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With so many different types of files around these days, it’s important that every file you try to open or execute is correctly identified by Windows. This is usually achieved by looking at the file extension of .exe or .jpg for example, and when you double click on one of those files, the system knows what the file is and what to do with it.

It’s possibly happened to you before that you download or receive a file and it has no extension at all or something rather obscure that doesn’t look correct. In that case, the file could be an executable, an Office document or an MP3, or a zip archive. The possibilities are almost endless as to the extension you could give a file when you don’t know what it really is.

In fact, Windows even does this when running a CheckDisk because any corrupted files it recovers are simply named File****.CHK and you have to find the extension yourself to rename it back. Thankfully, we’ve previously covered this specific topic and you can read about recovering CHK Files created by CHKDSK and SCANDISK for more information.

If you’re looking for a more generic solution for identifying unrecognized file types, here are six options to help you find unknown files or files that have been given the wrong extension.

1. Toolsley File Identifier Webpage

While many people might be uncomfortable about uploading their files to a website, they need not worry in this case. You do not upload the unknown files to the internet at all and the identification work is done locally on your own computer using Javascript. This means there’s no issue with insecure websites, internet upload speeds, or file size limits.

Using the service couldn’t be easier, just drag and drop a file onto the grey box on the webpage or click Browse and locate a file manually. The result of what it thinks the file is will appear in a box below. The results are not always very informative (an MP3 file shows as “Audio file with ID3 version 2.4.0”), but it’s fast, requires only a web browser, and should be good enough to identify or give you an idea of what type of file you have.

Visit Toolsley File Identifier

2. TrID / TrIDNet

TrID is probably the most comprehensive and well known file identification utility around. It’s also still in active development so missing file types can be added in the future. It is essentially split into three different parts. Firstly, you have the TrID command line tool, then there’s the TrIDNet graphical user interface. Finally, you have the definitions database that holds information for over 13,000 file types.

TrIDNet

To use the portable graphical frontend, download the program and extract it, then download its XML definitions file from the same webpage and extract to the same folder. You should then have a folder called defs in the TrIDNet folder. Windows 10 users will need to have .NET 3.5 installed.

Launch TrIDNet and drop a file onto the window or browse for one. The program will give you a percentage of likely file types it could be. The highest percentage is what it thinks is the most likely. Double click near the arrow to open a window with more information about the type of file. If you put the defs folder elsewhere, you can manually browse for it and scan in the definitions at the bottom.

Download TrIDNet

TrID

The command line version of TrID is handy for use from Command Prompt or batch scripts. Download TrID and the latest defs file from the webpage and place both in the same folder. Then supply the unknown file as an argument to get a percentage guess of the file’s type which looks similar to the GUI version.

trid.exe unkown.file

There are some other arguments available but they aren’t required if you just want to get the file recognized. It’s also possible to create a simple drop target for TrID so you can just drop a file onto the icon to have it open a console window with the identification (TrIDNet also accepts a dropped file onto its icon). Create a new text file in Notepad and add the following lines or download the ready made batch file from below.

@echo off
CD /d “%~dp0”
trid.exe -w %1

Save the file as TrID.bat and place it in the same folder as TrID. The -w argument tells TrID to keep the window open until you press any key.

Drop a file onto the batch file’s icon and it will open a console window with the result similar to above. Unlike the GUI version, TrID doesn’t require .NET Framework and also has a version for Linux systems.

Download TrID | Download TrID Drop Target Batch File

3. ExifTool

The ExifTool program is primarily a command line tool that you can also use from the desktop. Simply extract the executable from the zip file and to identify a file, drag and drop it onto the ExifTool icon. Any extensions the file has will be ignored and its content will be scanned so it doesn’t matter if the file has no extension or simply a wrong extension.

Exiftool is mainly designed for viewing and editing the meta information held in most digital images. But it is also capable of recognizing hundreds of different files from their content. After dropping a file onto the icon a console window will open with details about the file and could also include extra information such as image tag details, archive information, or executable file descriptions.

Double click on ExifTool for help, supported types, and extra commands that can be used. Don’t remove the “(-k)” from the ExifTool file name as it’s a command to keep the result window open until you press Enter. More advanced users can add other ExifTool commands inside the brackets for drag and drop processing.

