What is a CRDOWNLOAD file?


A CRDOWNLOAD file is a temporary file that is created by the Google Chrome browser when a download is in progress. These files are partial download files from Chrome. Such partial download files can be found because - 

  • The file is still being downloaded by Chrome and once the download is complete Chrome will automatically remove the .crdownload file
  • There was an issue during the download process and the download did not complete. So this particular file will only be a partial incomplete download

A CRDOWNLOAD file is normally created with the format <filename>.<filetype>.crdownload or <filename>.crdownload


Can a CRDOWNLOAD file be opened or converted?


CRDOWNLOAD files cannot be opened by any specific program as they are an offshoot of the Chrome download process and are not actually used by the browser. 


However, if you encountered an interruption while downloading a file, you might still be able to use part of it by removing the .crdownload extension from the file name. For example, if you are trying to download a file demo.mp3 and the download did not finish, a partial download with the name demo.mp3.crdownload will be found. You may still be able to listen to this partial download by renaming it to demo.mp3. 


In case of very large files, you can also try to open the CRDOWNLOAD file in the program that is required to open the file, even though it hasn't been completely downloaded as yet. 


Since the CRDOWNLOAD file is only a partial download and not a complete file it cannot be converted to another format. 


Some additional information about CRDOWNLOAD files


  • The crdownload extension is automatically removed by Chrome once the download is complete. So you should never have to manually remove the extension unless you would like to save only a portion of the file
  • Google Chrome shows the actual name of the file at the bottom of the screen when a download is in progress (for e.g., for a paint image chrome will show picture1.png not picture1.png.crdownload). The CRDOWNLOAD file can be found in the destination folder for the download.
  • The size of theCRDOWNLOAD file increases as the download progresses
  • If you try to delete a CRDOWNLOAD file you will get a message similar to "File in Use", indicating that the file is still locked by Chrome.
  • If all your downloads have a crdownload extension and none of them seem to be complete, then it is an indication that there is an issue with the version of Google Chrome on your system. To resolve it you will need to uninstall Chrome and reinstall the latest version. 
  • CRDOWNLOAD files are like partial files (XXXXXX, BC!, DOWNLOAD, and XLX) that are created by other programs but they cannot be used instead of each other as if they were the same file type


What to do if your GoldFynch case contains CRDOWNLOAD files?

Since CRDOWNLOAD files are partial/incomplete downloads there will be nothing to search within them. So it is recommended that you remove them from GoldFynch as they will count against your case size. Additionally, try to get the original, complete file and upload it again to GoldFynch.