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

DBF file extension

Database File

Database Files

DEB file extension

Debian Software Package

Compressed Files

EXE file extension

Windows Executable File

Executable Files

GAM file extension

Saved Game File

Game Files

MP3 file extension

MP3 Audio File

Audio Files

PLUGIN file extension

Mac OS X Plug-in

Plugin Files

PPT file extension

PowerPoint Presentation

Data Files

SLN file extension

Visual Studio Solution File

Developer Files

TEX file extension

LaTeX Source Document

Text Files

TXT file extension

Plain Text File

Text Files

VB file extension

VBScript File

Executable Files

VCD file extension

Virtual CD

Disk Image Files

XLSX file extension

Microsoft Excel Open XML Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet Files

YUV file extension

YUV Encoded Image File

Raster Image Files