How to change the file name without changing the extension. What to do if you need a file in a different format

Every Windows user may be faced with the need to change the type of a particular file. We invite you to familiarize yourself with the main ways to accomplish this simple task.

Interesting! It is customary to denote by extension or file type that part of its name that is contained after the dot. For example, the "All About Everything. Docx" file has the ".docx" extension or the Microsoft Word file extension.

Please note that initially all file extensions are hidden from users. In order to change the file type, we first need to make all extensions visible to us. This can be done through the "Folder Options" window, and you can access it in the following ways:

Method 1. Using the base explorer of your operating system

Step 1. Open "My Computer" or "Computer".

Step 2. Depending on the language of your OS, in the upper left corner, click "Organize" or "Organize" and select "Folder and search options" or "Folder and search options".

Method 2. Through search in the "START" menu

Step 1. Press the "Win" key / the corresponding icon at the bottom left of the screen.

Step 2. In the search box, start typing "Folder and search options" or "Folder and search options", click on the result.

Method 3. Through the "Control Panel"Windows

Step 1. Press the "Win" key or the corresponding icon in the lower left part of the screen.

Step 2. In the menu that opens, select "Control Panel" or "Control Panel".

Step 3. In the upper right corner, change the view type to "Large Icons" or "Large Icons".

Step 4. Among all the icons that appear, look for one with the name "Folder Options" or "Folder Options" and click it.

As a result of using any of the above methods, the required window will open in front of you, in which you should uncheck the box "Hide permissions for ..." or "Hide extensions for known file types".

Uncheck the box "Hide permissions for ..." or "Hide extensions for known file types"

After that, you will see the extensions of all files on your system. In order to change one file type to another, you need to select it and:

1. Right-click on it, then click on the "Rename" or "Rename" option, and then change the text following the dot.
2. Press the F2 key and also change the text after the point.

Important! The extension is the text after the period in the file name. To change the file type, you need to LEAVE point and change the text after it. See the picture below.

Method 4. We use the command line Windows 7

First, you need to open a command line:

Step 1. Press the Win + R keys at the same time.

Step 2. A window will open in front of you, in the empty field of which you must enter "CMD" and press "Enter" or "Ok".

Now you need to use the "Rename" command. For this you need:

• type "rename" and press space;
• print the full path to the file and the file name itself along with its current extension;
• put a space, put an asterisk and immediately after it write a new extension.

A simple example of a complete command along with an accompanying screenshot:

"Rename C: \ Users \ temnikov.s \ Desktop \ Personal \ 121.rtf * .docx".

As a result of using this command, we will change the file format called "121" from plain text to Microsoft Word 2010.

Interesting! Please note that by changing the file type you will not in any way change / damage its contents. All you do is tell your WINDOWS that this or that file has a format that should be opened through a specific program.

We use third-party programs

The file extension can also be changed using additional software. We suggest using one of the most popular programs "Total Commander":

Step 1. We open the program and get to the file we need.

Step 2. Press the F2 key, then change the file name after the dot and press the "Enter" key. We remind you that it is the text after the dot that contains information about the file extension. Now in the "Type" column you can see the file with its new extension.

In this example, we changed the file extension "Error codes" from ".doc" to ".txt"

Video - How to change the file type to Windows 7

In this article, I will show you how to change the file extension in the Windows operating system to correctly match the file type or format. The instructions for changing the file name extension are suitable for operating systems Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7.

A file extension is a set of characters (2 to 4) that identify the format or type of file, appended after a period to the file name. For example, in the “Document.txt” file, the first is the file name “Document”, then a period is put, and after the period, the file extension is “txt”.

What are file extensions for? File extensions help the Windows operating system determine the type or format of a file to associate an application with to open a given file type. When matched correctly, programs will immediately open the appropriate file type.

Why does Windows need to change the file extension? Some files have incorrect extensions initially. This often happens when downloading files from the Internet. The downloaded file has an unknown extension, but in fact it can be an audio file in MP3 format, or a video file in MP4 format. After changing the extension to the correct one, the file will open using a program designed to open this type of file (in our case, using a multimedia player).

Attention! Changing the file name extension in Windows should only be done if you are sure that it is really necessary. Please note that this is a reversible operation. In case of unsuccessful renaming, you can return the file to the previous extension.

By default, file extensions are hidden in Windows. Therefore, it is necessary to make the operating system display the file extension.

How to change a file extension in Windows 10

In the Windows 10 operating system, you can enable the display of hidden file extensions in two ways.

First way to enable display of filename extensions:

1. Open File Explorer.
2. Click the "View" tab.
3. Check the box next to File Name Extensions.

Second way to enable display of filename extensions:

1. Open the "View" tab in Explorer.
2. Click on "Options" and then on "Change folder and search options."
3. In the Folder Options window, click the View tab.
4. Uncheck the box next to Hide extensions for registered file types.
5. Click on the "OK" button.

After that, you will see that the file extensions are now displayed.

How to change file extension in Windows 7

File extensions will be available for modification in the manner described above.

