Do you want to change a file extension of a file in your Windows 10 system? File extension describes the type of file. Like ‘. dox’ is a document file, ‘.xlsx’ is an excel sheet. The file extension is always added as a suffix to the file name.
The changed file extension must be compatible with your existing file like a file with an image may have an extension .png and you might change it to .jpeg, both are an extension of the file containing the image.
In the beginning, need to change multiple file extension at once in windows, follow these steps such as Open folder Shift key right click on empty folder Go to the command prompt. Type the following command and then, enter. Sep 11, 2015 Type “d:” without the quotes and press Enter to change to another disk. Type “cd test” and hit Enter to change the current working directory to the “test” folder where all the files you want to change file extensions are saved. Finally type “ren.xxx” and hit Enter to change all files’ extension to.xxx.
In this section, we will discuss the method to change a file extension in Windows 10.
Steps to Change File Extension in Windows 10:
Step 1: In Windows 10 by default the file extension is hidden. As you can see in the image below the Image file’s extension is hidden. First, we need to unhide the file extension so that we are aware of the file extension of a file.
Step 2: Search for the control panel in the Windows search box.
Step 3: In the control panel window click on the Appearance and Personalization.
Step 4: In the Appearance and Personalization window you have to click on File Explorer Option.
Step 5: A new window File Explorer Options will pop up. Under Advanced settings, you have to uncheck ‘Hide extension for known file type’. After this click on Apply and then on OK.
Step 6: Now, you can observe that the Image file has a .bmp extension.
Right-click on the file and from the displayed options click on Rename.
Step 7: Now you can change the files extension. Like I have changed it from .bmp to .jpeg.
Step 8: A Rename dialog box will pop up which warns you that changing the file name extension might make your file unusable. But if you want to change the file extension then you have to click yes.
Done your file extension is changed.
So, with this method, you can change the file extension in Windows 10. You can explore some more methods to do so. Hope the information is useful. Keep reading.
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This page shows you how to change a file extension in Windows. For example, you might want to rename a file called MyDocument.rtf to MyDocument.txt.
These instructions are for Windows 7 but the same basic process applies to most versions of Windows (see screenshots from Windows XP).
NOTE: Changing a file extension should only be done if you are confident it's the right thing to do. Test the file thoroughly after the change. If it doesn't work you can easily change the extension back—just make sure you remember what it was!
My Computer
The first thing to do is open Windows Explorer (or My Computer) and view the file you wish to change. We'll use the example of MyDocument.rtf. When we browse to the file it looks like this:
You'll notice that the file does not appear to have an extension—it's just called MyDocument. That's because in this example Windows is set to hide extension names.
If you can already see file extensions on your computer, skip the next step.
If you can't see the file extension, go to organize > Folder and Search Options, then click the View tab. Uncheck the box titled 'Hide extensions for known file types' like so:
Click OK. Now you should be able to see the file extension:
Right-click the file name and select Rename (or left-click and hold down the button for one second). Enter the new extension like so:
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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—remember that you can restore the original extension if anything goes wrong.
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.
If you do not have permission to change the file extension, you may have to login as Administrator. Another option is to make a copy of the file, rename the copy and then delete the original.
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Note: Windows treats file extensions as case-insensitive, i.e. .RTF is the same as .rtf. However other operating systems do not, and will treat MyDocument.RTF and MyDocument.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 recommend that you get into the habit of using all lower-case letters for all file extensions—then there's no confusion.