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

AZW file extension

Amazon Kindle eBook File

eBook Files

CUE file extension

Cue Sheet File

Disk Image Files

GPX file extension

GPS Exchange File

GIS Files

GZ file extension

Gnu Zipped Archive

Compressed Files

H file extension

C/C++/Objective-C Header File

Developer Files

MP4 file extension

MPEG-4 Video File

Video Files

PLUGIN file extension

Mac OS X Plug-in

Plugin Files

PPTX file extension

PowerPoint Open XML Presentation

Data Files

PY file extension

Python Script

Developer Files

RM file extension

Real Media File

Video Files

ROM file extension

N64 Game ROM File

Game Files

RPM file extension

Red Hat Package Manager File

Compressed Files

TEX file extension

LaTeX Source Document

Text Files

TIFF file extension

Tagged Image File Format

Raster Image Files

WMV file extension

Windows Media Video File

Video Files