# What is the file extension for dot file?

**URL:** <https://forum.graphviz.org/t/what-is-the-file-extension-for-dot-file/35>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [April 12, 2020, 1:07am UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/what-is-the-file-extension-for-dot-file/35 "2020-04-12T01:07:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![NL80JdDGyo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@NL80JdDGyo](https://forum.graphviz.org/u/NL80JdDGyo)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 1:07am UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/what-is-the-file-extension-for-dot-file/35/1 "2020-04-12T01:07:08Z")

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> **[DOT (graph description language)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOT_%28graph_description_language%29)**
>
> DOT is a graph description language. DOT graphs are typically files with the filename extension gv or dot. The extension gv is preferred, to avoid confusion with the extension dot used by versions of Microsoft Word before 2007.
> Various programs can process DOT files. Some, such as dot, neato, twopi, circo, fdp, and sfdp, can read a DOT file and render it in graphical form. Others, such as gvpr, gc, acyclic, ccomps, sccmap, and tred, read DOT files and perform calculations on the represented gr...

The above page says `.gv` is the file extension for a DOT file. But since the language name is DOT, shouldn’t the extension be called `.dot`? Thanks.

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**Author:** ![steveroush](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@steveroush](https://forum.graphviz.org/u/steveroush)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 4:10am UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/what-is-the-file-extension-for-dot-file/35/2 "2020-04-12T04:10:54Z")

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It used to be .dot, but Microsoft Word claimed .dot, whoops. The Graphviz programs don’t care.

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**Author:** ![Ellson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/graphviz/user_avatar/forum.graphviz.org/ellson/32/19_2.png) [@Ellson](https://forum.graphviz.org/u/Ellson)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 4:18pm UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/what-is-the-file-extension-for-dot-file/35/3 "2020-04-12T16:18:45Z")

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.gv is the IANA registered extension.

I don’t think there is anything in graphviz that actually cares about the extension, or even if there is one at all.

My interpretation of the problem is that DOT is a data-definition-language and not a display format. So knowing that it is a DOT file doesn’t actually tell you how to process it.

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**Author:** ![erg](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/graphviz/user_avatar/forum.graphviz.org/erg/32/34_2.png) [@erg](https://forum.graphviz.org/u/erg)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 3:35pm UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/what-is-the-file-extension-for-dot-file/35/4 "2020-04-13T15:35:47Z")

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Graphviz also was developed in the Unix environment, where files just contain data that can be processed by any tool as part of a pipeline, whether the tool is neato, gvpr, wc or cat.