Download ExifTool

4. DROID (Digital Record Object IDentification)

DROID is an open source tool developed by the UK National Archives to batch identify different types of file formats. This makes it quite good for identifying several unknown files at once instead of one at a time. The internal database of recognized file formats is usually updated a few times a year. DROID is based on Java so is multi platform, the Windows edition includes embedded Java in the Zip so you don’t need to install it.

Start the program by running Droid.bat from the extracted Zip. Drop some unknown files onto the window or click the Add button to browse. Then press the Start button and the results are near instantaneous. The Format column will tell you what the file is and the PUID column provides a link to the National Archives with a more detailed information page about the file type.

If you want to add more files for identification, click the New button to open another tab and start a new profile. Profiles can be exported or saved for further examination later on. You can also generate a report although it’s more for statistical analysis as opposed to useful information for the average user.

Download DROID (Digital Record Object IDentification)

5. Upload Your File And Get It Identified Online

While the first option in our list is a website that actually processes the file locally on your system, there are other websites that work in a different way. You can upload a file to a website and have the website try and identify the file on a remote server. Here’s a couple to try.

CheckFileType

The checkfiletype.com website has been mentioned in the past but we never recommended it because it was using the HTTP protocol and not HTTPS. That is an insecure method for uploading data to a remote server. Thankfully, the website has recently switched to HTTPS, so we’ll now look at what it does. All you have to do is drop a file into the box on the webpage or click and browse.

Wait for the file to be uploaded and then click the “Check File Type” button. A new tab will open with the required information about what the file’s type really is. There might also be a Show Meta Data button which displays more information for media files. The maximum file size to upload is 16MB so the service is no good for larger files.

Visit CheckFileType

Online TrID File Identifier

This is another option that uses the TrID database to identify files and is hosted on the official TrID website like the related tools listed here.

There is no drag and drop so you have to click the Browse button and select a file manually, then click Start to upload and analyze the file. The results will be the same as the other TrID based tools although you do also get a direct link to file-extensions.net and a related information URL for a site like Wikipedia. The file size limit is only 10MB which isn’t huge, but like CheckFileType, it’s fine for smaller files.

Visit Online TrID File Identifier

6. Locate Opener

Locate Opener installs itself into your right click context menu, and when you run the program executable it simply has an install/remove button for controlling the menu entry. Right click on an unrecognized or incorrectly labeled file and select LocateOpener. Depending on whether the file has no extension or one it cannot identify, you will either be asked to look for the extension online at file-extension.net or to scan the file with TrID.

To get the latest file definitions, just download and extract the TrIDDefs.TRD package to Locate Opener’s TrID folder. If the program has found any matches through TrID it will pop up a box with the most likely in terms of percentages, and offer to add the file extension that best fits. The program also has a command line and several advanced options can be configured through the ini settings file.

Although Locate Opener dates back to 2009, the TrID definitions database it relies on is kept up to date. Therefore, it can still recognize file types that were released after the last version of the program, such as Google’s WebP and WebM formats.

Download Locate Opener

You might also like:

5 Ways to Identify Unknown Songs or Music Using Sound Recognition7 Ways To Recover CHK Files Created by CHKDSK and SCANDISK7 Ways to Remove a File Extension Association in Windows6 Ways to View and Extract Content from an MSI File7 Free Ways to Hide a File or Message Inside Another File

Thanks. What it took him to explain in a whole article was explained by you in one comment. Cheers!

Reply

Firstly, if we hadn’t written the article, you wouldn’t have found this comment and the checkfiletype website. ;)

Secondly, it has a file size limit of 16MB, fine for smaller files but anything bigger and you’re out of luck. Plus, if your internet is pretty slow, even uploading 16MB is going to be a slow process as you have to upload the whole file.

Thirdly, we wouldn’t include or recommend this website anyway because it’s risky uploading files to an insecure website (no HTTPS). In this day and age, considering SSL certificates can be had for free, that is unforgivable.

Reply

Works great, thank you, and no downloads!

Reply

Very useful article > Thank you very much>

Reply

Nice articles. Thanks for sharing Admin.

Reply

You can detect binary files via Exeinfo Pe detector !!!!

exeinfo.xn.pl

Reply

You can check the file type from any browser

checkfiletype.com

John

Reply

Nowadays you can detect file types via the browser. No need to install applications.
I wrote a tool that leverages libmagic running with Webassembly. It does not require uploading the files to a server. It runs locally on the browser.

Hope it helps (:

Reply

Great tool, Tomer!

Reply

Nice post… Thanks!

