FILExt, a service to find out what a type of file is used for that also allows you to view them

For many years, when I have not known what a file with an "x" extension was used for, I have consulted FIExt. It's been around for over 20 years, and it's my go-to source for as long as I can remember. That we found a file with a .patata extension? Well, we enter its website, look for ".patata" and it tells us what it is and how to open it, although logically with that extension it will give us an error. And not only that, since the service has improved, and now also offers other functions.

To be honest, I don't know since when it has improved so much. I remember that before it only gave information, but now we Allows you to upload files for viewing. Take the test: open the browser, go to Your Website, click "Choose File" and upload something. It will likely open it, even if it is a ZIP like the one in the image below. It supports many types of files, to the point of being surprising.

FILExt is free, but with advertising

If we have opened the file with this system, below it puts a little information about the type, and a link to the more extensive information, basically to what FILExt has offered for a lifetime. This “viewer” is so powerful that it is even capable of opening .db (local database) files, allowing us to do some SQL queries. For example, I have a .db file that I'm testing with a Python application. That file contains a table with published articles. If I upload it to FILExt, after a second it will show all the information, and it will offer me a field to make the queries.

And things get better by the minute. If we put, for example, a GIMP .xfc file, it will open the file by pulling Photopea, the web half-clone of Photoshop. It also works with videos, songs... practically anything. In some cases, such as .db or .xfc formats, it offers us something to interact with, but in others, such as .docx or .odt, what it does is convert it to PDF. At least we can visualize them.

If you're thinking of using FILExt to display movies, I'm sorry, but it doesn't go that far; it only shows 30 seconds of the video. And if you are thinking of uploading a .torrent file to download something, no, neither. For that there are other services, such as webtor, which in addition to downloading torrents also allows you to view streaming videos if they are hosted on the same network.

Thats not all. It also allows you to convert files

As if this were not enough, above it has an option in which it says "Save as" that Allows you to convert files to other formats, though not always. If we open a .png it will allow us to convert it to .jpg, .bmg and some other image formats, but also to PDF or Epub. Be careful with this, because while it is true that some conversions work, it is also true that others do not. Converting a PNG to Epub will result in an .epub file, yes, but without the desired content; it will limit itself to putting a cover with the name of the file and a couple of empty (or black) pages. They should probably polish this up a bit so that it doesn't offer the conversions that might fail. The bad thing about this is that sometimes they do work out, so it would be difficult to manage.

And how much does all this cost? The price to pay is advertising, especially an invitation to register like the previous one. It can be closed with the X at the top right, or it will go away automatically if we click on "Register or Login". But we can also register and support the project for €1.99/month. Taking into account what is requested by other subscriptions even seem cheap.

So you already know, if you didn't already know. FILExt not only allows you to know what to open a type of file with, but also allows you to view and convert them to other formats. A whole swiss army knife.