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

MPA file extension

MPEG-2 Audio File

Audio Files

JSP file extension

Java Server Page

Web Files

XHTML file extension

Extensible Hypertext Markup Language File

Web Files

7Z file extension

7-Zip Compressed File

Compressed Files

TEX file extension

LaTeX Source Document

Text Files

TAR file extension

Consolidated Unix File Archive

Data Files

GED file extension

GEDCOM Genealogy Data File

Data Files

M file extension

Objective-C Implementation File

Developer Files

TIFF file extension

Tagged Image File Format

Raster Image Files

CUR file extension

Windows Cursor

System Files

AZW file extension

Amazon Kindle eBook File

eBook Files

LUA file extension

Lua Source File

Developer Files

PIF file extension

Program Information File

Executable Files

MPG file extension

MPEG Video File

Video Files

DMP file extension

Windows Memory Dump

System Files