File extension XYZ

File type Molecule Specification Format
Developer N/A
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What is a XYZ file?

XYZ file format is used for storing data describing chemical molecule in form of a plain text file. XYZ files don’t follow strict format standard specification; first row usually contains information about number of atoms, second row contains comments and third row contains list of atoms including atomic symbol and coordinates in Carthesian coordinate system.

XYZ files are used by chemistry software such as Jmol, TINKER, UniChem or VMD. They can serve as means of importing and exporting geometrical data of molcules, as well as supply data for simulations. XYZ is sometimes used for demostration purposes as a generic extension format, or in situation when file extension is of unknown type.

Program(s) that can open the .XYZ file

Windows
Mac OS
Linux

How to open XYZ files

If you cannot open the XYZ file on your computer - there may be several reasons. The first and most important reason (the most common) is the lack of a suitable software that supports XYZ among those that are installed on your device.

A very simple way to solve this problem is to find and download the appropriate application. The first part of the task has already been done – the software supporting the XYZ file can be found in the table. Now just download and install the appropriate application.

Possible problems with the XYZ format files

The inability to open and operate the XYZ file does not necessarily mean that you do not have an appropriate software installed on your computer. There may be other problems that also block our ability to operate the Molecule Specification Format file. Below is a list of possible problems.

  • Corruption of a XYZ file which is being opened
  • Incorrect links to the XYZ file in registry entries.
  • Accidental deletion of the description of the XYZ from the Windows registry
  • Incomplete installation of an application that supports the XYZ format
  • The XYZ file which is being opened is infected with an undesirable malware.
  • The computer does not have enough hardware resources to cope with the opening of the XYZ file.
  • Drivers of equipment used by the computer to open a XYZ file are out of date.

If you are sure that all of these reasons do not exist in your case (or have already been eliminated), the XYZ file should operate with your programs without any problem. If the problem with the XYZ file has not been solved, it may be due to the fact that in this case there is also another rare problem with the XYZ file. In this case, the only you can do is to ask for assistance of a professional staff.

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This extension
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How to associate the file with an installed software?

If you want to associate a file with a new program (e.g. my-file.XYZ) you have two ways to do it. The first and the easiest one is to right-click on the selected XYZ file. From the drop-down menu select "Choose default program", then click "Browse" and find the desired program. The whole operation must be confirmed by clicking OK. The second and more difficult to do is associate the XYZ file extension to the corresponding software in the Windows Registry.

Is there one way to open unknown files?

Many files contain only simple text data. It is possible that while opening unknown files (e.g. XYZ) with a simple text editor like Windows Notepad will allow us to see some of the data encoded in the file. This method allows you to preview the contents of many files, but probably not in such a structure as a program dedicated to support them.

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