Most users have a concept of what an extension is. It was invented so that the operating system could immediately recognize which format type is in front of it and open the file with the help of the associated program or suggest the user to choose the application himself if there are several applets of the same type. But let's see how to change the file extension and what it might be for. Some simple methods that can be used on Windows systems are suggested.
The main myth about extensions and unusual situations
Before considering the main topic, it is worth saying a few words about the myths that exist among some unprepared users. The most important misconception is that when some program does not open the desired file, which, in theory, could be opened in it, changing the extension can solve the problem. For example, the installed software media player can play video files in AVI format, but refuses to play MKV format at all. Ignorant users are trying to change the extension from MKV to AVI, naively believing that after that the file will open. Nothing like this! If the program initially does not support such a format, no matter how you try, without the corresponding conversion, which will be discussed later, nothing will work.
However, it also happens that the extension must be changed without fail. On the Internet, some distributions may contain executable files of the EXE format, for which the extension was specially changed to another (for example, EX_).
Typically, this situation is typical for all kinds of key generators for creating registration keys or license files, when they are not available for the official software being installed, and antiviruses can identify such applets as unwanted software and block them. This can be interpreted as the most common hack. Nevertheless, just in this situation, changing the extension after disabling protection allows you to run the file without problems.
How to change file extensions in Windows 7?
Now directly about the steps that are provided for such actions. How to change the file extension? To begin with, since in Windows, by default, extensions for registered file types are hidden, they need to be displayed.
To do this, in the standard "Explorer", you need to go to the view menu, go to change the settings, and in the view window in the settings list, uncheck the box for hiding such extensions. After that, in the file manager, you can use the rename function (F2) for the selected file and set a different extension. True, it is far from the fact that the file can be opened. Moreover, as an original object, previously mapped to a specific program, it will not open either.
How to change file extensions in Windows 10?
In Windows of the tenth modification, the method just described can also be used. However, if you look at how to change file extensions in this particular system, you can immediately recommend using a simpler method of displaying them.
To do this, in the "Explorer" there is a special item in the expanded toolbar for the view menu on which you need to check the box, after which you can use the usual renaming to change the extension.
Using Notepad
Now a few words about how to change the file extension using the most common Notepad. You can open it through the Start menu, through the Run console using the notepad command, through the search system in Windows 10, or by directly calling the executable object in the System32 directory. Please note immediately that you can change the extension of any opened object with subsequent saving only if the Notepad itself is started on behalf of the administrator.
Quite often, such actions may be required to save the text, which is a list of commands or settings, for example, in the BAT or REG formats, since initially it is impossible to create such files using the system’s tools, even using various kinds of menus and the offered tools.
Batch renaming via command line
Now let's look at batch renaming. You can change the extensions of several files through the command console. But you do not need to call it in a standard way.
In Explorer, in the selected folder, hold down the Shift key and right-click on an empty area (not on the file) and select the option to open the command window from the menu that appears (sometimes there may be a link to the PowerShell console instead of the command line).
After that, the ren command is used in the console window. For example, to change the extensions of all DOC format files to TXT, it will look like this: ren * doc * txt. As already clear, after its implementation, all extensions will be changed automatically.
Converters
Finally, a few words on how to change the file extension by converting it to another similar format. For audio and video, you can use multimedia converters, to convert office documents, say, to a PDF format and vice versa, utilities designed specifically for working with such files are suitable. The advantage of using such programs is that after the conversion, the main contents of the files do not change, and you can open them in those applications that did not support the original formats. This applies not only to the above examples. Now so many converters have been developed that, as it turns out, even completely incompatible formats can be converted.