What is a WEBSITE file?
A WEBSITE file is a website shortcut file created with Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE). It contains a URL and an icon (ICO) file that points to the website’s favicon. The icon is used for displaying the shortcut. WEBSITE file format was introduced with the release of IE version 9. Previous versions of IE used to save shortcuts to webpages as .url files.
WEBSITE File Format
A .website file is stored to disc as plain text files whose contents can be viewed in any text editor. Besides other content, it contains the target URL for which it is a shortcut. If you want to open the target website in a browser other than IE, you can copy this URL and paste it in other browsers such as Google Chrome, Safari, or Firefox to view the website.
How to create .WEBSITE file?
A WEBSITE file can be created in IE by clicking the URL in the address bar and dragging it to desired location on your computer such as desktop or documents. This creates the shortcut to that internet location and can be opened by double clicking the shortcut. If you want to save the shortcut as URL file, hold down the SHIFT key before dragging the target site’s favicon to the desktop.