Open or restore a TMP file: How it works

Over time, various programs and even the operating system store the most varied in­for­ma­tion in so-called temporary files (TMP files) with the extension .tmp. In most cases, these cache files help free up working memory when using the re­spec­tive ap­pli­ca­tions and in­ter­act­ing with other programs. They often fulfill the role of back-up copies that tem­porar­i­ly store the current pro­cess­ing status in order to be able to recover a file in case the system crashes.

In theory, TMP files generated ought to be au­to­mat­i­cal­ly deleted as soon as the re­spec­tive program is closed or the system is shut down. In practice, though, this isn’t always the case. That’s why it’s possible that, while browsing through di­rec­to­ries and files on your system, you might come across temporary files that are not actively in use by either the system or any other software. We’ll show you how to open these TMP files in order to inspect or reproduce the content

If you come across a temporary file, you will often want to open it in order to recover the content of the TMP file or to find out what in­for­ma­tion the file contains. However, even if the standard extension .tmp creates the im­pres­sion that these files can be opened with the same tool, the reality is rather different. Because TMPs are used by the re­spec­tive programs for varied purposes, they also contain different kinds of data – from plain text to images and videos, all the way to spread­sheets or back-up in­for­ma­tion.

That means that you can often only open temporary files with the same program they were created with, or only with a program that supports the file type.

If you can work out what ap­pli­ca­tion the TMP file belongs to by matching it to the storage location, you try to open the file with that program. If the software doesn't offer any pos­si­bil­i­ty, or the file prop­er­ties don’t provide any clue as to where the .tmp file comes from, the following tools will give you the best chances of success:

• Microsoft Word: If you’re looking to open and edit text documents, Word is a great choice. The text-pro­cess­ing program by Microsoft can also be used to open many TMP files that contain plain text. Word itself creates temporary files in order to cache the editing status of the current document.
• Microsoft Excel: Word is to text documents what Microsoft Excel is for any kind of table data. If you suspect that in­for­ma­tion struc­tured in this way is hidden by a temporary file, Excel gives you the best chance of restoring the re­spec­tive TMP file.
• VLC Media Player: Because it supports a wide range of data types, VLC Media Player has long been one of the most popular solutions to play audio and video files. The program also displays images, meaning it can open almost all TMP files that feature digital media content.
• Firefox (and other browsers): Browsers like Firebox enable you to open different kinds of TMPs. Par­tic­u­lar­ly plain text and PDFs, but certain media content can also be restored in this way. You can resume in­ter­rupt­ed downloads that were secured in .tmp format using Firefox and other browsers.

To open the temporary file with drag and drop as mentioned, select the file by left-clicking it and then drag it into the media player window.