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Sometimes file extensions don’t matter, right?
I’ve been surprised to discover that I can change the file extension of a video sometimes… and it will still play fine in any of my computer media players.
The codec is an MPEG4, but the movie file will play fine whether I give it a file extension of MP4, MPG or AVI.
When experimentally changing that suffix, I get the usual warning from WINDOWS to the effect of “Changing the file extension may make this file unplayable. Do you still wish to continue?” I click “Yes”, and no problems at all seem to result: the file plays.
I always thought that the file extension was super-important. Now it appears as though it’s the codec that my media players look for.
Can you explain more?
Thanks!
DAVE B.
The only things which matter in life are Art and Children. (Georges Seurat)
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2 Replies
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The primary purpose of file extensions is Windows and it’s effort to associate various file types with the applications associated with them as well as Windows Explorer displaying the correct info in the “Type” column.. This is called File Association. Other than that, the File extensions do not alter the contents of the file.
You could assign .doc to a video file and if the video codec is installed on your PC, Media Player will play it, but you will be confused when looking for various file types.
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Well, within reason. I think if you named it video.doc the system would try to open it with MS Word. But since you use a video player for MP4, AVI and MPG, they will get played according to their codec.
Steven
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