How to open Program data .dat files
Have you had trouble opening the dat file on your computer? What are dat files? We explain what they are and recommend software that we know will open them.
What is dat file?
Files with dat file extension are commonly found in a variety of applications and in most cased used to identify files that contain application data resources or similar data.
Program data description
File extension dat is traditionally used by many various applications or programs for their data or resource files.
Data files cannot be opened directly in an application, they often contain data for internal purposes only. Different formats sharing the same file extension.
Most notably, the dat file extension was and still is commonly used for system files in MS-DOS and Windows operating systems. For example the Windows/System32 folder in latest Windows 10 is still full of various .dat files.
But overall, a .dat file may be anything. If you are unsure about the origins of your .dat file, first and foremost run some antivirus software. Once you know the file is safe, use FileAlyzer to determine the origin of your file.
Suggested software to open dat file
FileAlyzer
A free utility for file analysis
There are other DAT filename extensions with the same .dat suffix
dat - Barudan Embroidery format
Files with dat file extension might also be found as embroideries for Barudan stitching machines.
dat - Bitcoin wallet
Files with dat extension can also be found as special wallet.dat files for BitCoin service. Contains a collection of private keys.
dat - Game data
A dat file extension is related to various computer games. A dat file stores game data resources.
dat - Microsoft Internet Explorer cache
Files with dat file extension were also used in some of the previous versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer for temporary caches.
dat - Nero BackItUp drive image
Files with dat file extension are associated with Nero BackitUp, which is backup application. Files include image drives created by the program.
dat - Prince of Persia game data
A dat file extension is related to game data used by legendary video game called Prince of Persia.
dat - Shareaza thumbnail
Files with dat extension are associated with Shareaza for Thumbnails. These files store some various data used for internal purposes.
dat - Sony Digital Audio Tape
Files with dat file extension are used by the Digital Audio Tape data format.
dat - SPOT image format
A dat file extension is related to the SPOT image file format developed by Spot Image company.
dat - SWAT database
A dat file extension is related to the SWAT (Soil & Water Assessment Tool) software. The *.dat file stores database.
dat - Tecplot ASCII data
A dat file extension is related to the ASCII data file format used by Tecplot visualization application.
dat - Thumbnail cache
A dat file extension is related to the thumbnail cache format used by some apps.
dat - Unreal Tournament game data
Files with dat file extension are related to the Unreal Tournament, a 3D first person shooter video game for Windows, Mac and Linux. A dat file contains various game data.
dat - Video CD MPEG movie MPEG1
Files with dat extension could be especially in the past found as videos saved in MPEG-1 format..