Change File Extension One-by-One or in Bulk [2024 Tutorial]

All the files on your computer require appropriate applications to open them. Occasionally, the software installed on your computer may only be compatible with specific file types. For instance, an application might only support PNG images, whereas your images are in JPG format. Alternatively, your computer might function well with PPT files, but you have a PPTX file. In such scenarios, you would need to alter the file extension to match the correct one. In this article, we will explain what a file extension is and guide you on how to change the file extension in Windows 10.

Main Content:

What is File Extension
How to Change File Extension in Windows 10
How to Change File Extension in Bulk
Bonus Tip: How to Check File System in Windows 10

# What Is File Extension File extensions are a crucial part of the file naming convention used in computer operating systems. They indicate the format or type of a file, providing information about how the data within the file should be interpreted by the software or operating system. A file extension typically consists of a dot (.) followed by one or more characters at the end of a filename. For example, in "document.docx," ".docx" is the file extension. It tells you that this file is a Microsoft Word document in the DOCX format. Different file extensions correspond to different types of files. Some common examples include: 1. **.txt**: Text documents 2. **.docx**: Microsoft Word documents 3. **.pdf**: Portable Document Format files 4. **.jpg/jpeg**: JPEG image files 5. **.png**: Portable Network Graphics files 6. **.mp4**: Video files 7. **.zip**: Compressed archives 8. **.exe**: Executable programs on Windows Operating systems use file extensions to determine which program should open a particular file. When you double-click a file, the system checks its extension and launches the associated application. If no default program is set, the user will be prompted to choose an appropriate application. It's important to keep file extensions visible in your file explorer settings, as hiding them can sometimes lead to confusion or make you vulnerable to malware, which may disguise itself with a misleading extension. In summary, file extensions play a vital role in organizing and managing files on computers, ensuring that the right software is used to access and manipulate the data they contain.

A file extension is also called a filename extension, and it's a suffix found at the end of your computer files. A full file name consists of both the file name and the file extension, with a dot separating them. The operating system relies on file extensions to determine which applications are linked to specific file types. In simpler terms, it decides which application will open when you double-click a file.

There are indeed hundreds of existing file extensions. Here are some common ones listed below: 1. **.docx**: Microsoft Word Document 2. **.pdf**: Portable Document Format 3. **.xlsx**: Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet 4. **.pptx**: Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation 5. **.jpg**: Joint Photographic Experts Group Image 6. **.png**: Portable Network Graphics Image 7. **.txt**: Text File 8. **.zip**: Compressed Archive 9. **.mp4**: Multimedia Container for Video and Audio 10. **.html**: Hypertext Markup Language 11. **.css**: Cascading Style Sheets 12. **.js**: JavaScript File 13. **.mp3**: MPEG-1 Audio Layer III (Music File) 14. **.avi**: Audio Video Interleave Format 15. **.gif**: Graphics Interchange Format Image 16. **.sql**: Structured Query Language File 17. **.rar**: RAR Archive 18. **.jpeg**: Joint Photographic Experts Group Image (another variant) 19. **.csv**: Comma-Separated Values File 20. **.exe**: Executable File (Windows) This is just a small sample; there are many more file extensions for various types of files and purposes.

Here are the translations for each language term: 1. **DOC/DOCX:** Stands for Microsoft Word documents. DOC is the original extension used for Word files. After the release of Word 2007, Microsoft changed the file extension to DOCX. This change occurred because Word documents are now based on the XML format, hence they added an "X" at the end of DOC. 2. **XLS/XLSX:** Represents Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. The addition of "X" in XLSX is for the same reason as in Word documents. 3. **PNG:** Short for Portable Network Graphics, it is a lossless image file format. 4. **HTM/HTML:** Represents Hypertext Markup Language, which is the standard format for creating web pages on the internet. 5. **PDF:** Stands for Portable Document Format, a file type initially developed by Adobe, designed to preserve formatting across distributed documents. 6. **EXE:** This is an executable format used for programs that can be run on a computer.

Popular File Extensions

In the upcoming section, we'll delve into how to modify file extensions in Windows 10. Meanwhile, kindly share this article to acquaint more users with this method.

How to Change File Extension in Windows 10

Now, you can apply the following steps to change the file extension by yourself.

1. Press the "Windows + E" keys to find and open Windows File Explorer.

2. Click the "View" tab on the top menu bar, located next to "File," "Home," and "Share."

3. Under the View tab, tick the "File name extensions" option. Or, click "Options", uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types," and click "OK".

Check File Name Extensions

4. Find the file you want to change the file extension of, right-click the file, choose Rename, and enter the new file extension.

"How to batch change file extensions?"

The first method lets you change file extensions one by one. But what if you want to change several file extensions at once? We were curious about this too.

Is there any method that can finish this task all at once? Unfortunately, NO.

1.
• User Suggestion: They say you can select all the files, right-click, and then pick "Rename" to change the file extensions in bulk.
2.
• ✍?Our Test: We tried this method out. Sadly, it doesn't work for changing file extensions in bulk.

Even though you have selected all the files, Windows will still prompt you with a confirmation message every time you change the extension of a single file. In other words, you can only change file extensions one at a time.

Recap: So even though pages claim that you can change file extensions in bulk, the methods they provide are actually invalid.

Bonus Tip: How to Check File System in Windows 10

Upon knowing how to change the file extension, we would like to introduce a handy tool that can assist you in checking and fixing system errors, as well as managing partitions.

Checking for disk errors helps prevent unknown hard disk issues, troubleshoot disk read errors, storage-related issues, and even system boot problems. If you've just acquired a new hard drive, you'll also need to manage your hard disk.

One such tool is the tools Partition Master Free version. With this utility, users can easily check and fix file systems with just a few clicks. It also facilitates resizing, moving, merging, and copying disks or partitions.

If you're interested in this tool, download it for free from the button below, and follow the guide to learn how to check and fix the file system.

Step 1. Launch tools Partition Master on your PC. Then, locate the hard drive and right-click the partition that you want to check. Choose "Advanced" > "Check File System".

Step 2. In the Check File System window, select the "Try to fix errors if found" option and click "Start".

Step 3. The software will begin checking your partition file system on your disk. When it completes, click "Finish".

In addition to checking file system issues, this software also allows you to change the device file system format or disk partition style using its powerful conversion features. For instance, you can use this tool to:

Bottom line.

That's all about how to change the file extension in Windows 10. Hope you can fix your problem after reading this article. Don't hesitate to try the FREE tool Partition Master.