i have several dat files that i need to open and want to change the format from a dat file to a jpeg file, not sure if this is possible but if it is what program do i need to do this, thanks in advance.

Dat files are not necessarily graphic files. They can be text as well, but more commonly, they are binary files. What program are these attached to? And, have you confirmed they are actually graphic files? Soylent Green is PEOPLE!!!

yes they are suppose to be graphic files, they are family pictures that i want to put in my geneology program, thanks again

Hi flyinhi. I would try to rename the file with different extensions such as - photo.jpg photo.bmp photo.tif and see if my image software will open it. Were these files sent to you over AOL? At work we sometimes receive files with the .dat extension. These are a combination of artwork and text but the desktop software won't open them. I then ask the customer to resend using another method than through AOL and that fixes the problem. Or if they have to use AOL, ask them to .zip or stuff the files first and see if that will prevent AOL from messing with the files. Take care, Linda

Graphics files have indicators inside that tell which format they are, so just changing the extension is usually not sufficient, Unless you accidently select the correct one. Sorry, I do not check for private messages

G'day Fly, you could try a program called WinDAT that I know opens DAT audio files [Digital Audio Transfer] but may also open graphic .dat files as well [I didn't until now know that they could also be graphic as well as sound files] And yes folks, there are .dat [data] and .DAT [audio] filetypes and now it seems graphics as well. How confusing. I used to use WinDAT to convert .DAT to .wav