.CNT File Extension
Help Contents File
| Developer | Microsoft |
| Popularity |
3.6 | 68 Votes |
What is a CNT file?
A CNT file is a help file used by Windows and Windows applications. It stores topics for a Help document (.HLP file) in a plain text format. CNT files are commonly installed with applications that use Microsoft Help as their help documentation format.
How to open a CNT file
Developers can open and create CNT files with Microsoft Help Workshop, an older program for creating help documentation. They can also update CNT files to the newer HTML Help Workshop format (.HHC files) using Microsoft HTML Help Workshop.
Warning
Do not open unknown CNT files, as a known security issue allows these files to exploit a buffer overflow condition and execute malicious code on users' computers.
Programs that open CNT files
Android Cache File
| Developer | |
| Popularity |
3.6 | 9 Votes |
A CNT file may also be a cache file created by an app installed on Android, Google's mobile operating system. It contains an image, audio, or other cached file used by an Android application. CNT files can be opened by renaming them to use the extension of the cached file they contain. For example, you can open a JPG image cached in a CNT file by renaming the file to use the .JPG extension, and then opening the file in any image viewer.
More Information
Many Android applications, including Twitter, Facebook, and Skype for Android, cache certain files (most often image and audio files) as CNT files. This allows these applications to store and quickly load these files from your Android device's system memory, rather than its hard drive, as you use the apps.
While different Android applications create, store, and reference CNT files differently, most CNT files are stored in a cache directory or a sub-directory of that directory. For example, Facebook Messenger for Android stores cached audio files in the app's cache/audio directory, and Twitter for Android stores cached images in the app's cache/image_cache directory.
How to open a CNT file
While CNT files are not meant to be opened outside the app that created them, you can open CNT files by copying them and renaming them to use the extension of the cached file they contain. For example, if you encounter CNT files stored in a cache/image_cache directory, you can likely open the files by renaming them to use the .jpg extension and opening them in the image viewer of your choice.