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

DRV file extension

Device Driver

System Files

GED file extension

GEDCOM Genealogy Data File

Data Files

KML file extension

Keyhole Markup Language File

GIS Files

M3U file extension

Media Playlist File

Audio Files

MDB file extension

Microsoft Access Database

Database Files

MPA file extension

MPEG-2 Audio File

Audio Files

PDB file extension

Program Database

Database Files

RTF file extension

Rich Text Format File

Text Files

SAV file extension

Saved Game

Game Files

SYS file extension

Windows System File

System Files

TEX file extension

LaTeX Source Document

Text Files

VB file extension

VBScript File

Executable Files

VCD file extension

Virtual CD

Disk Image Files

WPS file extension

Microsoft Works Word Processor Document

Text Files

3G2 file extension

3GPP2 Multimedia File

Video Files