Table of Contents
This guide is about Guide: Read DAT files in Windows PC. So read this free guide, Guide: Read DAT files in Windows PC step by step. If you have query related to same article you may contact us.
Guide: Read DAT files in Windows PC – Guide
Any file used to store data with a .dat extension is considered a DAT file. It can be in many different formats, but most of the time it’s just plain text. However, as there is more than one type of file, there is no lack of programs to help you open them. First, you need to determine if it’s a video or text file to find out how to open a DAT file. This can be difficult because nothing in the file reveals its format right away.
One way to do this is to use a code reader, which looks complicated at first but is very simple. In this article, we’ll cover some of the more common tools you can use to open and convert multiple DAT files.
Using the Text Editor
You can use any text editor to open a DAT file. All text editors have a different process for opening a DAT file, but they are easy to use. Right click on the file you want to open and select the ‘open with’ option. And then choose your text editor.
If your text editor looks like the image above, it means it’s not a text file and you need to open it with other tools or not even open it at all.
Opening DAT video files
As we mentioned earlier, some programs like VCD Gear or Cyber Link Power Director have video DAT files. You can open these files with programs that load them into their folders, or you can use VLC.
Right click on the file you want to open and select the ‘open with’ option. Then select VLC from the menu. But don’t get your hopes up, most of the .DAT files in your program directories would be pretty useless, because they’re generally meaningless computer code, well, most if not all of them are.
Converting DAT files
If nothing works and you have no idea where the .DAT file came from, converting them to other formats such as text, audio, or video might work. Sometimes VCD files that use the .mpg format may terminate up being stored as a DAT file.
In that case, all you have to do is right-click on the file and go to the properties. In place of the filename, replace .dat with the format you think the original file is in. However, before starting the process, make a copy of the file and then convert it because the wrong conversion can corrupt the file.
How to open a Winmail.dat file
Sometimes Microsoft Outlook converts an email to .dat format automatically. This also happens with other email servers. If you receive an email created in Outlook while you don’t have Outlook, you will receive a winmail.dat file as an attachment. You will not be able to see the full message. You can use winmaildat.com to open this attachment.
Select ‘choose file’, navigate to the DAT file you downloaded and click open. Once the file has loaded, click Start. Once winmaildat.com completes, you will be taken to the results page to see the contents of that DAT file.
On iPhone and iPad
You can use TNEF’s free Enough tool to open, view and allow access to any data in a winmail.dat attachment in the iOS Mail app.
Other DAT files
Another program that uses the DAT file is DriveImage XML and its purpose is totally different from those mentioned above. DriveImage XML is a backup program and its DAT file keeps all the backup and an XML file accompanies it. You cannot view this file in any other program except DriveImage XML which created this file.
Many other programs also use DAT files. Bitcoin Core uses the Bitcoin client wallet file called wallet.dat. The Porteus Linux operating system saves its container files with the DAT file extension. For Piriform apps, they store portability and registration information. While the Windows Registry stores hives and other registry information in DAT files.
Final note
I hope you like the guide Guide: Read DAT files in Windows PC. In case if you have any query regards this article you may ask us. Also, please share your love by sharing this article with your friends.