How to change a file extension on iPhone and iPad? On iPhone and iPad it is possible to change file extensions without using third-party apps. That’s how. In this guide we will see how to change the extension of a file on iPhone and iPad without using third-party apps.
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Changing the extension of a file can be useful for several reasons, such as to make it compatible with specific software or applications or to hide the file type for security reasons (if you change the extension of a PDF file to JPG, you it will open and show an error. But, when you want to view that file, just change the extension to PDF to be able to open it again).
How to change a file extension on iPhone and iPad?
View all file extensions
- Open the Files app and navigate to any folder.
- Tap the More button in the top right, then click Display options > Show all extensions.
You will now always see file extensions in the Files app on iPhone and iPad for all images, documents, videos, audios, and so on.
- In the Files app, find the file whose extension you need to change.
- Touch and hold the file and choose Rename from the menu.
- Replace the current extension name with the new one and press Done on your keyboard.
- Confirm the operation by selecting “Use .new extension”
Since you selected Show all extensions in the first step, you should see the new file extension as soon as you finish editing. Also, you can touch and hold a file and select Get Info from the menu to see information about the file. On this screen, you will see the file extension and type.
How to fix a file that won’t open even after changing its extension?
In some cases, a file may not open after changing its extension:
- You have not set the correct extension. For example, the file is a PDF document, but you mistakenly used PNG as the extension.
- The file whose extension you changed was not downloaded in its entirety, and in this case nothing can force it to open unless you download the file again.
- The file type is not supported by iOS or iPadOS.
Will changing the file extension magically open any file?
Unfortunately not. For example, if you want to play an MKV video on your iPhone, which we remind you is not natively supported in the Photos and Files apps, changing its extension from .mkv to .mp4 will not make the file play natively on your Apple devices.