video file extension ".!Ul"

[Dogit]

I have a Windows 7 64 bit OS and uTorrent Version 3.0. I always check the file extensions prior to downloading. If it says ".avi", I know it will play. I have UMPlayer, VLC WMPlayer and Windows Media Centre. I use UMPlayer the most because it will play almost anything. Once a download has completed, and been seeded, I move it from downloads (or done). I then notice that, although the info on the torrent site says .avi, there are too many occassions when another extension has been added. It now reads ".avi.!Ul. Now I have to delete it because no player will play it. They say that they cannot render the file. Renaming the file by deleting the extra extension does not help. It just makes the video junk. Who adds this extension and what does it mean? Why does the torrent site show only .avi? Can I get past this somehow, or do I have to delete the file and keep looking for a 'clean' one? Please help because I do not want to seed files that can't be played.

[kerriw]

Are you sure the file has actually completed it's download? If it hasn't you will see this file extension. My experience in past with this issue, I have had a torrent or two that would not go past 97% because there weren't enough seeds. So, I tried deleting the file extension and played the avi file. It did actually work. I was able to watch the video in full. the credits or something may not have been there, but at least I was able to watch the movie or tv show even though it had not reached 100%.

[pmshah]

!ut extension can be turned off in the settings of uTorrent.

It is appended to distinguish completed files from the incomplete ones, especially in multifile situation, such as complete season of a TV show.

If your download is incomplete and there are no seeders available to finish the job your only recourse is to do what kerriw suggests. Your only hope of salvaging the file after that is to use some repair utility and hope not too much gets chopped off !!!

[Dogit]

Thanks to kerriw and pmshah for their quick answer to my problem. Both answers were good and very much appreciated!!