Comments on: How to read and open .DAT files in Windows

By: Ricardo

Ricardo — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:08:37 +0000

Thanks for your help. I was able to open it with Word after learning from the sender that she had created it with that program although on a Mac. I wonder if it has anything to do with that? Thanks again.

By: Nadeem Ahammad

Nadeem Ahammad — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:35:18 +0000

Hi I changed the file to different formats but it wouldn’t open…I tried pdf, xls, doc, jpg, png, gif, pdf but it couldn’t be opened! plz some more examples to open .DAT files…thanks..Nadeemdg

By: S Mirza

S Mirza — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:45:37 +0000

Worked perfect for me! Thanks

By: andrei

andrei — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:25:57 +0000

hey, this post is great. I know a litle about this and here it goes:

For video files even those pictures made for powerdvd should open with vlc and is really nice now(much improved.)

For pictures you should try more endings: .jpg .jpeg .png .iff .tiff. it all depends where it came from. now days pictures from the internet come as png. if is a scan chances are it is an tiff or a ttf. normal pictures ussually store as jpg or jpeg, espeacially from everyday camera on the market. very few have specific attributes, I came across a jvc once with a jvp format but I think it only goes for the copycat’s on the market (the really cheap chinese trickery products.)

If it is from a game it is deffinetly in their own language and not sure at all if can be open by anything. if notepad doesn’t see just blocks and squares then it is probably encripted.

For messenger (yahoo) files u can go to http://www.cnet.com and see what is around for decoding there are several programs there and most are free or free period trial. sa decode and don’t forget to save in something else.

For the rest I saw a lot of good answers. and usualy just changing the attribute should work (careful now cause docx is way different then doc, and so forth xls, and ppt). for the pictures slides u can try pps or ppt. even mp3 work like that some times. and most recent video format on the net is flv. I think this is about everything. hope it helps.

So remember if u can’t see it in notepad it is probably encrypted and very few programs can decrypt it directly (vlc, ie, irfanview for pics, and if I remember correctly PowerISO for cd images or magic iso).

good luck!!!

By: andrei

andrei — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:28:42 +0000

video formats: avi mp4 mpeg mpg flv

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:20:15 +0000

Hi,

my .dat file is a map related file.(map for GPS unit) which program should i use to open it?

Thanks.

By: Ellie

Ellie — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:04:19 +0000

I exported my earthlink messages in folders to a flash drive in anticipation of setting up a new vista machine. The file is there as a .DAT and now I can’t export it to the new machine. Any suggestions?

By: JIM

JIM — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 08:46:26 +0000

I was sent a pdf file whcih converted to a dat file. I changed the file extension to pdf, but it would not open

By: S Murthy

S Murthy — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:17:58 +0000

I have been using Windows outlook 2007 after upgrading from 2003. Now all files that i send are converted to .DAT files. This is creating problems for my clients as I need to transfer various kinds of data at a time and cannot really specify the file type everytime. Is there some way to configure outlook to send mails as is without converting it. Thanks

By: Luke Alexander

Luke Alexander — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:09:13 +0000

Thanks for sharing and posting your article here. This one is a great help. I had no clue how to open a .DAT file.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:00:36 +0000

Thanks very much for excellent explanation and solution. I changed the name to extension .jpg and could view and save the picture. Can it be caused by the person sending the attachment using plain text?

By: Ananta C

Ananta C — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:57:23 +0000

In our company we generate .dat files with inhouse application, I had fixed strange problem. I can open those .dat file in excel by browsing file –> open , but not when I double click ( after associating to open always open in excel ). below is solution

open folder option —>file types — dat and click advanced button ( some times you may have restore button, click restore and you will get advanced )

in advanced – select open — edit and paste the path of “x:….\excel.exe” /e and click ok/apply

eg : “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE” /e

boom.. it should work

By: james

james — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 06:27:59 +0000

try VLC player…

By: Margaret Swank

Margaret Swank — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:55:14 +0000

Help. A good friend sent lots of photos via email. I downloaded them, sent them to windows media player. When I tried viewing them, a message pops up to tell me; the selected files has a extension (.zip) that is not recognized by windows media player, but might still be able to open it, then I check that box,and get another message. In other words, it won’t open it. I have windows vista.

By: vish

vish — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:51:44 +0000

Hi,

First of all thanks for such useful information. ‘index.dat’ file which gets created in ‘Temporary Internet Files’ folder contains the names and even the dates of your first visits to many pages. I tried to open it with different progs like notepad, wordpad, word, excel….but i am not able to read the content…if you find any solution, email me at “vish2686@yahoo.in”

Thanks.