At One Place

.lock files

.lock file
Lock File
Either a dependency version record or a marker saying a file is in use.

What opens a .lock file

Windows
Visual Studio Code, Notepad (built in)
macOS
Visual Studio Code, TextEdit (built in)
Linux
Visual Studio Code, Text Editor (built in)

What a .lock file is

Two unrelated things use this extension. Package managers write lock files — yarn.lock, Cargo.lock, poetry.lock — recording the exact dependency versions installed, and those are plain text that belongs in version control. Separately, applications and databases create a .lock file to signal that a resource is open; a stale one left after a crash is what causes "the file is already in use" errors, and deleting it when the program is definitely closed clears the problem.

Converting it

A .lock file is commonly converted to .txt. It is a plain text format, so any text editor can open and edit it directly.

Details

Extension
.lock
Full name
Lock File
Category
Data
MIME type
text/plain
Created by
Various
Format
Plain text

Common questions

How do I open a .lock file?
On Windows use Visual Studio Code; on macOS use Visual Studio Code; on Linux use Visual Studio Code. Either a dependency version record or a marker saying a file is in use.
What is a .lock file?
Lock File. Two unrelated things use this extension. Package managers write lock files — yarn.lock, Cargo.lock, poetry.lock — recording the exact dependency versions installed, and those are plain text that belongs in version control.
Can I convert a .lock file?
Yes. It is usually converted to .txt, either by exporting from one of the programs listed above or with a format converter.

Related pages

Sources

  1. Media Types Registry — IANA
  2. Official vendor product documentation — At One Place

How these figures are compiled and checked