How to change file extension in Windows. Automatically change the names and extensions of a group of files How to rename on the keyboard

To quickly find files and navigate them fluently, it is not enough to put everything in the correct folders. It is equally important to give your files easy-to-read and meaningful names. Tinkering with each one individually is counterproductive. Therefore, there are ways to group rename.

To work with a group of files, it is better to copy them to a separate folder. This will greatly simplify the process.

Using standard Windows tools

Changing file names

Let's consider the simplest case: we have n-th number of images with meaningless names.

Let's bring the names of these files to a visual form Picture (n), where Picture will be the name and n- serial number. This can be easily done right in File Explorer.

Select all the pictures that we want to rename. To do this quickly, use the key combination Ctrl + A. Then just press F2 or right-click on the first file and select "Rename". Enter the word as a name for the selected image Picture and press Enter.

Windows will automatically assign the same name to all subsequent files and arrange all sequential numbers.

If necessary, you can undo the bulk rename by pressing Ctrl + Z.

If you want to rename a group of folders in Explorer, you can do it the same way.

Changing file extensions

Let's say we have several text documents that, after a double click, open with a notepad. But we need them to be opened by the browser by default. To do this, you will have to change their extension from .txt to .html. Operations of this kind can be performed quickly using the command line.

Press the Windows + R keys, enter in the field that appears cmd and click OK - we see the command line window. Now we insert into it the path to the folder in which our files are located, right after the command cd: cd C: \ Users \ Max Volotsky \ Desktop \ Docs, and press Enter. Then we use a special command that will change their extensions: rename * .txt * .html, and press Enter again.

The first in the command is the original extension, the second is the new one. After entering the command, the system makes changes instantly.

To return everything as it was, you need to reuse the rename command, swapping the places of the extension.

Using third-party utilities

No built-in tools can match the functionality of special programs designed specifically for batch renaming. You can find many such free utilities on the web, just search for bulk file rename.

We will look at renaming using the Bulk Rename Utility program as an example. With its help it is very convenient to change the names of folders and files, as well as the extensions of the latter.

When you first start it, it may seem that the interface of the utility came straight from hell and, perhaps, there is some truth in this. But the user does not need to navigate through numerous tabs and menus: he gets access to all functions from one window.

So, let's say we have a group of audio files that we want to bring to a pleasing look to the eye. In this case, the numbers and the absence of the artist's name are annoying.

We launch the application and, through the built-in file manager, go to the folder we need. Then, with the familiar keyboard shortcut Ctrl + A, select all the files. We need to remove the first 3 characters at the beginning of each file name and add the artist's name at the very beginning. To do this, specify the necessary parameters on the Remove and Add panels, and then click Rename.

Now we will make all extensions consist of lowercase characters: in the Extension panel, select the Lower option and click Rename.

As you can see, there are other panels available in the program window. For example, Numbering allows you to number documents in different ways, and with Case you can change the case of characters in file names. Thanks to the New Name column in the built-in explorer, which shows the result of renaming even before it is applied, you can easily understand the rest of the Bulk Rename Utility tools.

The last operation with files and folders performed in the program can be easily undone by the Ctrl + Z key combinations.

This concept implies a group of characters (from 2 to 4), which are indicated by a dot in the file name after its name. It can be docx - Microsoft Word format, jpg - one of the many image formats, or js - for storing JavaScript code, and others. The extension function is to the computer understood which program to open the required file.

How to enable extension visibility

When working with a wide variety of data, type information can be useful. In case their display disabled, the option can be reconfigure through the "Control Panel":

The new settings will take effect immediately; you do not need to restart your computer.

Changing the extension

After the extension appears in the name, it can be changed manually... It's pretty simple to do this:

Now reading this file will be answer program, designed to work with the format that was specified as the extension. If it suddenly turned out that the file stopped opening, this does not mean that it has deteriorated, but that the selected program does not know how to work with it. After all, changing the extension does not mean changing the type - this requires a conversion. If you return everything as it was, the data can be used again as before.