Reply

Also trid

download.cnet.com/TrlD-File-Identifier-for-NET/3000-2248_4-10442461.html

Reply

Just helping update this fine post of 10 yrs.ago

both superb

shockingsoft.com/AnalyzeIt.html

nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/manage-information/preserving-digital-records/droid/

Reply

Thanks for this article! Locate Opener work great for me! Love the command-line function!

Reply

As usual you do miracles in finding the right tools at the right time… I used a auto renamer and messed up a folder of mixed goodies theses tools will help me clean the mess up.

Thanks for the research saved me a days work I’m sure of it.

Reply

You’re the best!!!!!Thanks!!!!!!!

Reply

Hi!
Just seen on TrID’s website logs visitors coming from here! :) Nice to hear that it’s useful.

Thanks,
Bye!

Reply

What honor to be mentioned in the article! :)

At the next time Raymond ;)

Reply

Thanks
Good post !

Reply

Thanks Raymond

Reply

It's harder than ever to rack up a decent amount of likes on your Instagram posts. For influencers and brands, that's an open secret. But there may be an unlikely culprit at play: shadowbanning.

Instagram appears to be secretly blacklisting posts. More than a dozen regular users and business-account holders said they've seen engagement on their account plunge suddenly and without warning, an issue that lasted for weeks at a time.

In May, Baltimore fashion photographer Currie Lee saw her engagement plummet out of the blue. 'I would post something and it would take over five minutes for someone to like something. In the old days, after five minutes, I would have up to 50 likes,' she said.

Matt Smith, founder of Later, a leading marketing platform for Instagram, said he's received a steady flood of reports from Later's users and community about recent losses in Instagram engagement — all blaming the mysterious 'shadowban.'

What's really going on?

Why Instagram is shadowbanning users

Shadowbanning is essentially Instagram's way of policing the community without overt censorship.

All users and brand managers we spoke to were adamant that they hadn't violated Instagram's officialcommunity guidelines. But the shadowbans are likely a response to hashtag abuse — using popular tags like #eeeeats or #brunch on nonfood photos, for instance — or spammy marketing practices such as buying likes or followers (a practice no one we spoke to said they engaged in).

Instagram has never explicitly acknowledged that shadowbanning is real, and neither its terms or service nor community guidelines mention hashtags. But in a since-removed Facebook post in February, the company said that it 'understands users have experienced issues with Instagram's hashtag search that caused posts not to be surfaced.'

'When developing content, we recommend focusing on your business objective or goal rather than hashtags,' the company wrote. The post then outlined tips on how to remain 'creative' on the platform: 'be a storyteller' and 'have a distinct visual presence,' for example.

Kiki Von Glinow of HuffPost wrote about the shadowbans in her popular Facebook group and newsletter#DoinItForTheInsta:

Shadowbanning is an effort from Instagram to make the platform a safer and less spammy place. The main goal of this new implementation is to deter brands from using popular hashtags to bombard users with posts that don't actually correlate to the images or videos they're sharing.

Smith said third-party tools are another big red flag for Instagram:

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If your Instagram content is loaded with repetitive hashtags, especially seemingly banned ones, or you're using automation tools like Instagress (which was recently shut down), or an Instagram scheduler that hacks the Instagram API instead of working within its guidelines, you will suffer very noticeable loss in engagement and reach.

If you want to stay on the algorithm's good side, experts advised that the best way is to avoid appending irrelevant hashtags like #NewYorkCity, #Brooklyn, #instalove or #sunsets to every selfie.

How to tell if you've been shadowbanned — and what to do

Jonathan Schmid, an Instagram blogger who goes by the name TheBlackBeardLife, said shadowbanning is 'pretty obvious if it happens.' He knows from experience.

According to Schmid and more than a dozen other users, if your account is shadowbanned, your posts won't be surfaced in hashtag searches or on the Instagram Search & Explore tab. You'll have a difficult time generating engagement momentum and getting your posts to surface in your followers' feeds.

'If you are shadowbanned by Instagram, it basically means that your post won't show up on the hashtags you use, which limits your ability to find a new audience,' said Smith. Shadowbans also can affect the reach of your posts within your own following.

Several shadowbanned users we spoke to said they had avoided hashtags all together but were still having trouble getting posts seen by their own audience.

If you're unsure if your account has been shadowbanned, there's a website that can help. It purports to let you know if your content is on a secret blacklist, though many users say it's not 100% reliable.

