# Solved: mass file type change using DOS?



## greed (Feb 24, 2005)

hey there, i read that you can change file types using dos however i can't get the syntax to work. i have various m4a audio books in my itunes and want to change them to m4b. i read it is possible using the dos REN command and *.m4a *m4b to make them all change at once. could someone tell me the exact syntax i should type.

RENAME [drive:][path][directoryname1 | filename1] [directoryname2 | filename2]

is what is said on the site i saw

along with example:

Rename all text files to files with .bak extension.

rename *.txt *.bak

i have a folder on my C drive called audiobooks (C:\audiobooks)

can someone tell me exactly what to type in the cmd box to change all the m4a files in the folder to m4b.

Thanks in advance


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

REN "C:\audiobooks\*.m4a" *.m4b


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## greed (Feb 24, 2005)

thanks


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

You're welcome.

*You can mark your own threads solved using the thread tools at the upper right of the screen.*


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## greed (Feb 24, 2005)

for anyone else interested and/or future reference, i found a way of doing this which if you have multiple folders in the folder, will edit them all at once.

XCOPY C:\audiobooks\*.m4a C:\FIN\*.m4b /S

as i had subfolders in the audiobooks folder i had to do each of those folders individually, this commmand you only had to do for the audiobooks folder and it did for all sub folders too! you can just delete original files after it has copied them if needed.

if there is a similar REN command for subfolders I would like to know still any how...


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