Obtained from APCUG with the author's permission for publication by APCUG member groups.
Have you ever wondered what the three alphanumeric extension at the end of a
file name mean? (MS-DOS required filename to limited to eight characters for the
base or root name and three characters for the extension. Windows 95 and above
no longer have that limitation.) The three letters or numbers are a way for the
computer user, software, and operating system to differentiate between and
identify the program used to create a file (document, spreadsheet, database,
etc.). We are all familiar with .exe for an executable file, .txt for a text
document, and .pdf for a PDF file. There are many other file extensions. The
same file extension may be used for more than one program. There is no standard
or organization for creating file extensions. This month we will begin to list
some of the extensions.
Here is the A list of some of the extensions and the file types they represent.
.a: An ADA program, Unix archive file, Macintosh assembly source code, Free
Pascal Archive file for Linux or DOS
.a2b: A2B Player Playlist
.abx: Word Perfect Address Book file
.aby: AOL file
.adr: Address Book, Address Plus Database, After Dark Random Screen Saver
Module, Opera , Smart Address adressbook, Web Browser Bookmark File
.albm: webAlbum Photo Album, Photosmart Photo Printing Album
.alz: ALZIip compressed file, game file
.aps: MS Visual C++ file, Flash (Italian), ArcPar Ver. 5 Symbology, Advanced
Patching Systems with Error Checking
.arl: AOL Organizer file
.arj: Compression archive
.ars: Adobe After Effects Render, Artifax Report Editor
.awd: AWD MS Fax, Award BIOS file, AWK Language Source Code file, Artweaver
Painting, FaxView document
.awe: Adobe Acrobat Bookmark XML file
.awm: Animated Works Movie, AllWebMenus, RenderWare Language Pack
When you look at a list of files you may notice that the file extensions are
hidden. To find out if they are hidden right click “Start” then left click
“Explore”, then click on a file fold on the left side of your screen. If you do
not see file extensions they are hidden you can make then visible them by
following the actions below.
Windows 98
Select “View” then “Folder Options”. Select the ”View” tab. Scroll down to
“Hide file extensions for known file types” and uncheck this box.
Windows XP
Select “Tools” then “Folder Options”. Select the “View” tab and scroll down to
“Hide file extensions for known file types” and uncheck this box. Click “Apply
to All Folders”
Vista
Click on the “organize” button. Select “Folder and Search Options”. Select the
“View” tab and scroll down to “Hide file extensions for known file types” and
uncheck this box. Click “Apply to All Folders”
This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by
APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author (see
e-mail address above).
For more information on the Tulsa Computer Society click here