File extensions – definition and basic information


File extensions are the integral parts of the files that are on each computer. Often, when working on a computer, we encounter a wide range of files, such as docx, ppt, part, mp3 or rmvb. We realize that they are there – but we often do not know what they are for on our computer.

File extension, also known as the filename extension is a suffix added to the name of a computer file, usually consisting of a number of characters placed after the last dot in the filename, which gives us information about its coding. In other words a file extension is a file format. It allows the operating system (e.g. Windows) to recognize what program it should try to open the file.

In the table below you will find a random selection of popular file extensions.


File extension The full name of the file Category

AIF file extension

Audio Interchange File Format

Audio Files

ASP file extension

Active Server Page

Web Files

DMP file extension

Windows Memory Dump

System Files

FLA file extension

Adobe Flash Animation

Developer Files

FLV file extension

Flash Video File

Video Files

H file extension

C/C++/Objective-C Header File

Developer Files

HTM file extension

Hypertext Markup Language File

Web Files

JAVA file extension

Java Source Code File

Developer Files

LOG file extension

Log File

Text Files

M file extension

Objective-C Implementation File

Developer Files

PS file extension

PostScript File

Vector Image Files

RA file extension

Real Audio File

Audio Files

TIFF file extension

Tagged Image File Format

Raster Image Files

TORRENT file extension

BitTorrent File

Misc Files

XLSX file extension

Microsoft Excel Open XML Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet Files