Change File Extension One-by-One and in Bulk
All the files on your computer need proper applications to open. Sometimes, the installed application on your computer can only open specific files. For example, the app can only open PNG images, but your images are JPGs. Or your computer only works for PPT files, but your file is a PPTX. That's when you need to change the file extension to the corresponding one. In this article, we will tell you what is file extension, and how to change the file extension in Windows 10.
What is File Extension
The file extension is also called a filename extension, it is a suffix at the end of your computer files. A complete file name includes the file name and file extension, and the file extension and file name are separated by a dot. The operating system uses file extensions to identify which applications are associated with which file types, in other words, which application will open when you double-click the file.
There are, like hundreds of existed file extensions. Below we have listed some common file extensions.
PNG: It stands for Portable Network Graphics, is a lossless image file format.
HTM/HTML: Represents HyperText Markup Language. It is the format for creating web pages online.
PDF: It stands for Portable Document Format. It is a file type originated by Adobe and used to maintain formatting in distributed documents.
EXE: An executable format used for programs you can run.
DOC/DOCX: Represents for Microsoft Word documents. DOC is the original extension used for Word files. After Word 2007 has released, Microsoft changed the file extension to DOCX. That's because Word documents are now based on the XML format, so Microsoft added an "X" at the end of DOC.
XLS/XLSX: Represents Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The reason why XLSX has an additional "X" is the same as that of a Word document.
How to Change File Extension in Windows 10
Now, you can apply the following steps to change the file extension by yourself.
Step 1. Open Windows File Explorer.
Step 2. Click the "View" tab. Tick the "File name extensions" option.
Step 3. Now you can see the file extension of all your files. Find the file that you would like to change the file extension, right-click the file, choose rename, and enter the new file extension.
How to Change File Extension in Bulk
The first method enables users to change file extensions one by one, what if you want to change several file extensions at one time? We are also curious about this question. Is there any method that can finish this task all at once?
Unfortunately, NO.
One method claims that you can select all the files first, and right-click then choose "Rename" to bulk change the file extension. We've tried this method. Sadly, you can't use this method to bulk change file extensions. Even though you have select all the files, Windows will send you a confirmation message every time you changed one file extension.
So even though pages are saying that you can change the file extension in bulk, the methods they offer are actually invalid.
Bonus Tip: How to Check File System in Windows 10
After knowing how to change file extension, we want to introduce a handy tool that can help you check and fix system errors as well as manage partitions.
Check for disk errors will help prevent unknown hard disk troubles and troubleshoot disk read errors, storage-related errors, and even system boot problems. And if you got a new hard drive, you also need to manage your hard disk.
One such tool is Qiling Partition Master Free version. With this tool, users could check and fix the file system with simple clicks. And it also supports users to resize, move, merge, and Copy disks or partitions.
The 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 Qiling Partition Master.
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