When we were kids, we used to write on paper some words and symbols that only we could decipher. If someone wanted to look at what was written, since it was encrypted, they would have no idea what it could mean. In the computer world, the privacy of an application is a fundamental basis for it not to be copied. The DAT file fulfills this idea. That is why we will show you how to open DAT files properly.
What is a DAT file?
A DAT file is a generic document used to store application information. Since they depend on the software that created them to open them, they are specific and mostly encrypted.
Let’s use an example to understand what the DAT document does. Let’s imagine that we are recalling something. In doing so, the image comes to the present, we can evoke what we heard, even what we felt. Now we transform that, give it to someone else and show them how to open a DAT file. As it happens in daily life when we are telling what happened to us at a given moment, the other person will interpret it in his own way with his own feelings and even with other images.
The latter shows what the DAT document does. The software that creates it is the only one that can interpret it correctly. Its writing form is in plain text or binary system. And even if we understand how to open DAT files with text editors, if the format allows it, it will give us an idea of what it contains inside, but in other cases only unconnected symbols will appear.
The good thing about all this is that the file is encrypted, so it is a first line of security. The disadvantage is that not everyone knows how to open DAT files. Sometimes they arrive in the mail as .DAT and the header tells us that it was a video. What happens here is that the DAT, being generic, can be adapted to any encoding and must be transformed for its proper utility.
Programs to open DAT files
Notepad
The first thing to do is to hover over the file. Second click on it and go to the Open with tab. A series of programs for its implementation will appear. We look for Notepad and click on it. If the file is in plain text, we can search inside the file to find out which program created it and execute it correctly.
Convert to another format
This step is in case you have an idea of the configuration in which the DAT file was generated. First we must adapt the system so that it can change the extension. We go to Control Panel, click on Appearance and Personalization, examine Folder Options. A box will appear, click on View and look for the box that says Show file extensions.
In Windows 8 or higher we proceed in the following way: in the folder where the file is we give to the tab View and we touch on the box of Show extensions of the files. From now on, we will be able to change the format from .DAT to others, for example .RAR if it is a compressed folder, .MP3 if it is a music file, among many other configurations.
Knowing what is inside a .DAT document is difficult if you have no idea what software was created. But with this knowledge you will have an idea of how to open DAT files so that you can find what you are looking for.
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