Dat file dat how to open

How to Open a DAT File in Windows 10

First, you have to determine whether it’s video or text-based to figure out how to open a DAT file. That can be tricky since there’s nothing about the file that discloses its format right off the bat. One way to do it is by using a code-reading program which sounds complicated at first, but is pretty straightforward. In this article, we’ll go over some of the more common tools you can use to open and convert differently.DAT files.

What Is a DAT File?

Generic data files with the DAT extension are meant to store important information related to the program that created them. More often than not, they’re bundled with DLL and other config files. They’re mostly hidden away in data directories, but sometimes you can get one as an email attachment.

Each kind of DAT file is created and handled by different software. The data is then used as a blueprint for various system tasks. Since it’s hard to know whether a DAT file includes images, videos, text, or software configuration files, there’s no one way to open them. You’ll have to use a different program each time.

For text-based DAT files, Windows 10 has a built-in text editor – the Notepad ++. Of course, you’re not limited to using a pre-installed program. There are many alternative solutions you can download to your PC for free or even use online.

However, most devices and programs, including iOS and Android, iTunes, iMovie, and Windows Media Player, do not support DAT video files. Instead, you have to use a video player that supports DAT files explicitly if you want to play them without any problems.

How to Open a DAT File Using a Text Editor

Usually, DAT files are text-based and can be read using a code-editing computer program. Windows Notepad ++ is an obvious solution since it’s already installed on your PC. Here’s how you can open DAT files by using the Windows 10 text editor:

If it doesn’t open and instead, a new window appears with the word “NUL” written all over, the DAT file isn’t text-based. You’ll have to try another program.

Windows 10 is compatible with a wide range of third-party text editors you can download for free. Even though Notepad ++ is pretty solid, it’s not immune to glitches. If you think the DAT file is text-based but still won’t open, try using one of the following alternatives:

All of these present a solid alternative to Notepad ++ when it comes to handling DAT files.

How to Open Winmail.dat Files

Email servers sometimes translate emails into the DAT format automatically. This is especially the case with Microsoft Outlook. If you receive an Outlook message but don’t have it installed on your PC, you’ll get a winmail.dat file attached instead. You won’t be able to open the whole email without using a third-party website.

Winmaildat.com is an online service created as a response to the Outlook configuration problems. You can access it with any browser and use it to open the DAT email attachment. The online tool will show you what the file contains and allow you to convert and download the data. It only takes a few seconds and is pretty straightforward:

How to Open DAT Files in Excel

If you’re sure a particular DAT file contains plain text, you can view it in an Excel spreadsheet. For example, if a work email came in the form of a DAT file attachment, feel free to open it with the Microsoft Office program. The process is pretty similar to uploading other types of files, with a tiny distinction. Here’s what you need to do:

How to Open Video DAT Files

In most cases, video-based DAT files originate in video editing software, so you can usually open them with one. For example, if you have CyberLink PowerDirector installed, it’s a safe bet that’s where the file was created, especially if it’s stored in an adjacent directory. However, if you can’t figure out where the file came from, you can try your luck with a regular video player.

As mentioned, Windows 10 doesn’t have a built-in video player that supports DAT files. While Windows Media Player is a reliable playback tool, it’s limited to the most common formats. You can download a third-party app like VLC Player and use it for playing DAT files. Here’s how to do it:

You’ll be able to open the file, but keep in mind most DAT files are just computer codes. There’s hardly any point in opening it with a video player.

How to Convert DAT Files

If you have a preferred program, you can use a file converter to change the DAT file to a corresponding format. Of course, the steps vary depending on the type.

There are several online tools you can use to do this. We already mentioned Winmail.dat that helps you decode broken Outlook messages.

If you want to change a video-based DAT file to an MP4 format, it’s more convenient to download a desktop program. For Windows 10, one of the more popular solutions is Win FF. It’s entirely free for download and very user-friendly. Here’s how to use it:

If the file is used to store config data, there’s no need to convert it to another format. Also, keep in mind that sometimes converting a DAT file can make it unusable in the program that created it.

