How Does a DAT File Work?
Other People Are Reading
-
The Three Kinds of DAT files
-
There are three different places where you might encounter a file with the ".DAT" extension: General data file, WinMail data file or VCD video data.
General Data File
-
A wide variety of programs can create a DAT data file. In general, these will be laid out in a plain text format, with the data separated by symbols that tell the program where the next field starts. This file structure is called a "delimited" file, and the separator symbols are most commonly tabs or commas.
-
WinMail Data File
-
When a Rich Text Format, or RTF, email passes through a Microsoft Exchange mail server, the message will be broken into two pieces. The first part, the actual text of the email, will remain in the body of the message. The formatting information, however, has to be separated out, and this is what's stored in the second piece, the DAT attachment.
A Microsoft mail program will recognize the DAT file attachment, and it will apply the formatting to the email automatically. The attachment may not even be visible when the email is read. However, if the email goes to an email program that doesn't recognize DAT files, then this information will appear as an attachment.
VCD Movies
-
Video CD, or VCD, is a format for storing and playing movies. Much like a "poor man's DVD," VCD quality is roughly comparable to a VHS recording. VCD players were very popular in Europe and Asia, though their popularity is falling as DVD recording becomes cheaper. Most DVD players automatically recognize and play VCD disks.
The movie is stored on the disk in a directory structure, and the DAT file is the largest file on the disk. It contains the raw information that the player will convert into video when the movie is played. Since the DVD player treats it just like a DVD, there shouldn't be any need to open the DAT file separately.
-
