A few days back one of my friends was having problems opening a certain file.
He had this .mdi file that his friend had sent him as mail attachment. It was obvious that there was no associated application installed to open the file and I could not immediately remember what this .mdi extension was.
A quick googling revealed that it was Microsoft Document Imaging file. I have actually used the format many times before but couldn’t remember the extension. I guess this is true with most of us. Though Ms Office was installed, for some reason Microsoft Document Imaging App was missing. I was able to find a free MDI viewer which I downloaded and was able to open the .mdi file.
This can happen to us at any time. Windows does offer to find the right application from the web when you try to open a file with unknown extension but as far as I have seen most of the time it fails.
Anyway, here is a massive list that can help you find what a particular file extension means. It is aptly titled “Every File Extension in the World”. Frankly, I never knew that there were so many different types of files. But this list gives you very little information about the file extensions.
If you need more information about any file extension you may want to check out filext.com.
FILExt is a database of file extensions and the various programs that use them. If you know the file extension you want to learn about simply enter it into the search box on the left and click on the Search button. If it’s in any of the FILExt databases the data on that file extension will be shown on a results page. If it’s not in any of the databases you will be given a link to a page with hints on how to do further research.
Filext even has a small tool that can make it easy and quick to research unknown file extensions. You can check out the tool here.
So the next time you are stranded with an unknown file extension, you know where to head to.
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I downloaded what I thought was an mpeg vides via bitcomet it has a .bci extension and will not open on any progtram I have any suggestions on where I can get help