8.3 file names

Before Windows 95 was released, file names in Windows operating systems had to conform to the 8.3 file name format. File names could not be longer than eight characters, and the file extension could not be longer than 3 characters. So a typical set of files would look something like this:

Later versions of Windows can create a 8.3 file name for longer file names, in order to make the files compatible with older systems.

In command prompt, the command:

dir /x

. . . will generate a list of 8.3 file names, and the full long file names side by side.