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

TARGZ file extension

Compressed Tarball File

Compressed Files

PSD file extension

Adobe Photoshop Document

Raster Image Files

AI file extension

Adobe Illustrator File

Vector Image Files

JAVA file extension

Java Source Code File

Developer Files

XHTML file extension

Extensible Hypertext Markup Language File

Web Files

7Z file extension

7-Zip Compressed File

Compressed Files

CUR file extension

Windows Cursor

System Files

CUE file extension

Cue Sheet File

Disk Image Files

M file extension

Objective-C Implementation File

Developer Files

TXT file extension

Plain Text File

Text Files

NES file extension

Nintendo (NES) ROM File

Game Files

VCXPROJ file extension

Visual C++ Project

Developer Files

PY file extension

Python Script

Developer Files

SAV file extension

Saved Game

Game Files