Windows file extensions are mostly stuck at three letters because of this 1980s hardware limit

I recently ran dir /x in Command Prompt just to see the 8.3 short names Windows 11 still keeps around for compatibility. Next to familiar folders like Downloads, Documents, and Favorites, I saw entries like DOWNLO~1, DOCUME~1, and FAVORI~1. They are leftovers from a rule DOS inherited, adapted, and popularized in 1981: eight characters for the filename, three for the extension, and nothing beyond that.

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