How To Know The Type Of Audio or Video File Downloaded Without File Extension

Trouble:

One of our readers reported a problem saying that

”I Downloaded a music file from internet and saved it without a file extension, it plays in media player with a warning, but how do I know the Extension of the file, how can I know the file extension? “

This is quite an interesting problem, and has a simple solution. Lets see how this happens.

The above warning is shown when you try to play such a file without an extension with Windows Media Player. The warning says “The selected extension that is not recognized by windows media player, but the player may still be able to play it. Because the extension is unknown by the player, you should be sure that the file comes from a trustworthy source Do you want the player to try to play this content?”

Now we tell u how to check such file extensions and rename them to avoid such error later again.

Fix:

When you see the warning as shown above, click yes to continue. Now the file will play, if its a valid file. When it starts to play in media player, enable the side pane as shown in the snapshot below:

In the side pane, you will see the file name, which you are playing. Right click on the file and click on properties

This will show the file properties which will show you audio and video codec. That will tell you the file type. For example the file properties below show an audio file of MP3 type codec. Rename such files from <filename> to <filename>.mp3

Similarly if you see the file properties below, its a Windows Media Audio file, which should be renamed to a .wmv extension.

For more type of file extension, check out this page to find info about any extension.

• Cannot play video files in Media player
• How To Know Which Program To Use To Open An Unknown File Extension
• Windows on File rename gives warning – "If you change a filename extension,the file may become unusable"
• Ask TroubleFixers – Solutions To Computer Problems – #8

Author + Admin: Abhishek Bhatnagar
Hi, I am a Software Engineer by profession and blogger by passion, I write about computer tips and tricks and solutions for computer problems. You can connect with me at twitter or know more about me on www.abhishekbhatnagar.com.