If you’re trying to find a fast and easy way to convert images to a certain format, such as JPEG, it might be tempting to simply rename the file to replace the extension with the one you want. With JPG and JPEG images this may not be cause much of an issue, since they’re technically the same file type.
However, with other file formats (for example, PNG or GIF), we do not recommend this strategy. Manually renaming files with a different extension doesn’t actually change the file structure, only how your OS handles it. Therefore, you run the risk of it breaking or not working when another program opens it.
