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file association - technical definition
(1) The relationship of one file to another based on the data it contains.
(2) An established relationship between a file and the application used to open it. There are default file associations for common file types such as text, images and audio and video. However, if a file's icon or name is clicked without a previous association, the OS prompts the user for the application to use. File associations can be easily changed.
Explorer in Windows
To view or change a file association in Windows, open Explorer and select Tools/Folder Options/File Types and scroll to the appropriate file extension.
Get Info in the Mac
To view or change a file association in the Mac, click on any one file of that type and select Get Info.