Why do I get .txt extension eventhough it isn’t?

Whenever I download a .mat file from this forum I get .txt extension appended at the ended. Why is it so ?

[Jan]

I don't, but it is worth, because my Windows treats the file as Access files and I cannot even open them with NotePad++. See https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/103000-why-have-all-my-mat-files-become-associated-with-microsoft-access

[madhan ravi]

Sorry Jan should have mentioned it earlier , I'm using mac.

[Adam Danz]

Maybe this?

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/199100

[madhan ravi]

Thanks Adam, will try it but doesn't seem to yield the expected.

[Rik]

@Jan, for me installing Matlab after Office did the trick, since it is a file association issue (or it was in my case). This assumption made it very confusing when someone wanted to link Matlab with Access to read actual Access files.

[madhan ravi]

@Rik: It was working fine until yesterday.

Answer 1

[Guillaume]

That reminds me that's something I wantedto discuss with Mathworks as it's indeed annoying.

The reason has nothing to do with your OS or your file association. The behaviour will depend entirely on your browser but ultimately it's a defect in the way Answers serves these mat file.

The mat files are served with a content-type of text/plain. So, stricly speaking a browser that download these files should consider them as text files. Firefox does this and since the website tells it that the file is text, it adds a txt extension to the file. Other browsers may ignore the content-type and save it as is. Really, Answers should send this file with the correct Content-Type.

I'll try to get them to fix that.

[madhan ravi]

? Guru, merci.