What is a .REC file?
A .REC file is a type of file that is created in two main contexts. The first and most common usage is with Topfield PVR (Personal Video Recorder) devices. These devices are used to record TV programs. When you record a show on a Topfield PVR, it saves the recording as a .REC file. This file is in a special format that is unique to Topfield devices, meaning it's not just a regular video file you can play on any device. However, you can watch these recordings on your Topfield PVR or use certain computer programs to play or edit them. Some of the programs that can open these .REC files include the VideoLAN VLC media player, Squared 5 MPEG Streamclip, Elecard MPEG Player, DRD Systems VideoReDo, and Eltima Elmedia Player.
The second context where .REC files appear is in Unix-like operating systems, such as Linux and macOS. In this scenario, .REC files are not related to video recordings. Instead, they are created by a system utility called fsck, which stands for File System Consistency Check. This utility checks the health of the file system when your computer starts up. If it finds any problems, it saves a report in a .REC file. These files are named in a sequence (like FSCK0000.REC, FSCK0001.REC, etc.) and contain plain text information about any issues fsck found. You can open these .REC files with simple text editing programs like Apple TextEdit or gedit. While these files are safe to delete, they might reappear if fsck finds more issues during startup.
In summary, .REC files can either be video recordings from a Topfield PVR device, which you can watch with specific video players, or system reports from the fsck utility in Unix-like operating systems, which you can read with text editors.
Verification
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