Extension is the 3 letter term used after the dot in a filename like .exe for executable files .txt for text files .doc for office documents .xls for spread sheets, it may sometimes be just two letters long like .pl for Perl language files. By default windows doesnot show you the extension of a file, only those files which it are not yet associated with any program are shown along with their extensions. Rest of the common file types dont have extensions displayed, when you try to change a file’s extension when its extension is not displayed you will just end up adding the new extension to the filename and not to the extension part of it, like you have a spreadsheet named accounts which is actually accounts.xls and you want to change it to a text file called accounts.txt when you just rename it you will end up renaming it to accounts.txt.xls where accounts.txt is the filename part and .xls is the extension part. So the solution for this is to make windows display the extensions of all files, to do this open Windows Explorer or commonly known as the My Computer and go to the Tools Menu (Alt + t) and then click Folder Options, in the dialog box change to the View tab and look for Hide extensions for known files and uncheck it and click OK.
via angrys0ul.com
This article was such a life saver for me this weekend!
I've just borrowed my sisters camera (indefinitely *wink*) to make some movies, but after finally completing them I went to edit them only to find that my software wouldn't recognise the files...a little googling told me that I needed to change the files extension - simple right??
Yes, back in the olden days (hahaha) it was a simple little task - but having not changed a file extension for a few years (possibly 10) I discovered that things had changed...but with the help of google my life became simple again.
Apparently it's a particular problem if you're using a JVC camera - you need to change the MOD extension to MPG - phew!
Now if I could only get ALL the files I want OFF the camera...there's a couple there that I can see, but they're not showing up in the files on the PC.
Any suggestions??!
