URL File Extension – What is a .url file and how do I open it?
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/06/20
I thought I had long gone blogged about the .URL file extension as it has been in Windows for some 25 years now to point to URLs, but I didn’t.
So here are two links on them:
- [Wayback/Archive] URL File Extension – What is a .url file and how do I open it?
A URL file is a shortcut that points to a specific [Wayback/Archive] Uniform Resource Locator. When you double-click a URL file, your computer accesses the URL the file contains. URL files most often contain https: web addresses and are used to access web pages. However, URL files can also contain mailto:, tel:, file:, or other URLs.
- [Wayback/Archive] Microsoft Windows 2000 Scripting Guide – Working with Shortcuts | Microsoft Learn
URL shortcuts link only to entities that can be referenced by a URL most commonly, Web pages
For example you can create a Wiert-blog.url file like below to link to my blog:
[InternetShortcut]
URL=https://wiert.wordpress.com
IDList=
HotKey=0
IconIndex=0
–jeroen
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
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