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

TORRENT file extension

BitTorrent File

Misc Files

AVI file extension

Audio Video Interleave File

Video Files

M file extension

Objective-C Implementation File

Developer Files

MAX file extension

3ds Max Scene File

3D Image Files

CRDOWNLOAD file extension

Chrome Partially Downloaded File

Misc Files

DOC# file extension

Microsoft Word Document

Text Files

CPP file extension

C++ Source Code File

Developer Files

AI file extension

Adobe Illustrator File

Vector Image Files

TEX file extension

LaTeX Source Document

Text Files

SRT file extension

SubRip Subtitle File

Video Files

SAV file extension

Saved Game

Game Files

7Z file extension

7-Zip Compressed File

Compressed Files

PDB file extension

Program Database

Database Files

SDF file extension

Standard Data File

Data Files

LUA file extension

Lua Source File

Developer Files