.DASH File Extension
MPEG-DASH Video File
| Developer | Moving Picture Experts Group |
| Popularity |
3.5 | 48 Votes |
What is a DASH file?
A DASH file is a video file created for high-quality video playback on sites such as YouTube and Netflix. It contains an HTTP-based segment of media content that is encoded with different bit rates, to keep a video playing through changing network conditions.
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DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP) files are distributed over the DASH protocol. When clients, like web browsers, play back DASH-encoded content, they select DASH file segments with the appropriate bitrate to avoid re-buffering and stalls. The chosen bitrate reflects your current network and Internet connection.
A variety of programs allow users to create and download DASH files. For example, RealPlayer Downloader downloads videos as DASH files before automatically converting them to .MP4 files. As another example, developers can use DASHEncoder to create DASH videos from other video files.
If you have a DASH file on your computer, it is likely a segment of a larger video file. Because DASH files contain only a segment of a video, they cannot be played as is in most media players. You must combine a DASH file with its other related video segments and convert the combined file to an MP4 file before you can play it.
How to open a DASH file
To play the video a DASH file contains, you must:
- Combine all the DASH files that comprise a single streamed video into one DASH file.
- Convert the combined DASH file into an MP4 file.
Then, you'll be able to play the resulting MP4 file in a media player, such as VideoLAN VLC media player (cross-platform).
In Linux and macOS terminals, you can use the cat command to combine multiple DASH files into a single file. In Windows command prompt, you can use the type or copy commands. When you combine your DASH files, be sure to combine them in the correct order. For example, if you have files named 000000.dash, 000001.dash, and 000002.dash, combine them in that order. If you combine DASH files in the wrong order, the resulting video won't play in media players.
After you combine your DASH files into a single file, you can use FFmpeg (cross-platform) to convert that file into an MP4 file.
Programs that open DASH files
Dashlane Profile
| Developer | Dashlane |
| Popularity |
3.5 | 16 Votes |
A DASH file may also be a backup file created by Dashlane, a password management app. It contains an encrypted copy of the data a user has stored in Dashlane. This data might include login credentials, online payment methods, and other confidential information. DASH files are password-protected, to prevent other users from accessing the information they contain.
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Dashlane is a password, payment method, and personal information manager available on the web (via a browser extension), iOS, and Android. It allows users to store and automatically fill in their login credentials, payment information, and personal details while using websites and apps. For example, a user could store their online banking, email, and streaming service login credentials in Dashlane, and then use Dashlane to quickly log in to any of those services.
Web and Android users who want to back up the information they've entered in Dashlane can do so by exporting that data as a DASH file. While exporting a DASH file, users enter a password used to encrypt that file. Only users who know the file's password can import it (and thus the credentials and other information it contains) into Dashlane.
NOTE: The iOS version of Dashlane cannot export DASH files, but it can import them. Dashlane recommends iOS users export DASH files from the web version if necessary. Also, the previously-available desktop versions of Dashlane have since been discontinued, in favor of the web version.
How to open a DASH file
You can import a DASH file into the web, Android, and iOS versions of Dashlane. For complete instructions on how to do so, click here. Remember, to import a DASH file, you must know the password used to create it.
How to export Dashlane credentials as a CSV file
Those who want to create an unencrypted, standardly-formatted backup of their Dashlane data can instead export their credentials and other information as a .CSV file. To learn how to export Dashlane data as a CSV file, click here.