How-to Change a File Extension

Posted on: 10.31.07 by Brent Trahan

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.

  1. Click Computer in the Start menu.
  2. Press the Alt key on the right side of your keyboard.
  3. A hidden menu will appear in the Computer window. Click Tools and then click Folder Options.
  4. Click the View tab.
  5. Uncheck Hide extensions for known file types.

  6. Click OK to save your changes.

Change a File Extension

Now that we can see a file’s extension we can change it.

  1. Click on the file that you want to change the extension.
  2. Wait a second or two.
  3. Click the file again.
  4. The name of the file will become highlighted. Simply erase the extension and give it a new one.

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7 Responses to “How-to Change a File Extension”

  1. Martin Says:
    May 12th, 2008 at 12:02 am

    Thanks alot.

  2. Carl Says:
    May 26th, 2008 at 5:56 pm

    Thankyou! That was driving me crazy! : )

  3. Paul Ong Says:
    June 23rd, 2008 at 8:13 pm

    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?

  4. Brent Trahan Says:
    June 24th, 2008 at 6:36 am

    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.

  5. Doorman Says:
    June 29th, 2008 at 2:51 am

    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?

  6. Doorman Says:
    June 29th, 2008 at 2:53 am

    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.

  7. John Says:
    July 17th, 2008 at 10:57 am

    Finnaly! You help me! Now I finnaly can change a txt file to html one… FINNALY! Thanks, you really helped me!!!

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