What it's like to be shadowbanned

A number of style bloggers whose personal accounts are intertwined with their businesses say they've felt particularly victimized by the trend.

Christina Gwira, a green-living vlogger based in Canada, said her Instagram account had been growing steadily until she was shadowbanned in April.

Gwira would generally post about four times a day with a set group of popular hashtags. She said they earned her around one like per minute for the first hour her post was live.

But suddenly, in late April, those likes dropped off a cliff. 'I panicked,' she said. Though she was producing the same type of content, her posts were now only garnering around 10 likes per 24-hour period, a far cry from her previous engagement rate.

'I checked the hashtags that I used on this particular post, and my post didn't show up in any of them,' she said. 'I checked every single post that I had posted for the past week. Nothing. I even checked my own created hashtag #krysnaturally — zero posts. I was panicking. I was officially shadowbanned.'

Getting shadowbanned can also cost mid-sized bloggers and influencers real money. Jayden Croft, a Seattle-based photographer and entrepreneur, said getting shadowbanned has impacted endorsements and brand deals.

'Before the shadowban, my post engagement was sky-high and brands were reaching out to me to promote their products and services,' he said. 'Since the shadowban, I've seen a major decrease in engagement and my Instagram revenue is declining as a direct result.'

Shadowbanning is actually supposed to be a good thing

A week before Gwira was apparently shadowbanned, her sister warned her that users like her 'were making Instagram a mess.'

Her sister argued that 'bloggers and individuals who just wanted to have and grow large followings without actually interacting, liking or even bothering about what people would see and scroll through on their Instagram feeds are hurting Instagram's community,' Gwira said.

Gwira's sister is not the only user frustrated by spam. I personally closed down a local Instagram page I started for my old neighborhood after noticing that the hashtag I created was being abused by local businesses just looking to promote themselves to more users.

Instagram walks a fine line with these types of brands and self-promoters. In one sense, the platform needs to remain an open space for brands to express themselves and grow their identity online. But it also needs to tamper spammy 'growth-hacking' efforts that could jeopardize user experience.

'Instagram basically says, 'Focus on the content and less on hashtags,' Lee said. 'But that feels like a slap in the face. How do you expect to find people with common interests without using hashtags?'

What to do if the shadowban hits you

If you have been shadowbanned, fear not. There are a few easy ways to get back on your feet.

The first thing you can do is consider joining an Instagram pod. These are unofficial groups of friends or like-minded 'grammers who agree to like, comment and engage with one another's posts.

Pods are the way that even the most popular Instagrammers ensure their content gets surfaced in the feed. A quick succession of comments on an Instagram post can be a telltale sign of a pod. Try reaching out to fellow members of your Insta community or start a pod yourself with a close group of friends.

The second thing you should do is take some time off. Most banned users say that after disappearing for a few days or scaling back their content, they were able to gain back some of their lost momentum.

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Gwira said that after she was shadowbanned, she waited it out. 'I didn't post. I didn't login to my Instagram account or even open the app from my phone. I just waited,' she said. 'I checked my page frequently from my desktop, though. And the more people unfollowed me, I was burning inside. But what could I have done?'

Andy Feliciotti, a professional Instagrammer and blogger based in Washington D.C., said hashtag placement also matters. He said that hashtags placed in the comments of an Instagram post often won't surface on the Explore page or in search, but if you put them in the main caption, the post is more likely to be surfaced.

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Finally, if your account is currently listed as a business account, it might make sense to switch it to a personal page. Many power users speculated that personal accounts are given a boost over business accounts in the feed. There are drawbacks to this: Your followers won't see a giant 'contact' button on your Instagram profile, for example.

If true, this would be unsurprising. Instagram, like Facebook, relies on advertising dollars to run its platform. Naturally, it would like business accounts to pay to reach their target audiences.

It's for this reason that organic reach on Facebook business pages has plummeted in recent years, so it would make sense that a similar phenomenon could be taking shape on Instagram.

In the meantime, some Instagrammers who have suffered the shadowban effect are trying to remain calm.

'I will stay the course with Instagram and see what happens,' said Richard. 'I'm still not happy with the lack of engagement, but it hasn't dwindled so much that I want to abandon it or change what I'm doing 100%.'

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'I am trying to look at it with a new point of view,' said Lee. 'I'm taking Instagram's advice, just focusing on my work, and to hell with them.'