DAT’s No Easy Task

In most cases, DAT files contain configuration data Windows OS uses for running particular tasks. Other times it’s just plain text. Either way, you can use Notepad ++ to open them. If you’re not keen on the built-in text editor, you can turn to third-party websites and apps.

When it comes to video-based DAT files, you don’t have the option to use a pre-installed program. Instead, download a third-party video player or consider converting the file in a Windows Media Player-friendly format.

Lastly, Microsoft Outlook has a particular glitch where it converts regular email attachments into DAT files. If that happens, there’s a custom-made online solution in the form of the Winmail.dat website.

Have you ever converted a DAT file? What’s your preferred text editor? Comment below and tell us if there’s a way to know what type of information is contained in a particular DAT file.

A DAT file is a data file that contains specific information about the program used to create it.

Most DAT files contain text, so you can open them with text editors, like Notepad, Notepad++, VS Code, and so on.

But it doesn’t happen directly, so you need to right-click on the file and hover on the “Open with” option:

Choose Notepad, or any other text editor installed on your computer:

If the information contained in the DAT file is not plain text and you open it with a text editor, then you will get some irregular text that’s not readable, like this:

If you are sure the information contained in the DAT file is a video or audio, then your media player can open it. If it’s a PDF, then Adobe Reader can open it, and so on.

In the case below, the file I’m going to open is an MP3 file. Right-click on the file and hover on “Open with”, then click “Choose another app”:

Click on “More apps”:

Check the list for your media player and choose it, then select “OK”:

The file will be opened by the media player you chose:

How do you open a DAT file when you don’t know what’s in it?

If you want to open a DAT file you don’t know what it contains, you may be able to discover what the underlying information is by carefully checking the name of its containing folder.

For example, if you found the DAT file inside a “media” folder, then it might be a video or audio, so your media player can come to the rescue.

If the DAT file is inside a system folder, you shouldn’t attempt to open it, because it could be in use by one of your apps as a configuration file.

You can also use the trial-and-error method by trying to open it with several apps, or you can contact the creator of the file.

Should you Convert a DAT File?

If you are not sure of what a DAT file contains, then you should not attempt to convert it.

If you are sure of what the file contains, and also the extension, then you can convert it with conversion apps, or by simply changing the file extension to the relevant one.

Conclusion

In this article, you learned how to open a DAT file. But keep in mind that you don’t need to open every DAT file, for example the ones you might encounter in program folders. Such files store specific information used by the program, so you don’t need to open them manually.

Thank you for reading, and have a nice time.

Web developer and technical writer focusing on frontend technologies.

If you read this far, tweet to the author to show them you care. Tweet a thanks

Learn to code for free. freeCodeCamp’s open source curriculum has helped more than 40,000 people get jobs as developers. Get started

freeCodeCamp is a donor-supported tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (United States Federal Tax Identification Number: 82-0779546)

Donations to freeCodeCamp go toward our education initiatives, and help pay for servers, services, and staff.

Don’t be dissing on the DAT

Such files aren’t associated with a particular program though, so if it’s in plain text, you can try to open it with different programs like MS Document or Notepad among others, and it’ll display the content. Otherwise you’ll only see some rough data that you can’t understand unless you’re a programmer.

How To Read & Open DAT Files

Using a Text Editor To Open DAT Files

In Windows, the native and basic Notepad text editor will help you, though there are other alternative programs that can replace Notepad.

Select the text editor you want to use, and click OK.

How To Convert DAT Files

Before renaming the DAT file though, configure Windows to show file extensions properly.

We hope you now know how to read and open DAT files in Windows. Let us know which of the three methods worked for you by sharing your comment in the section below.

