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Can more than one program use the same file extension?
There are hundreds of thousands of computer programs available. This means there are also hundreds of thousands of file extensions. Because there is no centralized database for file extensions, many times these file extensions overlap. That is, one file extension might be used by multiple programs.
The correlation between a file extension and the program that uses it is called a "file association." Therefore, an extension that is used by more than one software program has multiple file associations. While most common file extensions, such as .txt, .jpg, and .mp3 are associated with distinct file types, less popular extensions are more likely to have multiple file associations. Some examples include .art, .jpx, .key, and .vc4. Fortunately, files also have internal data that defines the creator of the file, which helps the computer choose the correct program to open them with.
It would be ideal if each file extension had only one file association. But since there is no universal file extensions registry, developers can choose whatever file extensions they want for their programs' files. Fortunately, if you come across an unknown file extension, you can always look it up at FileInfo.net.
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