Output other than .txt - text

Question

I'm looking to build a simple program that will simply modify existing output files from an other program so I don't have to open the program and enter a bunch of data the long way. This program is very specific to my domain and has an extension named .wcc. However, when I change the extension of one of these output files to .txt, I get half gibberish :
ÿÿ WPointÿÿ WPolygonÿÿ  WQuadrilateralÿÿ  WMemberDataÿÿ
WLoadÿÿ WLStandardMembersÿÿ WLSavedDesignSettingsÿÿ WLSavedFormatSettingsÿÿ  WLSavedViewSettingsÿÿ WLSavedProjectSettingsÿÿ  WLSavedSettingsÿÿ  WLSavedLoadSettingsÿÿ WLSavedDefaultSettingsÿÿ WLineÿÿ WProductÿÿ WBeamDataÿÿ  WColumnDataÿÿ
WJoistDataÿÿ
WWallStudDataÿÿ WSupportingMemberDataÿÿ WSavedAnalysisSettingsÿÿ WSavedGravityDesignSettingsÿÿ WSavedPreferencesSettingsÿÿ WNotchÿÿ WIJoistÿÿ WFloorCWC37 ÀAE LumberS-P-F No.1/No.2 # À# lumwall.cww ÿÿÿÿ1.2.3.1.Mur_1_EX-D ÿÿÿÿÿÿ B Cÿÿ B C €? 4C 4C   Neige #F #F ÈC ÿÿÿ
WLStandardMembersÿÿ "
There are also musical notes and perpendicular signs which I can't copy paste here. I can sorta read the text, but still not enough to make modifications via txt file. What type of file could this be? Is it even possible to do what I'm trying to do? Thanks!

Answer 1

I am surprised that you are trying to open a .wcc file as a text file (it's contents - as you will see - don't lend themselves to being converted to such a file type); however, the attempt to open the file as a .txt file seems to be specific to your domain.
I noticed part of your question is as follows: "What type of file could this be?"
You are right in thinking that the .wcc file is a rather obscure file type - we don't think about that file type a lot (or are not conscious of it existing). A .wcc file is a WinCam 2000 Cache file that allows WinCam 2000 movies to be previewed in the slide browser - these were often generated by older WinCam 2000 screen recording and editing programs.
Again, the file extension is very rare these days (a Google search only returns ~700 results). But, it appears you have a program that is producing the file, which - as you are saying - "is quite specific to your domain". You may be out of luck with regard to opening them for modification purposes.
Supposedly, you can covert .wac files to .wav files, which are much more relevant to today's technology (and definitely alterable from code); however, without knowing the purpose of the file, e.g. what you are trying to do with the file domain-side, I can't say that this will suit your needs.
Also, the above comments are "correct": changing a file extension will not convert the file to the file extension type. Typically, converters - like a simple software - are needed to convert files.