.Dat files - what are these files and how do I open them?

If you manage a Windows, Mac or other Operating System , you will have ever come across the.dat files. If you want to know what they are and how to deal with them, here we will give you a brief explanation. It never hurts to learn something else and the truth is that it can be really useful in some other installation and / or project you do.

Index of contents

What are .dat files?

The truth is that we cannot give you a clear answer about it, since they usually save generic data. Contrary cases we see when we read .pdf (document) , .xls (spreadsheet) or .docx (editable text file of Microsoft Office) .

The most common use of .dat files is to support the programs that have created them, since they store data for later use.

Normally, the information contained is usually in plain text or binary (usually not legible) , although in some cases it is complete data such as video. Therefore, it is more than evident that they are not intended to be edited and / or used by users, but are a type of temporary data.

These files exist on both Windows OS and MacOS computers , so almost no one is safe. In Linux distributions, by counterpart, it is rarer to see these files, since they do not usually use these standards.

Something important to keep in mind is that these files can be used for malicious purposes.

Both as individual data and with the help of other programs, there are some types of malware that use data of this type to exceed the security of some computers.

We recommend that you always know the sources of the files you want to gut, as it may be a risky sport. Here we leave you with another article where they specifically talk about malwares that use.dat files, how they work and how to deal with them.

Here we will talk about how to open .dat files and important things to know about them.

Open .dat files

As we have previously indicated, .dat files usually store generic data, so luckily or unfortunately we can easily access them.

In both Windows and MacOS we can open a .dat simply using a text editor.

The most typical that most users have is notepad, but we recommend using some more advanced and complete programs such as Notepad ++ . However, it is not the only method, since sometimes we can successfully open different files with applications for pdf ', for example.

In some more specific cases, if the file contains base information of a video file, we can open it with a video player such as VCDGear .

However, in most cases, (on Windows) you will see a blank folio icon indicating that there is no program programmed to open them.

To solve this, you just have to try to open it, at which point it will indicate various recommended programs to finish the action. You will be able to determine if you always want to open .dat files with the chosen program or if you only do it this time.

Many of the texts you will see will be somewhat difficult to read and in many cases completely illegible. However, you may be able to identify the content of some files thanks to the words it contains.

For example, the following text we could deduce that this file executes applications, assigns values ​​and others, although we do not know which one.

In MacOS the process is slightly different, but you will have to do the same, that is, open the file with a common text editor.

In the case of Linux , you can use the command 'file.dat', to know what type of data the file contains. Once determined, use any program that is capable of editing that kind of data such as:

• mplayer.dat gedit.dat

Winmail.dat

We have a specific case of .dat files where they are used with relative normality.

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In the case of some email services, emails are automatically transformed into.dat format if certain conditions are met. For example, if the sender uses Microsoft Outlook and the receiver does not, we will often receive a .dat file that will prevent us from seeing the entire content.

The easiest solution is for the contact to forward the message to you in another format (HTML) or from another messaging service.

Final words and ideas

As we have mentioned several times in the article, it is not recommended to open .dat files , mostly because they are not intended for it. However, if you need to do it for anything, it 's pretty straightforward.

We recommend you be cautious and not because of the malware, but because editing any file of this type can be fatal for the program that uses it. If any application uses a certain set of instructions for its operation and we edit these values, the result is clear.

Although there are an infinite number of other extensions,.dat is one of the most widely used for generic data. Before, maybe you had a problem or an excuse not to explore your system anymore, but now you already have a simple solution already pre-installed on your PC.

Regarding the article, we hope that you have understood it without problems and that you have learned something new. If you have any personal recommendation, don't hesitate to add it below.

But now tell us yourself: have you ever needed to open a .dat file ? Do you think there would be any other way to organize the files? Share your ideas in the comment box.

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