Elsie is a technology writer and editor with a special focus on Windows, Android and iOS. She writes about software, electronics and other tech subjects, her ultimate goal being to help people out with useful solutions to their daily tech issues in a simple, straightforward and unbiased style. She has a BCom degree in Marketing and currently pursuing her Masters in Communications and New Media. Read Elsie’s Full Bio

Открытие файлов форматов DAT

Способ 1: Блокнот

Самый простой способ просмотра DAT-файла на компьютере — использование стандартного Блокнота. Однако у него есть свой минус, который заключается в том, что иногда содержимое отображается неправильно по причине использования разработчиками нестандартных кодировок. Если же вы не хотите скачивать дополнительный софт для просмотра содержимого DAT-элемента, можно попытаться обойтись этим решением, что выглядит следующим образом:

Способ 2: Notepad++

Notepad++ — популярный текстовый редактор, который часто используется для написания кода при программировании. В нем присутствует подсветка синтаксиса, поэтому если DAT-файл содержит в себе элементы из какого-либо языка программирования, они будут отображаться корректно.

Если вы заинтересованы в дальнейшем взаимодействии с текстовым редактором Notepad++, советуем прочитать обучающий материал на нашем сайте, перейдя по ссылке ниже. Там вы узнаете обо всех особенностях данного софта.

Способ 3: Sublime Text

Функциональность программы Sublime Text направлена исключительно на редактирование и создание кода на разных языках программирования. Соответственно, через это решение можно открыть все файлы, которые были созданы в похожих редакторах, что касается и DAT-элементов.

В завершение отметим, что не всегда текстовые редакторы любого типа позволяют корректно отобразить содержимое DAT-файла, что может быть связано с тем, где он был создан. Например, это мог быть конструктор игр или узконаправленный софт, связанный с программированием. Тогда не остается других вариантов, кроме как уточнить у самого разработчика, каково происхождение данного объекта, чтобы потом загрузить ПО и посмотреть содержимое.

What Is a DAT File?

How to open, edit, and convert DAT Files

What to Know

This article discusses the different kinds of DAT files, how to open each kind, and the programs needed to convert them depending on the exact type.

What Is a DAT File?

A file with the DAT file extension is usually a generic data file that stores information specific to the application it refers to. Sometimes you’ll find them by themselves but often they’re with other configuration files like DLL files.

No specific program is responsible for creating or using every type of DAT file. A wide variety of applications use them as references to certain operations in their respective program.

Since most DAT files are tucked away from view in an application’s data folders, you’ll probably see DAT files most often if a video file is being stored this way, or if you’ve received a malformed email attachment with the extension.

Because DAT files are not as specific as most files, since the file extension doesn’t immediately explain how to open one, you have to do a bit of digging. For example, an MP3 file immediately tells you that you’re dealing with an audio file, a TXT file explains a plain text file, etc. The data behind a DAT file isn’t so obvious.

How to Open and Read DAT Files

DAT files are unlike most other file types because, as mentioned above, they don’t have an obvious program that opens them. Most types of files do.

If you think the DAT file you have should be «opened» or «used» in a specific way, you’ll need to figure out if it’s text-based, video-based, an attachment, or some other kind of DAT file.

How and where you got the DAT file usually provides the necessary information to narrow down your investigative work, but here’s a lot more help to figure it all out.

Text-Based DAT Files

Some DAT files are text-based and are very easy to read with a text editor. For example, one DAT file on your computer might be located here:

Since you’re not sure what program should be used to open this DAT file, your first try should be with a text editor. Windows Notepad is the basic text editor built-in to Windows but you can use something more advanced like Notepad++.

In this example, you’re able to see all the text in the DAT file and easily understand what it’s used for. It’s also obvious in this example that the file is associated with an Adobe program, hence the «Adobe» folder within the file’s path (located in the title bar).

