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

PDF file extension

Portable Document Format File

Layout Files

CS file extension

Visual C# Source Code File

Developer Files

XLR file extension

Works Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet Files

M4A file extension

MPEG-4 Audio File

Audio Files

XLS file extension

Excel Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet Files

7Z file extension

7-Zip Compressed File

Compressed Files

BAT file extension

DOS Batch File

Executable Files

PIF file extension

Program Information File

Executable Files

TGA file extension

Targa Graphic

Raster Image Files

CRDOWNLOAD file extension

Chrome Partially Downloaded File

Misc Files

XHTML file extension

Extensible Hypertext Markup Language File

Web Files

ASX file extension

Microsoft ASF Redirector File

Video Files

GIF file extension

Graphical Interchange Format File

Raster Image Files

JPG file extension

JPEG Image

Raster Image Files

LNK file extension

Windows File Shortcut

System Files