FASTA file format description

Many people share .fasta files without attaching instructions on how to use it. Yet it isn’t evident for everyone which program a .fasta file can be edited, converted or printed with. On this page, we try to provide assistance for handling .fasta files.

1 filename extension(s) found in our database.

.fasta - FASTA Sequence

The FASTA data files are related to SnapGene. FASTA file is a FASTA Sequence. In bioinformatics, FASTA format is a text-based format for representing either nucleotide sequences or peptide sequences, in which nucleotides or amino acids are represented using single-letter codes.

Application:

SnapGene

Category:

Data files

Mime-type:

application/octet-stream

Magic:

- / -

Aliases:

fa, fna

FASTA Sequence related extensions:

.ab1: DNA Electropherogram File
.embl: ENA EMBL Sequence
.gbk: GenBank Data

Naturally, other applications may also use the .fasta file extension. Even harmful programs can create .fasta files. Be especially cautious with .fasta files coming from an unknown source!

Can't open a .fasta file?

When you double-click a file to open it, Windows examines the filename extension. If Windows recognizes the filename extension, it opens the file in the program that is associated with that filename extension. When Windows does not recognize a filename extension, you receive the following message:

Windows can't open this file:

example.fasta

To open this file, Windows needs to know what program you want to use to open it. Windows can go online to look it up automatically, or you can manually select one from a list of programs that are installed on your computer.

To avoid this error, you need to set the file association correctly.

Open Control Panel > Control Panel Home > Default Programs > Set Associations.
Select a file type in the list and click Change Program.

The .fasta file extension is often given incorrectly!

According to the searches on our site, these misspellings were the most common in the past year:

asta, fastq

Is it possible that the filename extension is misspelled?

Similar file extensions in our database:

.asta: Astah Project
.fastq: FASTQ Sequence

Operating systems

DataTypes.net currently supports the following operating systems:

Windows XP/Vista, Windows 7/8, Windows 10, CentOS, Debian GNU/Linux, Ubuntu Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, iOS, Android

If you find the information on this page useful, please feel free to link to this page.

https://datatypes.net/open-fasta-files

If you have useful information about the .fasta file format, then write to us!

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