In an era in which digitization is the main protagonist, knowing what an extension of text files means is the same as having total freedom when reading on our devices >, whether mobile such as smartphones, ereaders or tablets, or, in fact, our conventional equipment such as desktops or laptops.
These are not present in the contents of the websites, but in any text file that we download , for example, a simple document of notes in which we are given instructions to make an installation, a request to fill out or subtitles to add to a movie that is not dubbed.
As you can see, these are present in a number of times when we use digital devices and, therefore, it is essential that you know what they are, what their uses are, what we find and where each one reproduces , which is essentially what we are going to see next.
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What is the extension of a file or text file and what is it really for?
A file extension is a nomenclature that is given to all digital files to offer more information about them. Obviously, text file extensions are those that refer to files that , as the concept indicates, are text .
Visually, they are a set of two, three or four letters and / or numbers that are placed behind a period, at the end of the name of the text file in question.
With this, what we do is know what kind of file is the one we are finding, though, more than for us to know (which is important to escape from viruses ), is essential for the device to interact with the information .
Thus, your operating system will recognize the format of the file and look for ways to execute it using the most appropriate software for it among those that you have installed or, it will recommend you, if none is compatible , that you connect to the internet to be able to carry out the execution, that is, to read the content.
We see then that the extension serves to know which applications will be able to handle the information that we want to see, in this case, of type text.
For example, we have the file «letter16062019.doc»:
« letter16062019 » is the name that someone has put in that file when they have finished writing and saved it. “.doc” would be the text extension , which indicates, in this case, that is a text document that creates the well-known Microsoft Office suite when we use your text editor.
The file , in addition to the content and the extension, will have encodings , which are the elements that enable its digitization and reduction. In order to interpret the information, you need to have a program that is compatible with the codecs or encodings of this.
In the past, the encodings were downloaded separately, usually in packs for installation, especially for audio and video players , but today it is usual that each program has a quantity of these and is able to open the corresponding files with their extension without the need for external installations.
Types of text file extensions and their associated programs to open them
Knowing the above, I’m sure you’re interested in knowing which ones are the most common , both for the cases in which you create the texts and to be able to read all those that you download.
In the following table we are going to tell you which are the most used, we will give you some characteristics of them, we will name you, of course, many others, and we will tell you with what type of program or software you can execute them.
* If you are viewing the web from your smartphone, slide the table to the right to see all the data
Do you know other extensions to open and edit text documents? Leave them in the comments and we will add them to the list, it will surely be of great value to the other readers!