Originally posted on July 14, 2018 @ 9:20 pm
As aย Windows OSย user, surely you are dealing with variousย extensionย filesย that exist.ย Whether itโs an image file,ย audio, video,ย or something else. In one or two occasions, you have wished to change theย file extension of some files on your Windows PC; you can quickly achieve this if it is just one file but happens when you want the effect on more files? Using a manual is more complicated and it takes aย longer time but we have two easy methods on โHow to Change File Extension of Several Files in Windowsโ.
Also read: How to fix windows not showing thumbnails
Here, we have listed a few easy ways to achieve this. This article will be very detailed so you donโt need an additional guide to practice the methods listed here.
How to Change File Extension of Several Files in Windows
For Example, Here We Will Change Image File with Extension Fromย .pngย toย .jpg.
Here we will change theย file extensions of all the Image files on a folder from png to jpeg. You can achieve this using two different methods which would be explained succinctly in this article.
Nowadays,ย there are various sites with different video formats; here are some best alternative sites like Primewire. The methods are explained below.
Method 1: Usingย Command Line Prompt (CMD)
- All you have to do is to combineย the filesย you want to change the extensions by simply movingย them into a Folder.
Here is aย screenshotย of the contents of theย folderย containingย the filesย with the extension.ย Pngย
- Press and hold theย Shiftย keyย on your keyboard.ย Then pointย the mouse pointerย to the folder containing the images you want to changeย theย extensionย file.
- Right-click on theย folderย and selectย Open command window here.
- Aย Command Line Promptย window will appear.
- Now, to change theย fileย extensions to the one you want,ย write down the code below.
ren *. (Current extensionย fileย ) * Space. (Fileย extension you want).
It should look like this โ ren* .png* .jpg
From the example above, it shows that we changed the extensions of all the image files in a selected folder from .png to jpg.
Explaining the code above ren* .png* .jpg
- renย is a code fromย windowsย that serves toย renameย orย renameย files, folders, etc.
- The asterisk symbol (*) is a code fromย windowsย that serves to select all theย fileย nameย orย folderย in question.
After you type the above code, next is to press theย ENTERย button on your keyboard.
If you entered the command correctly, all the image files on the selected folder will be changed fromย .pngย toย .jpgย in a matter of seconds.
Method 2: Usingย the .bat file
Here is another method to change the extensions of your files on windows.
- First, you should go to theย folderย containing theย filesย or the images you want to change the extension.
- Open the folder and create a create aย newย text document.ย To do this; when you open the folder, right-click yourย mouse and point it to theย newย option/roll, thenย Text Document. โ Screenshot below.
- Now, type in the code as exactly shown below on theย notepad you created.
ย ren * .png * .jpgย
After you have typed in the code above, locate and select โSave Asโย option on the notepad menu to save theย file (you can save the file with any name of your choice). Also, donโt forget to leave the โSave as typeโย optionย to beย All Files, andย fileย extension must be changed toย .bat
Ensure the file is saved on the folder or directory containing the files you wish to change their extensions.ย If these processes are done correctly, theย fileย iconย that was shapedย textย will be changed to as below.
You can see thatย theย extensionย fileย in the image below is still inย .png format.
Run theย .batย fileย and voila. Now, allย theย imageย filesย with the .png extension will be changed toย .jpgย in a few seconds.
Wrap Up:
These are our two easy methods on โHow to Change the File Extension of Several Files in Windowsโ. Both methods discussed here are not only applicable in converting .png to .jpg or vice-versa, it also applies to other file extensions; we only used .png and .jpg for the sake of this tutorial.
If you are still confused or have something to ask about the tutorial above. Kindly drop a comment on this post and weโll get to you in a jiffy.
Thanks for the tips.