Open TMP File

Why Temporary Files

Temporary files are used by applications to save information to hard drive or other storage device and then retrieve at the later point of time. These files could be either used for following purposes:

• Backup information to restore it in case application crashes
• Reduce memory consumption by application by offloading not currently used information to the storage device
• Prepare information in a certain way and accumulate it in a single place
• Work with information which doesn't fit into RAM (random access memory)

A good example of temporary files are partial download files which are used by browsers to store file which are being downloaded from the internet. While the file is being downloaded it is stored under temporary extension like part, crdownload or partial. Once download is complete the file is renamed to the final file name.

It is possible for browsers to store partial download in memory but in case of browser crash the information will get lost. With temporary partial download files some browsers are able to restore download from the point where they stopped. Also even if you have part of the file sometimes it is possible to recover some information even if the file is not available from the internet any more.

Similar file types

• SWP or SWAP - Swap Files
• BAK - Backup Files
• TEMP - Temporary Files