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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-13T09:59:36+00:00

Is there a standard file extension for MSBuild files that are not project files

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Is there a standard file extension for MSBuild files that are not project files but instead more complex build scripts?

I was thinking .msbuild.proj to avoid confusion with other .proj files (which I am aware are actually MSBuild files).

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  1. Editorial Team

    UPDATE: In retrospect, I’ve updated the answer to include more conventions. Credit goes to Sayed Ibrahim Hashimi and others on this thread.

    .proj

    A popular convention for generic use. Commonly used by a main build script.

    Examples:

    build.proj
main.proj 
company.product.build.proj

    .targets

    .targets files are those which is meant to be imported into other files using the Import element. Since these files are strictly re-useable they don’t actually build anything. They typically are missing the properties and item values to actually build anything.

    Examples:

    Microsoft.Common.targets
Microsoft.CSharp.targets
Microsoft.Data.Entity.targets

    .**proj

    Language specific convention where **** represents the language short acronym.

    Well-known extensions:

    .csproj    | C#
.vbproj    | VB.NET
.vcxproj   | Visual C++
.dbproj    | Database project
.fsproj    | F#
.pyproj    | IronPython
.rbproj    | IronRuby
.wixproj   | Windows Installer XML (WiX)
.vdproj    | Visual Studio Deployment Project
.isproj    | InstallShield 
.pssproj   | PowerShell
.modelproj | Modeling project

    .props

    A project property sheet used by Visual C++ projects (.vcxproj).

    Examples:

    Microsoft.Cl.Common.props
Microsoft.Cpp.CoreWin.props
Microsoft.Cpp.props
Microsoft.Link.Common.props

    .tasks

    A common include file to be imported by a calling MSBuild project. Contains a list of <UsingTask> elements.

    Examples:

    Microsoft.Common.Tasks
MSBuild.ExtensionPack.tasks

    .settings.targets

    (This is a related convention if not strictly-speaking a file extension.)

    A common include file to be imported by a calling MSBuild project. Contains “various properties related to shared utilities used during the build and deployment processes as well as any other common settings” (Sayed Ibrahim Hashimi, 2009).

    Examples:

    EntityFramework.settings.targets

    Compiler.settings.targets

    Library.Settings.targets

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