How to Change File Type in Windows 11

Free Guide to to change the file extension type in windows 11? Let’s Check!

With the announcement of the release of Windows 11, users are excited to know about the features available in the new version of windows. There are many existing features and settings from previous windows whose processes have changed in Windows 11. One such feature is how a user can change the file type in Windows 11? In this article, we will answer this question.

We know that all files have an extension. A file extension describes the kind of file and kind of data that is presented in that file. It lets the system decides what actions are required to take on that file or what programs can open it. In the computer world, there are many file extensions on the PC for various files such as documents, images, videos, music files, archived files, executables, and many more.

We can identify the type of file format by seeing the suffix which is at the end of the file name. The extension or file type is usually three-or four-letter long word and you will always find a ‘.’ (full stop) before the extension. Let’s take an example. A video file format has the extension .mp4. An image file has the extension of .png or.jpg.

As a user, Microsoft has provided an easy method or approach to change the file types/formats in Windows 11. It can be done by simply changing the setting to view the file extension in File Explorer.

Although it is possible to change file formats for files, though the changing of the file format highly depends on the files themselves. If a file has a wrong file extension, file allows us to change it, so that it can be opened by the correct program.

However, changing the file type doesn’t always work, because changing the extension doesn’t change any of the file’s content. Thus, we should use different ways to change the format of the file.

First, we need to know the extension of the file. By default, the file extensions are hidden by file explorer. See the image asan example,

Let’s have a look on the steps to show the file extension,

First, we will open Windows File Explorer by clicking the File Explorer icon on the Taskbar. We can also use shortcut to perform the same task, windows + E.

Then, click on the ‘View’ drop-down in the File Explorer ribbon, and expand the ‘Show’ option, and click on ‘File name extensions’.

Now, we can see the file extensions.

Let see different ways through which we can change file type.

Change File Type Through Renaming Using Windows File Explorer

We can change file types by simply renaming the old file extension with the new file type. For an instance we can change the txt file into the old word format ‘doc’. Microsoft Word can still recognize the text in that file.

First, we will open Windows File Explorer and navigate to the file of which we want to change the extension. Then, we will just right-click on the file and select the ‘Rename (F2) button available at the top of the context menu or you can use F2.

Alternatively, we can also select the ‘Show more options’ in the context menu to open the classic context menu.

This step will open the context menu available in Windows of old classic format. Here, select the ‘Rename’ option to rename the file.

Now, just remove the old file extension and replace it with the new file extension, then press the enter key.

A Rename pop-up message will appear which will warn that changing the file extension might break the file and make it unusable. If we still want to move ahead despite of warning, select ‘Yes’ to confirm.

By this we have successfully changed the format.

Changing the File Type by Saving It in Another File Format

One of best ways to change file extensions is to save or export them to another format. We can easily save or export a file into another format as long as the files types are related. Some software like MS Word, Paint, or Excel allows you to save or export files to different formats using the ‘Save As’ feature.

These are steps to show how to save a file in a different format in Word:

First, we will open the file which we want to save in another format with the corresponding program. Here, we are opening a word document (DOCX) in MS Word. Then, click on the ‘File’ menu on the ribbon.

Then, click on the ‘Save As’ option from the left pane.

In next step, choose a perfect location for the file to be saved.

In the Save As window, we would have options to change the file type and rename the file name. Following this we will click the ‘Save As Type’ or ‘Format’ drop-down and choose the file format that we want to save the given file as. Here, we are selecting the ‘PDF’ format.

Then, just click the ‘Save’ button to save the file in a different format.

In this way we can change save and secure any file extension type.

Read More:

Sync and Connect iOS Phone to Windows 11 PC

Block Camera Access to Apps in Windows 11

How to Trim Video in Windows 11