Using the console

This interface makes it possible to change all files with a specific extension in the selected directory at once. For this necessary:

When executing the command in the above illustration, all images will change their extension from .jpg to .png. The changes apply only to the folder from under which the configuration was made.

Saving with a different extension

It is possible to redefine the extension with the help of some programs. For example, docx can be replaced with txt or even pdf, opening it in the native program - Microsoft Word.

In addition, this approach also presupposes structural changes for further correct operation.

Conversion

Extension changes it is not always enough, because the internal structure of one file is different from another. For example psd image it is forbidden reformat to jpg, because it supports layers that jpg does not. There are a number of others reasons to which the standard Windows Photos solution will report that it “Cannot open the file”. This will require specialized software like Photoshop. It contains conversion algorithms that allow you to change the file type to work in different applications, and the extension will be overwritten automatically.

Depending on the selected file, you may need to various program solutions for their conversion. It should be noted separately that now there are many online converters on the network, so it is not always necessary to download heavy programs specifically for these needs.

Most often, users rename files by right-clicking on the file, and then using the "Rename" item from the context menu. Not the most convenient option, but it has a place to be. To quickly rename a file, I recommend using the key F2.
Just select the file as usual - with the mouse or navigation "arrows" and press f2. Saves 2 actions at once with the help.
What if you need quickly rename multiple files?
It is also better to do batch renaming of files using the same button on the keyboard.

Suppose such a situation - you have uploaded several photos to your computer, and the camera gives them names like "date_time" and they look like "20130316_192212". Not a very catchy name for photographs.
all files in a separate folder. Then, in order to rename a lot of files (and in this case a photo):
1) Select them all with a combination of buttons ctrl+a(select all);
2) press F2 (one file with the cursor will be highlighted);
3) write the name, for example, "how I spent my summer" and press Enter;
4) it should turn out that all the files began to have the name: "how I spent my summer (1)", "how I spent my summer (2)", "how I spent my summer (3)", etc.

A slightly complicated option is when you need to see what to rename, as well as if the folder contains files that need to be given different names.
Then we show files by thumbnails.
In windows 7 8, this is the top right icon

In Windows XP - Folder Properties - View Tab

Then select the files (you can see how to do this in the article) and press F2.

Well, if you want to quickly rename files in a folder, while giving each one its own individual name, then use the up and down navigation keys (arrows) to select the file, press F2 and rename. Much more convenient than fiddling with a mouse.

Many PC users have to face the need to change the file format - for example, to play video in mkv format on a device that only supports mp4 or 3gp. To change, you can use special programs, online services and even those editors where data with such an extension is created. Most of the apps are completely free or shareware and easy to use.

What is the file format?

The term "format" of a file refers to the information used by a computer to open a specific area of data. Using this information, the appropriate program is selected - in most cases, the operating system does this automatically. For new extensions that have not yet been opened by the system, the user must select the application manually - if problems arise with this, information about a specific format can be obtained on the Web.

The extension is 2-4 characters after the period in the name - in Windows it is recognized, including the display of this information, file managers such as Total Commander provide this opportunity right away. When the opening application is already installed, its icon changes - from the icon, experienced users draw conclusions about the type of data.

The .docx text will open in the Word office application by default. In this case, the icon will look like a blue letter W. If there is no MS Office package on your computer, but OpenOffice is already installed, the document will open in this program. You can change the default setting — for example, making .txt files open in a text editor instead of Notepad.

Programs for changing file formats of different types

A simple and quick way to both change the file format and convert it to a new type are special conversion programs. With their help, the extension for such types of data is changed:

Images. Almost any graphic editor is suitable for this, from Paint, which works with PNG, JPG, BMP and GIF extensions, to Adobe Photoshop, which can transform information received from digital cameras.
Audio. Sound Objects is capable of converting almost any music editing software.
Video. This format can be changed in video editors such as VSDC Free Video Editor or Photomontage.