How to change a file extension in Windows 8 (Windows 8.1)

In Windows 8.1 and Windows 8, open an Explorer window. Next, follow the same steps, exactly the same as in Windows 10:

1. Enter the "View" tab.
2. Activate the item "File name extensions".

Another way: in the "View" tab of the Explorer go to "Options", and then "Change the parameters of folders and search." In the "Folder Options" window.

In the "View" tab, uncheck the "Hide extensions for registered file types" item. Then click on the "OK" button.

File extensions can now be changed in the manner described above in the article.

Conclusions of the article

If necessary, you can change the extension of the file name in the Windows operating system to a different file extension to correctly match the file type. In Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, you first need to display the file extension, and then change to a different file extension name.

Today we will analyze such a moment,. Each element of the operating system has its own name and extension, which is separated from the name by a period and consists of three characters. Each character set identifies the type of file. There is a huge number of different types of files, executable (exe) text (txt, doc), music (mp3) and many others.

In windows 7, users are faced with such a problem that they do not know how to change the file type. By default, this option is disabled and it is only possible to set a new name. Do not be upset, there are several simple and unspoiled ways.

Note: change the extension of those files that you can work with after renaming. It makes no sense to assign the executable type (exe) to the place of the music type (mp3).

Windows 7 standard tools

First you need to find a window that is responsible for the properties, settings of folders and files. You can do this action in the following ways:

1. In the explorer (my computer), click "arrange" and select "".
2. In the "start" menu in the search form, we type the query "folder parameters".
3. In the "start" menu, select "control panel", look for the desired tab.

Go to the "View" tab. Find and uncheck the "Hide extension for registered file types" option. Then apply the changes and click "ok".

After that, the extensions will be visible in the explorer. Now we can change file type in windows 7 using several guidelines. Select the file and do one of the following:

1. Click on the right mouse button. Select the "rename" command from the drop-down menu.
2. Press the F2 key.
3. From the Organize menu at the top of File Explorer, choose Rename.
4. Click on the modified object with the left mouse button, then click again after a couple of seconds. If you press too quickly, a file or folder will open.

Set your extension and click on enter.

Total commander program

The most powerful tool for working with files. Many functions, and most importantly, ease of use. After installing the program, you can do it without any problems. Use the recommendations above (points 1, 4).

Another important difference from the conductor, batch file type change... To do this, select several elements (hold down CTRL and click with the left mouse button). Right click and select "rename".

In the window that opens, you will see the standard renaming pattern *. *, Where an asterisk denotes any sequence of characters. We change the template, for example, * .php so that all selected files will be with the php extension. You can customize this filter as you like, even by partial occurrence.

Command line (CMD)

We will change it using the rename command. Below we will consider how to use it.

From the beginning. To do this, press the key combination, the windows + R icon and enter CMD in the line.

Below is an example of modifying one file. Enter the rename command followed by the path and parameters of the change.

Rename c: \ computer \ document.txt * .php

In this example, the type will be renamed from txt to php, and the name will remain the same. Replace * enter any sequence of characters to change the name.

If a file or path name contains two or more words separated by a space, you need to enclose them in quotes.

It is possible to change several files at once. Type the following command:

Rename c: \ computer \ *. Zip * .rar

In the current directory, all items with a zip extension will be renamed to rar, but the names will remain the same. In case of incorrect input construction, you will see a warning “error in command syntax”.

So you know how to change file type in windows 7, this also applies to 8, XP. Do not forget that changing the extension facilitates the opening of the file by another program, but not changing its structure. Of the methods considered, the most practical is the use of a total commander.

Everyone uses the Explorer, but due to the limitation of working with a group of files, it makes it not very practical. And not everyone wants to deal with the command line.

Hello dear users! In this article, you will get acquainted with the topic of changing the file format. Instead of the word "format", you may also come across a variant such as "extension". These are two meanings, equal in meaning!

Any user may be faced with the need to change the data expansion on a PC, and many found it difficult to resolve the issue when performing this action. In fact, there is nothing difficult about how to change the file format to Windows 10, 8, 7 - there are many ways available to the user!

You can find a large number of special programs with which you can change the extension. Such applications are called converters. They can be freely downloaded from the Internet, or you can simply use the online converter and not go through the software installation procedure. Before you start changing the format, you need to understand what it is.

What is the file extension?

The extension or file format refers to the part of the file name that comes behind the period. It is this abbreviation, which is spelled out in the name at the end, and indicates what kind of file the file belongs to.

How to determine the file type by format?

Please consider examples:

Now let's look at what formats the file types have, so that you can also easily identify them by extension yourself.

Among Microsoft Office, there are tables: xls; presentations: pptx, ppt, pps and publications: pub.

Algorithm for changing the file extension in Windows XP, Vista

In the window that appears on the screen, select the tab "View"... Then you need to click on the item "Extra options", and then go down below and hover the mouse over the phrase "Hide extensions for registered file types"... If there is a check mark here, then it must be unchecked. If you unchecked the checkbox, be sure to confirm the action by selecting Apply to save the changes. You should have something like this screenshot.

Now you can start changing the format of the desired file. To start changing the extension, hover the mouse over your file, click on it to bring up the window, then select the item below "Rename".

