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How To Change A File Extension in Windows

This document provides instructions for changing a file extension in Windows. It explains that changing a file extension may have three effects: it may make no difference, enable some programs to work with the file while disabling others, or cause the file to no longer open properly. It describes using Windows Explorer to right click a file, select rename, and change the extension. Windows may warn that the file may not work after changing the extension.

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Ziddi Thakur
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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35 views

How To Change A File Extension in Windows

This document provides instructions for changing a file extension in Windows. It explains that changing a file extension may have three effects: it may make no difference, enable some programs to work with the file while disabling others, or cause the file to no longer open properly. It describes using Windows Explorer to right click a file, select rename, and change the extension. Windows may warn that the file may not work after changing the extension.

Uploaded by

Ziddi Thakur
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How to Change a File

Extension in Windows
This page shows you how to change the name of a file extension in Windows XP. For example, you might want
to change a file called mypage.htm to mypage.php, or myvideo.vob to
myvideo.mpg. We use Windows XP for this example but the same process applies to most versions
of Windows.

Changing a file extension should only be done if you are confident it's the right thing to do. There are many
reasons for changing an extension — sometimes it's fairly straightforward, sometimes it's a bit of a gamble.
When you change an extension, one of three things is likely to happen:

 It won't make any difference to how the computer deals with the file.
 It will enable some programs to recognize and work with a file, while other programs may no longer
recognize it.
 It will not have any useful effect and the file will no longer open properly.

Windows Explorer

The first thing to do is open Windows Explorer (or My Computer) and view the file you wish to change. We will
use the example of a file called myfile.rtf which we want to change to myfile.txt. It looks like this in
Windows Explorer:

At this stage you might notice that your file does not appear to have an extension (in the above example it
would simply be called myfile). This is probably because you have Windows set to hide extension names.
Go to Tools > Folder Options , then click the View tab. Uncheck the box titled "Hide
extensions for known file types" like so:
OK. Now you should be able to see the file extensions for all files. Right-click the file name and select
Click
Rename. Enter the new extension like so:

After entering the new extension, hit the Enter (return) key. Windows will give you a warning that the file
may not work properly. This is quite safe — if the file does stop working you can always change the extension
back (just make sure you remember what it was!).

It's also possible that you might get another message telling you that the file is "read-only". In this case either
say yes to turning off read-only, or right-click the file, select Properties and uncheck the Read-
only box.

.RTF is the same as .rtf. However other


Note: Windows treats file extensions as case-insensitive, i.e.
operating systems do not, and will treat myfile.RTF and myfile.rtf as two different files. Therefore
it is good practice to always treat your files as case-sensitive for maximum compatibility. This is especially
crucial if you are going to use the files on the Internet. We strongly recommend that you get into the habit of
using all lower-case letters for all file names and extensions.

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