8.3

file system, filename extension A common shorthand for the

limits on filename length imposed by the file system used by

MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows - at most eight characters,

followed by a ".", followed by a filename extension of at

most three characters.

Windows 95 supports long filenames by using multiple

directory entries per file. The extra entries are hidden. It

also automatically derives an 8.3 name for each file for

backward compatibility so that older versions of DOS can

still access the file.

(1998-10-05)