100's images without extension - how can I reassociate filetype

[privatefleet]

Hi all,

I have 500 odd images on my computer but for one reason or another, they are all saved with a .au file extension (which windows interprets as an 'AU Format Sound' filetype).

My problem is they are all images and were originally .jpgs, .gifs, .pngs etc.

Anyone know how I can automatically buzz through them and reassign their original file extensions?

Many thanks

David

[Dubbya]

Eeezie, Peezie if you do it in a DOS window.

You can make this a little easier by copying all the images you want to rename to a central folder on the root of your hard drive. Do that first. Create a new folder at "C:\Temp" and copy the images you want to rename to it. Once they're all in there, proceed with the next step.

1. In Windows XP, click "Start",
2. Click "Run..."
3. type "cmd"
4. in the DOS window, type "cd\" and hit "Enter"
5. type "cd temp" (or the path to the folder where your images are located.)
6. type "ren *.au *.jpg" and hit the "Enter" key.

Repeat the process for any images with any other extension and rename them with the correct extensions. (.gif, .tif, .png, etcetera.)

After every batch, you might want to view the renamed images and sort them into additional folders, then carry on renaming the remaining images using different extensions until you're done. It'll take some messing around but it's pretty easy.

Lucky for you there are still a few of us oldschool nerds around.

.02

[Uncle Dog]

Do you know the appropriate extension for each file, or do you need a process to find that out?

[privatefleet]

thanks guys!

Dubbya - plan sounds great but as Uncle dof suspected I don't know which are which. Since i posted I sort of did it using irfanview - seemed to work well but made them ALL jpg.

Some have drastically suffered in terms of quality though. I'm thinking these might have been the ones that were origibally gifs, bmps etc.

Thanks again

[Dubbya]

So, now take note of which files appear to be .gif files, make some copies of the original files, save them to another folder and rename them appropriately using the same technique outlined for you. Renaming files in DOS won't change their compression.

I'm not familiar with irfanview, but I'd assume it re compresses the files in .jpg format and changes the colour palette, which is what's causing the distortion. It probably wouldn't make a difference with the .bmp files though.

[jScott_Harris]

you could loop them through a php script that detects the proper file type and change it after it detects it