Learn how to change a file’s extension in Windows Vista.
All files end with an extension like .txt for a plain text document or .jpg for a picture. The extension tells Windows Vista what type of file it is and what program to open it with. This guide shows you how to change a file’s extension in Windows Vista.
Change a File Extension
Show File Extensions
First you need to set Windows Vista to show file extensions.
- Click Computer in the Start menu.
- Press the Alt key on the right side of your keyboard.
- A hidden menu will appear in the Computer window. Click Tools and then click Folder Options.
- Click the View tab.
- Uncheck Hide extensions for known file types.
- Click OK to save your changes.
Learn how to show file extensions in Windows 7 too.
Change a File Extension
Now that we can see a file’s extension we can change it.
- Click on the file that you want to change the extension.
- Wait a second or two.
- Click the file again.
- The name of the file will become highlighted. Simply erase the extension and give it a new one.
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Explore other guides about: All • Misc • Vista • Windows.
Thanks alot.
Thankyou! That was driving me crazy! : )
No, I tried but I received this message:
If you change a file name extension, the file may become unusable.
Any idea to deal with this problem?
That is OK Paul. It’s just a warning that lets you know if you change the file’s extension it might not work. You could always change it back without causing any problems.
I guess that Paul Ong was actually asking how to get rid ofthe message “If you change a file name extension, the file may become unusable.” For example, I want to rename .ra to .rar (because that way it would be correct for this archive file). This message keeps popping up. Really annoying. Any ideas of having extensions shown but not getting a warning when you are changing known extensions?
oh, yah, btw, you can just click on file and not wait for 2 seconds, just click F2 in order to get from step 1 to step 4 of changing file extension.
Finnaly! You help me! Now I finnaly can change a txt file to html one… FINNALY! Thanks, you really helped me!!!
THANK YOU!!!
Thank *&%#$%% god! I’m a mac user and that was driving me nuts. I hate windows!!!!! But I love you.
wow thanks man!!! thank you soooooooooo muchhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! i was sooooooooo frustrated why renaming wouldn’t work… you saved me big time! thank you!!!
Ok, did this and it’s still not freaking working. I am about to throw this vista piece of crap. As soon as I click on the file name, the extension disappears. And I have double checked the settings to make sure the hide extension option is unchecked. Please save a new laptop and help me.
I changed the file extension from
TXT to DOC and by mistakenly said YES to the prompt. How to retrieve the document become unusabale.
Thanks,
Thankssss a bunch man…
thankyou very much!! I really need this help so badly.
THANK YOU GUYSSSSSSS XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD imma so happy
Finally! Geez I wasted 25 minutes finding this quick solution… no one else seem to understand the issue- changing an extension one time, quickly. Thanks very much for the help.
Thanks a lot. It worked fine.
Mabacu.
wow thanks alot!! it took me a couple of mins to figure out how to change it then i relised u need to put the song name.mp3 lol
cheers adam
Thx alot
what is a file extention?
omg thx to adam747
thanks for the info. It helped a lot. Iv’e been trying to figure out how to upload a vidoe for a while and this works great.
hey. i need help. ok i went to the folder options and changed all that i had to but there was no hidden file that poped up. so what do i click on?
It didn’t work when I tried changing a .htm to an.mp3 file. What do I do?
thanks
It didn’t work, I have a laptop and I tried to use the right one wich didn’t work at all. And on the left one I got a hidden menu bu there I could’nt find anything that said tools
For your laptop.You can try to open the “my computer” on your desktop or any other folders. After that press and hold left alt then press F this will open the menu bar above with the “file” menu selected then just follow the instructions above. Hope this help.
For some reason I cant save the file or drag it to my itunes. it keeps saying it cannot be played on my ipod…
any advice?
thanks a bunch!
i still don’t get how to do this thing
So I’m dealing with an mp3 and I rename it blahblah.mp3 but my music players won’t play it.
real player says it contains data that may be corrupt and wmp says that the codec can not be read. Any suggestions?
Wow, man!Thanx! I was almost quiting of trying. That was, althought simple, really helpful! God bless you.
10/10
Thanks for the tip. You have helped me a lot…
how can you use this site with a mac? and i have a macbook so it has no right click……
Thanks a lot! I’ve tried my Elvis’s & Connie Francis’s songs in html files to change to mp3 format
in vain for nearly 3 months.Now that I’ve got them with your invalueable help. Thanks again.
thanks