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

AI file extension

Adobe Illustrator File

Vector Image Files

BIN file extension

Binary Disc Image

Disk Image Files

DBF file extension

Database File

Database Files

DMP file extension

Windows Memory Dump

System Files

HTML file extension

Hypertext Markup Language File

Web Files

MPA file extension

MPEG-2 Audio File

Audio Files

PART file extension

Partially Downloaded File

Misc Files

PL file extension

Perl Script

Developer Files

PLUGIN file extension

Mac OS X Plug-in

Plugin Files

SVG file extension

Scalable Vector Graphics File

Vector Image Files

TGA file extension

Targa Graphic

Raster Image Files

TORRENT file extension

BitTorrent File

Misc Files

TXT file extension

Plain Text File

Text Files

VB file extension

VBScript File

Executable Files

WMV file extension

Windows Media Video File

Video Files