The DOCX file extension like the DOC file extension is primarily used by the Microsoft Corporation specifically in its Microsoft Word application. DOCX is much newer than DOC though. In fact, DOCX is the newest file format for Microsoft Office documents that MS Word started to use on its 2007 version.
Like the DOC file extension, the DOCX file extension is used for word processing files that may contain text, embedded objects like charts and tables and multimedia items like sounds, videos, images and diagrams. The major difference however is that since a DOCX file extension is a combination of compression features and XML architecture, the components or contents of the file are then saved in separate or single files and can be easily accessible by other applications. Thus, DOCX files contain XML files and three different folders named Word, docProps and _rels. These folders hold different document settings and properties like content and relationships among the files within the file.
Obviously, DOCX files can be accessed (viewed and edited) through Microsoft Word 2007 or later versions. Earlier versions can still be used provided they are installed with Open XML document support. One can try to manually explore the contents of a DOCX file without opening it in a word processing program though. This can be achieved by renaming DOCX to ZIP and then manually extract the contents of the file through a zip decompression program or utility. Below are the programs that can open a DOCX file:
| Mac OS | Microsoft Word 2011
Apple Pages Planamesa NeoOffice OpenOffice.org Hancom ThinkFree Office Write Panergy docXConverter |
| Windows | Microsoft Word 2010
Microsoft Word Viewer Corel WordPerfect Office X5 OpenOffice.org OxygenOffice Professional Hancom ThinkFree Office Write Panergy docXConverter NativeWinds Docx2Rtf |
| Linux | OpenOffice.org
OxygenOffice Professional Hancom ThinkFree Office Write |