In addition to programs that can change a certain group of files, there are a number of universal applications that can cope with the transformation of several types of data at once. For example, Format Factory and SuperC work with video, images, and audio. And such utilities as Any Video Converter Free, Any Audio Converter and ImBatch, by changing only sound, videos and pictures, support the conversion of a group of files. To work with applications, you need to download, install, open, select the required data and specify a new format. The process takes a minimum of time, although the exact duration depends on the number of objects being modified.

If you need to change the file format for a document that has an extension like .doc, .pdf or.org, use the same programs in which it can be created. For text it will be Word or OpenOffice, for spreadsheets it will be Excel. Electronic documents are converted by a program such as Adobe FineReader. It should be noted that analogs of these applications are created not only for Windows, but also for Android and iOS. And if you wish, you can use online resources for the same purpose.

Online services for converting files

The advantage of sites that can change the format is that there is no need to install additional software on your computer. Sometimes this allows you to solve the problem with the lack of administrative rights for the user and the prohibition to make changes. In other cases, this feature saves space on the system disk and does not take up the computer's RAM.

In the list of services that provide format change, you can find:

Converter convertio.co/ru/, working with audio, video, text documents, presentations and even archives. Multiple files can be modified at once with a running online software.
Resource docspal.com/ru/ is a multiconverter capable of not only converting data, but also working with 5 elements at the same time.
Convertonlinefree.com service. Despite the almost "telling" name, the site works not only with PDF and DOC formats, but also with various versions of texts, images and even e-books.

Another well-known and popular resource is online-convert.com/ru, when you go to the main page of which you can see a list of 8 conversion options. The service is capable of changing documents, images, videos, music, archives, e-books, and even web services and hashes. To work with a resource, select the final format and click on the "Start" button next to the selected type. After that, you can select a file from your computer, from the cloud storage or via a link, start the conversion and download the resulting data back to disk.

Change file extension in Windows

In most cases, simply changing the file format by renaming it, but without actually converting it, does not give the user any additional options. A picture with docx extension will not open in Word, a table renamed from xlsx to rar will not become an archive. However, sometimes it is really necessary to change the format. For example, to get an executable file from a text with the txt extension bat. Such a replacement will come in handy and, if necessary, make an html web page from the same txt.

Before the usual renaming in Windows, you need to enable the display of the extension. It is usually invisible so as not to interfere with the renaming of the name. The activation method depends on the version of Windows:

The extension is now visible to the user. To change the format of only one file, you can use the context menu, select the rename item.

You can fix file group extensions by opening cmd. To do this, hold down the Shift key, right-click on the folder with files to rename in Explorer, select "open command window". In cmd, type the command below, hit Enter:

ren * .xxx * .yyy, where xxx is the start format and yyy is the end format.

By changing the file format using special programs and resources, they provide the ability to open elements of the same type with certain applications, reduce their size (as in the case of converting BMP or RAW to JPEG). The easiest way to do this is with images and documents, using a regular editor. For some files, you can simply change the extension in the Windows system, but their number is limited - in most cases, a simple change of the label will not give any result.

Let's say you have a bunch of files in your folder that need to be renamed or converted to a different format, I wonder what you will do? If there are only a few files, you can convert them manually. And if 10-20 or 100? In this article, we will show you how to batch rename files, as well as how to quickly and easily change the file extension. This article can be especially useful for those who have a lot of photos or images stored with different extensions and file names, for example, in JPG, PNG, etc.

Change the file extension for all files stored in the folder

Well, let's get started. You have a folder with photos. Let's make all files have the same extension, for example, jpg. Press the Shift key and right-click on an empty space inside the folder.

In the context menu that opens, select the "Open command window" item. A command prompt window will open. Enter

Ren *. * * .Jpg

Replace the jpg extension with the extension you want to change the file extensions to. In our example, this is jpg. Press Enter. After the command is executed, the extensions of all files in the folder will change to jpg.

Batch renaming of files

Now let's rename the files. Press Ctrl + a to select all files in the current folder. Let's rename the first file - Image. Press the "Enter" key or click anywhere inside the folder.

You will see that all files will be renamed numerically Image1, Image2, etc.

So. Following this article, you can rename and change file extensions in bulk.