.dat format?

Just downloaded a movie in the .dat format. What software do I need for that?

eror:windows cant play this file!
windows eror text:teh specified file cannot be played on the specified MCI device.the file may be corrupt, not in the correct format,or no file handler available for this format...

Now,what should i do?

The .dat file is some type of DVD format. Most DVD players program will run it. I got mine working with my ATI DVD player. Just don’t assoc. the .dat file with the player. .dat files are used by many other programs for other stuff.

.dat isn’t a format. It’s just a general file extension signifying that the content of the file is data.

In VCD’s, the MPEG stream is stored as a .dat file. You can simply rename from .dat to .mpg and the movie should load and play in Windows Media Player perfectly well.

you cant just rename it

you know.........sometimes you guys(or gals )really piss me off,giving advice which you obviously know nothing about!

just use IO MEDIA PLAYER.........YOU CAN WATCH WHILE YOUR’E D/LOADING,IT WILL PLAY DAT FILES PLUS MANY OTHERS!!!!

.dat is an acronym for digital audio tape. It shows that the contents are in data format. If used some CD etc. by a Computer, the comp will get to know the data and media player will execute the CD but if used by some DVD/VCD player they wont be able to recognize it and wont be able to execute it. So better way is to change the extension into .mpg and then store the file on your CD and then use the DVD/VCD player to execute it.

you might need to create a .cue sheet for the dat file as it could be a vcd cd

yeah, all i did was “open with” media player.
worked just fine

Yea. Jus go to open with. Windows Media Player. Worked for me also

ok...this is my first post but i may be able to help...
If you have a *.dat file its an incomplete file (commonly video). What this means is that there is information there, just not all of it.Example
you have a file this big
[ ]
but only this much is downloaded
[}}}}}}}}}}}}} ]
the dark part is your .dat info
How to play it; the best idea is to get a Codec pack. A different codec is needed for different dat files...a codec may work for an mpg .dat file, but the same codec may not work for an avi .dat file.
I hope this is a little help!

Guys i have a question. i have some .dat and .mpg files in my harddisk. i want to burn them in CD and play in a VCD player. if i directly burn a .dat file to a CD will it play in a VCD player? plis inform.

VCD Players will not detect files with .mpg extension. These players detect files only with .dat extension. You can burn these files directly into the CD if you are willing to play these files in the computer only. If u want the .dat file to be played in the VCD Player u have to burn that file in the VCD format. I think the burning software u r using is Nero. In Nero click “make VCD” and add that .dat file to it and burn. You can view this CD in VCD Player. But if u burn directly the file will not be detected by your VCD Player.

If you have a .dat file you have to burn it as a VCD as suggested by Suman. If you burn it as a data file, you will not be able to play on any of the VCD/DVD players.

As someone above suggested, I dont think it would play in a VCD player if you just rename the extension. That is just bullshit.

you can play .DAT format on Cyberlink PowerDVD
or u can conver it to .MPG (example using VCDGear)
and u can convert it to DivX for smaller size
(up to 50% size)

i got a .dat movie which am tryn to burn it to DVD..... any help???

you can encode the vcd .dat file into an MPEG file with VCDGear, and then perhaps use VirtualDub to transcode that into an *.avi format

or, once you have the MPEG file burn it with whatever DVD authoring tools you have at hand (nero might do it, i think)

jon

Is there any way for me to change the format of a DAT video so that I can open it in Windows Movie Maker?

i dotn mean to sound dumb or nething how do u rename a file it says it wont let me cuz its a readme file

hi
i m facing a really weird problem ....i jus got mini dv converted in vcd which is in .dat format ..this cd plays on every other comp except mine...i tried playing on windows media player , power dvd and real player too.. but it doesnt seem to play at all in fact i m not even able to copy that file on my hard disk ...i really don know wat to do if any1 cud help me wid this ..it will really gr8 help