.CRDOWNLOAD File Extension

When you download a file with one of the Chrome, Edge, or Chromium web browsers, the browser creates a temporary CRDOWNLOAD file in your computer's "Downloads" folder while the file downloads. Typically, you will only see CRDOWNLOAD files while downloading a file via your web browser.

However, if the download is interrupted before completion (possibly due to a lost Internet connection or because you pause the download), the CRDOWNLOAD file will remain in your "Downloads" folder. Though, once you close the browser, it removes the CRDOWNLOAD file from the folder.

Names of CRDOWNLOAD files

The Chrome, Edge, and Chromium web browsers may name CRDOWNLOAD files either of the following ways:

1. Unconfirmed [set of numbers].crdownload - For example, when downloading the myDoc.docx file, the CRDOWNLOAD file appears as Unconfirmed 47128.crdownload during the download but then changes to myDoc.docx once the download is complete.
2. filename.ext.crdownload - For example, if you are downloading the myMovie.avi file, the browser appends the .crdownload extension to the file while downloading it, creating myMovie.avi.crdownload. Once the download is complete, the browser removes the .crdownload extension, and the file is ready.

NOTE: CRDOWNLOAD files are similar to .PART files, which the Mozilla Firefox web browser uses for partial downloads.

CRDOWNLOAD files are not meant to be opened. Instead, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Chromium web browsers create the files as placeholders for files while they download.

However, you may be able to open an interrupted CRDOWNLOAD file, even if the web browser only downloaded a portion of the file. For example, you can still play some audio and video file types (like an .MP4 video) with a media player even though the web browser did not fully download them.

To do this, delete the .crdownload extension if the browser appended it onto the file extension or change the .crdownload extension to the file's actual extension (e.g., .mp4 if you were downloading an MP4 video), then attempt to open it with the appropriate program (QuickTime Player if you are a Mac user). In the case of the MP4 video, you can play a percentage of the video similar to the web browser downloaded. For example, if the browser downloaded 30 MB of a 99 MB MP4 video, you could play roughly 11 seconds of the video's 33-second runtime.

How to resume a CRDOWNLOAD file

If you are unable to open the file, you can resume the download in the web browser by pasting the browser name, followed by ://downloads/ in the address bar of the web browser (e.g., chrome://downloads/), navigating to the incomplete download, and clicking Resume.

Finally, if you cannot resume the download, delete the CRDOWNLOAD file and download the file again via the web browser.