Opening URL Files

The URL file type is primarily associated with Edge.

URL	File extension: URL
	File type:	web resource shortcut

What is a URL file?

URL files mostly belong to Edge by Microsoft. A URL file contains a shortcut (like a bookmark) to a website. It is created when a user highlights, drags, and drops the contents of a browser's address bar onto the desktop or a different path of the File Explorer on Windows operating system. Its contents include a header, a Uniform Resource Locator (web address), a comment, and a reference to a small image displayed as the URL file's icon. Double-clicking a URL file open's its web address in a computer's default browser. A plain text editor such as Notepad can create/edit a URL file.

How to open URL files

You need a suitable software like Edge to open a URL file. Without proper software you will receive a Windows message "How do you want to open this file?" or "Windows cannot open this file" or a similar Mac/iPhone/Android alert. If you cannot open your URL file correctly, try to right-click or long-press the file. Then click "Open with" and choose an application. You can also display a URL file directly in the browser:. Just drag the file onto this browser window and drop it.

Online URL Text Viewer

Choose your .url file to view

or drag and drop it here

Online File Viewer

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How to extract texts from URL files or capture a screenshot to PDF, JPG, DOCX, TXT, ...

1. To do this, click the button "Choose your .url file to view" on this page.
2. Your URL file will then be displayed in the browser.
3. Now click on "Save as..." at the top of the page.
4. Then choose the file format (e.g. JPG, PDF, DOCX, TXT, ...) you want.
5. Your file will be converted and downloaded.

URL file extension format:

The file format, which is the arrangement and type of data in a file, determines which program can open the file. Each file format has a unique extension and almost always a unique signature. For example, Microsoft Word documents have the extension .docx and the signature (usually the first 3 characters in this file) PK. However, different programs can use the same file extension, and file extensions can be assigned incorrectly. If there are problems opening a file, you must first determine the file format used. Below is our analysis of the URL files:

URL is a very commonly used file extension and is primarily used by a single program. The following file formats are most commonly found in URL files:

• 96% of all URL files are Windows URL shortcut files, which are based on the config file format. A configuration file is used by computer software to store settings. It consists of a text-based content with a structure and syntax comprising key–value pairs for properties, and sections that organize the properties. The contents of these files are easily readable with a text editor. The files are often between 52 bytes and 190 bytes in size. This file type is based on cutting-edge technology. Certain words are almost always found in the files, such as [InternetShortcut] and https. Such files are related to attachment, preview, download, data, https, link, open and docx.
• 2% of all URL files are based on the popular UTF-8 file format. UTF-8 is the World Wide Web's most common character encoding for Unicode. UTF-8 files can be viewed with any text editor. These files start with the 3 bytes  (hex: EF BB BF), the so called byte order mark (BOM). These files are plain text, which means they can be viewed with any text editor such as Windows Editor, Nano for Linux, and TextEdit for macOS. The files are 120 bytes to 170 bytes in size, with a median of 120 bytes. Several words can almost always be found in the files, e.g. [InternetShortcut], https://onedrive.live.com/redir.aspx, resid and type. Such files sometimes refer to notebook.

All other URL files (2%) have no uniform format. They are often associated with notebook, free, image, tube, binary, template or online. If you want to find out which format your URL file belongs to, just click on the button "Choose your .url file to view".