Windows 11 Default Apps: Change Your Browser, PDF and More

Windows 11 default apps decide what opens when you double-click a PDF, a photo or a music file, and which browser loads when you click a link in an email. The defaults are chosen during setup, and new apps sometimes ask to take over. This guide shows how to change Windows 11 default apps in Settings, including the quickest way to set a default browser, how to change a single file type or link type, and how to reset everything if it has become a mess.

The steps are written for Windows 11 version 24H2 and 25H2 and are the same on Home and Pro.

Where default apps live

Everything is on one page: Settings > Apps > Default apps. Press Win+I, select Apps in the left pane and then Default apps.

The page has three parts:

Part of the page	What it does
Set a default for a file type or link type	A search box. Type an extension such as .pdf or a link type such as mailto and change just that one.
Set defaults for applications	A list of installed apps. Select one to see every file and link type it can handle.
Related settings	Links to Choose defaults by file type, Choose defaults by link type and Reset all default apps.

If you came here from the Windows 11 Settings tour, this is the page listed under the Apps section.

How to set your default browser

This used to be tedious in early versions of Windows 11 because you had to change every web file type separately. Current builds have a single button.

1. Install the browser you want and open it once.
2. Go to Settings > Apps > Default apps.
3. Find your browser in the list under Set defaults for applications (Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Opera and so on), or type its name in the search box above the list.
4. Select it. At the top of the page you will see a line such as “Make Firefox your default browser” with a Set default button.
5. Select Set default.

The common web types, such as .htm, .html, HTTP and HTTPS, now point to that browser. Scroll down the page to check: each type shows the app currently assigned. A few less common types such as .pdf, .svg or .xhtml may still point to Microsoft Edge; select any of them and pick your browser if you want those too.

Many browsers also offer a “Make default” button in their own settings. On Windows 11 that button usually just opens this Settings page for you, so the final step is the same.

Change the default for one file type

When you only want to change one association, such as which app opens PDFs:

1. On the Default apps page, type the extension, for example .pdf, into Set a default for a file type or link type.
2. The result shows the current app. Select it.
3. Pick a new app from the list. If yours is not shown, select Choose an app on your PC or More apps, depending on what your build shows, and browse to it.
4. Select Set default.

You can do the same from File Explorer: right-click a file, choose Open with > Choose another app, pick the app and select Always. That writes the same setting.

Choose defaults by file type and link type

Under Related settings at the bottom of the Default apps page are two long lists.

Choose defaults by file type shows every extension Windows knows about, from .3gp to .zip, with the app assigned to each. It is useful when you want to check everything a program has claimed, such as after installing a media player that grabbed every video format.

Choose defaults by link type shows protocols rather than files: HTTP, HTTPS, MAILTO (which email app opens when you click an email address), and protocols registered by apps like Teams or Zoom. If clicking an email link opens the wrong mail app, MAILTO is the one to change.

Select the app next to any entry to change it.

Reset all default apps

If associations are badly tangled, scroll to the bottom of Settings > Apps > Default apps and find Reset all default apps. Select Reset. Every association goes back to Microsoft’s defaults, which means Edge for web links and PDFs, Photos for images, Media Player for audio and video, and so on.

After a reset you will need to set your browser and any other preferred apps again. A reset does not uninstall anything.

When defaults will not stick

A few situations cause defaults to change back:

• An app reclaims its types after updating. Some programs ask to be the default every time they update. Decline in the app, and if it changed things, set them back here.
• The app was installed for one user only. Defaults are per user. If another account on the PC has different defaults, that is expected.
• Work or school management. On a managed PC, an administrator can set default associations by policy. You may not be able to change them.
• Corrupted user profile. If nothing you set survives a restart, try creating a new local user account to test. If defaults work there, the issue is in your profile rather than the app.

If Settings itself is slow or crashes when you open Default apps, repair it as described in the Settings hub, or run System File Checker.

Related settings worth knowing

Default apps work alongside a few other pages in Settings:

• Settings > Apps > Apps for websites lets certain apps open links for their own sites instead of the browser, for example a map link opening in a maps app. Turn individual entries off if links keep jumping out of your browser.
• Settings > Apps > Startup controls which apps launch at sign-in. Browsers and chat apps often add themselves there; see Windows 11 startup apps.
• Suggestions to try Edge or other Microsoft apps can appear in notifications and Start; our guide to disable Windows 11 ads and suggestions lists the toggles that reduce them.