cannot independently select a program or application to run such content. This article describes how to find out the file format in different ways.
Display Enable
If you open a window with an explorer and go to the folder where the necessary files are located, and the format is not displayed next to the name, then the problem is the OS settings. Fixing this is pretty easy.
- Open the "Explorer" window and go to the desired directory.
- Now click on the "View" button on the top panel of the explorer.
- In the panel that opens, click on "Options", and in the window that appears, go to the "View" tab.
- In the "More options" list, scroll down to the end of the list until you find "Hide extensions for registered file types." Opposite it, you need to uncheck, save the changes with the OK button.
Now in Explorer you can find out what format the file has by looking at the signature a dot after the name. Also pay attention to the "Type" column (it can be enabled by changing the type of conductor to "Table"). It also shows the format and type of the selected file.
In properties
The second option is the Properties window of a particular file. To get into it, you need to click on the RMB file (right-click) and open the context menu. It should find the last item "Properties".
You will see a window with a detailed description of a specific document or program. Pay attention to the lines "Type" and "Description" in the "General" tab. This is where you can find out the file format. On Windows 10/8/7 / Vista / XP, such an instruction will be relevant.
Extension change tips
If its format is indicated next to the file name, it means that if you change this value, this material will not open or start. For example, you created a doc text document and saved it in this format. After that, we went into the conductor and removed the doc prefix from the name.
The file immediately ceased to be detected by the system, and when you try to start Windows, it will refer to an unknown format and offer to select a program to start manually. But in some situations, changing the extension may come in handy. For example, to create a bat-file from a txt text document, just change the format after the name.
Therefore, it is not recommended to experiment with file formats without the proper knowledge or need.
Special Sites
If you do not want to configure the parameters of the explorer or rummage through the properties of documents, then special resources will help you find out the file format. These include Open-File, FileTypes, and many others. Sites work according to the following principle:
- You open a section to determine the format;
- click on the "Select" button;
- specify the path to a file with an unknown extension;
- the bottom immediately displays the results of the verification.
In this way, you can not only quickly find out the file format, but also get acquainted with the detailed characteristics and data type.