However, other DAT files may not be text files—it depends entirely on what the DAT file is being used for. These types of DAT files may be locked files that aren’t easy to delete, move, or edit. You’ll probably only find a locked DAT file if it’s a configuration file that’s always in use by a program, like those found in the program’s installation directory. These types of DAT files will probably never need to be manually opened or manipulated in any way.

Video DAT Files

Some DAT files are actually video files that are saved from programs like VCDGear or CyberLink PowerDirector, among others, and can, therefore, be opened with one of those programs.

The idea is to see where the DAT file is on your computer. Just like with the Adobe example above, if the DAT file is in a program folder that appears to be linked with a CyberLink product, there’s a good chance that it’s the program that will open it.

If you’re sure it’s a video file but you don’t know what program to use to play it, try VLC.

Again, most DAT files located in program directories on your computer are going to be rather useless because most (if not all) of it will be gibberish computer code.

DAT Files as Email Attachments

A DAT file you receive as an email attachment usually comes in the form of a winmail.dat or ATT0001.dat file. These types of DAT files are probably malformed attachments from a Microsoft email client like Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail, or Microsoft Exchange.

In this scenario, you should save the DAT file to your computer and either upload it to Winmaildat or import it into Winmail Opener to extract out the actual attachment. Klammer can open winmail.dat files on macOS.

That attachment might ultimately end up being any other kind of file, like a document, an image, etc.

Other Types of DAT Files

DriveImage XML is an example of another program that uses DAT files for an entirely different purpose than all of the programs mentioned above. In this particular backup program, the entirety of the backup is stored in a single DAT file, accompanied by an XML file.

This DAT file could in no way be viewed in a text editor, video editing program, or anything like that. Instead, because DriveImage XML is the creator of this particular DAT file, the same program is needed in order to actually use the DAT file.

In this case, that means restoring the DAT file to a hard drive using the associated XML file:

There are so many other programs that use DAT files, too. Bitcoin Core uses a file by the name of wallet.dat as the Bitcoin client wallet file. Minecraft and SimCity use DAT files for a variety of purposes. The Porteus Linux operating system keeps container files saved with the DAT file extension. Piriform applications store portability and registration information in DAT files. The Windows Registry uses DAT files to store hives and other registry information. Various programs that utilize Inno Setup use a DAT file to store uninstaller information. No doubt there are dozens or hundreds of others.

Some files look similar to this one even though they really aren’t related. If your file won’t open with these suggestions, double-check the file extension. You could be confusing something else, like a DAR file, with this one.

How to Convert a DAT File

Most files can be converted using a free file converter, but as you can see above, DAT files aren’t like most files. The steps to convert a DAT file completely depend on the type of DAT file you’re working with.

There’s really no reason at all to convert a DAT file to a different format if it’s being used by a specific program to store configuration information, like in the first example from above. Converting that kind of DAT file to something else will probably render the file, and possibly even the program, unusable.

DAT files that are video files can be opened in the video editing software that created it, and then exported or saved as a different format, likely ones like MP4, AVI, WMV, or FLV. Remember the advice about winmail.dat and ATT0001.dat files several paragraphs above if an email attachment is the source of your DAT file.

You can’t usually change a file extension to one that your computer recognizes and expect the newly renamed file to be usable. However, in the case of a DAT file you received via email that you know is supposed to be, say, a Word document file, but it instead ends in the DAT extension, try renaming it to the correct extension and give that a try.

For example, rename the DAT file to DOC or DOCX for a Microsoft Word file, JPG, or PNG for an image, etc. Before you can rename a file extension, you’ll have to make sure that Windows is configured to show file extensions.

Just like in Windows, you’ll need to know what kind of DAT file you’re working with. Then, you can find a program on Mac that reads those kinds of files. For example, like you might try to open a DAT file on Windows with Notepad, you can try the same thing with TextEdit on Mac.

Winmail DAT files are DAT files created and used by Microsoft Outlook. These files traditionally contain email formatting information to be used by Outlook to properly display emails when being viewed.