Let's say you have an image of the format png jpeg. After you clicked "Rename", select the name of the file and its extension (At sea.png). And now, without changing the file name, we only change its extension, that is, after the dot, write the format that you need (At sea.jpeg). Enter. "OK". File extension changed successfully!

How to change file extension on Windows 7, 8, 10?

Hover the mouse over the item "Start" then go to the menu , there click on "Small icons", then stop at the item "Folder Options" These items are shown in this screenshot.

Next, a window will be highlighted in which you need to select the tab "View", then click on "Extra options". Go down below and stop at the phrase Hide extensions for registered file types. There should not be a checkmark, it must be removed, if there is one, and then confirm the action with the button Apply to save the changes. You should look like the picture.

Let's say you have a video file of the format avi and you want to convert it to the format mpeg... After you have pressed "Rename", select the file name and its extension (At sea.avi). And now, without changing the file name, we write only its new extension, that is, after the dot, indicate the format that you need (At sea.mpeg). After this operation, press the button Enter. Next, another window will be displayed, but you just have to click "OK". After completing these steps, you can be sure that the file format has changed.

The process of changing the file format in Windows 8 and 10 is exactly the same as in the 7 version of the operating system. Across "Start" go out to where you need to click on "Small icons"... After that go to item where you need to click on the tab "View" and go to additional parameters.

Then, in a familiar way, we check if the extensions are hidden. Then accept the changes, if they were made, and proceed to renaming, namely, changing the file extension, writing the format you need behind the dot.

Conclusion

So, thanks to this article, you remember which formats belong to a particular file type. As you can see, it was not so difficult to change the file extension (format). The main thing is to know the ways!

We will be very glad if you recommend this page to your friends, so that they too know how to simply change the file format without installing any third-party conversion programs. Leave comments, rate the article! Thank you!

In this manual, I will show you several ways to change the extension of a file or a group of files in current versions of Windows, and also tell you about some of the nuances that a novice user might not even know about.

Among other things, in the article you will find information about changing the extension of audio and video files (and why it is not so simple with them), as well as how to turn text files .txt into .bat or files without an extension (for hosts) - also popular question within this topic.

Changing the extension of an individual file

To begin with, by default in Windows 7, 8.1 and Windows 10, file extensions are not displayed (at least for those formats that are known to the system). To change their extension, you must first enable its display.

To do this, in Windows 8, 8.1 and Windows 10, you can go through Explorer to the folder containing the files that you want to rename, select the "View" menu item in the explorer, and then, in the "Show or hide" item, enable "File name extensions" ...

The next method is suitable for both Windows 7 and the already mentioned OS versions, with it, the display of extensions is enabled not only in a specific folder, but also in the entire system.

Go to the Control Panel, switch the view in the "View" item (top right) to "Icons" if "Categories" is set and select the "Folder Options" item. On the "View" tab, at the end of the list of additional parameters, uncheck the item "Hide extensions for registered file types" and click "OK".

After that, right in the explorer, you can right-click on the file whose extension you want to change, select "Rename" and specify a new extension after the dot.

When you do this, you will see a notification stating that “After changing the extension, this file may not be available. Are you sure you want to change it? " Agree if you know what you are doing (in any case, if something goes wrong, you can always rename it back).

How to change the extension of a group of files

If you need to change the extension for several files at the same time, you can do this using the command line or third-party programs.

To change the extension of a group of files in a folder using the command line, go to the folder containing the necessary files in Explorer, and then, in order, perform the following steps:

As you can see, nothing complicated. There are also tons of free programs specifically designed for mass renaming of files, such as Bulk Rename Utility, Advanced Renamer, and others. Likewise, using the ren (rename) command, you can change the extension for a single file as well, simply by specifying the current and desired file name.

Change the extension of audio, video and other media files

In general, for changing the extensions of audio and video files, as well as documents, everything written above is correct. But: novice users often believe that if, for example, a docx file is changed to doc, mkv to avi, then they will start to open (although they have not opened before) - this is usually not the case (there are exceptions: for example, my TV can play MKV, but does not see these files via DLNA, renaming to AVI solves the problem).

The file is determined not by its extension, but by its content - in fact, the extension is not important at all and only helps to match the program that is launched by default. If the content of the file is not supported by programs on your computer or other device, then changing its extension will not help open it.

In this case, file type converters will help you. I have several articles on this topic, one of the most popular is, often interested in converting PDF and DJVU files and similar tasks.

You can find the necessary converter yourself, just search the Internet for the request "Converter 1 to Extension 2", indicating the direction you need to change the file type. At the same time, if you do not use an online converter, but download a program, be careful, they often contain unwanted software (and use the official sites).

Notepad, .bat and hosts files

Another common question related to file extension is creating and saving .bat files in notepad, saving the hosts file without the .txt extension, and others similar.

Everything is simple here - when saving a file in notepad, in the dialog box in the File type field, specify “All files” instead of “Text documents”, and then when saving, no .txt will be added to the name and file extension you entered (to save the hosts file additionally requires running notepad on behalf of the Administrator).

If it so happened that I did not answer all your questions, I am ready to answer them in the comments to this guide.