Today my brother asked me what are dat files and how to open them. Recalling the history of 2-3 years, i told him that dat files were used for VIDEO CDs formats (as he is a layman) and if he can see a video playing when opened in Window Media Player then the files are of his use, other wise that dat file is useless for him.
But he claimed that it is urgent for him, as he got this as an attachment from a foreign college where he is suppose to go next month. Oh Mann! now what is that for ?
I was aware of the fact that, Dat files are usually used to store data which can only be accessed using third party software or any application, and can’t be opened simply double clicking the file.
So i asked him to send me those files. I started to search about this file, the file name was winmail.dat(most probably you are here using these keywords only). This format is actually used by Outlook express to send the attachments, yeah the filthy Microsoft has to play around with its tricks. So when someone sends an attachment using outlook express the attachment sometimes is encoded using .dat file and the users are unable to open these attachments using webmail like rediff etc etc.(i doubt gmail can crack these dat files, after all google rox). Guys it took 5mins for me to crack those files using and here are the two solutions which i would recommend :