What Is an MHT Format File?

The MHT file is an archive of all the files associated with a Web page. This is especially useful if the Web page accesses other files on a server, such as images. If you save an MHT file, you can access all of the content of the specific page while offline. On the other hand, if you save a Web page as an HTML file, you may not be able to access some of the page content if it exists as other files on the server.

In addition to being accessible offline, MHT files are useful because they contain an entire Web page in one file. Therefore, if you need to move files around your computer or to other storage space, you can easily move the entire Web page as one file. The MHT format also helps you avoid creating extra folders when saving a Web page; this can occur when saving a page as an HTML document in some situations.

Some Internet browsers can save Web pages as MHT archive files. Internet Explorer and Opera can save pages as MHT files by selecting the "Save as" option under the file menu. Other browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox, require an extension or extra configuration in order to write an MHT file. For example, once you download and install the Mozilla Archive Format extension, you can use Firefox to create MHT files.

A large number of programs can read MHT files. Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera and Google Chrome can open MHT files. Additionally, Microsoft Word can both write and read MHT files. Your computer may automatically associate MHT files with either Internet Explorer or Opera. In order to open an MHT file with any program that can read it, you can right-click on the file and select "Open with," then select the desired program from a list.