diff --git a/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/serialization.h b/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/serialization.h
index 5c1becbcad4..bd954f86c6a 100644
--- a/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/serialization.h
+++ b/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/serialization.h
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ struct Serialization
   {
     fs::path fp(file_path);
     if (!fp.has_extension())
-      fp = fs::path(file_path + "." + serialization::xml::extension<SerializableType>::value);
+      fp = fs::path(file_path + serialization::xml::extension<SerializableType>::value);
 
     std::ofstream os(fp.string());
     {  // Must be scoped because all data is not written until the oost::archive::xml_oarchive goes out of scope
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ struct Serialization
   {
     fs::path fp(file_path);
     if (!fp.has_extension())
-      fp = fs::path(file_path + "." + serialization::binary::extension<SerializableType>::value);
+      fp = fs::path(file_path + serialization::binary::extension<SerializableType>::value);
 
     std::ofstream os(fp.string(), std::ios_base::binary);
     {  // Must be scoped because all data is not written until the oost::archive::xml_oarchive goes out of scope
@@ -222,6 +222,16 @@ struct Serialization
     return archive_type;
   }
 
+  template <typename SerializableType>
+  static SerializableType fromArchiveFile(const std::string& file_path)
+  {
+    fs::path fp(file_path);
+    if (fp.extension() == serialization::binary::extension<SerializableType>::value)
+      return fromArchiveFileBinary<SerializableType>(file_path);
+
+    return fromArchiveFileXML<SerializableType>(file_path);
+  }
+
   template <typename SerializableType>
   static SerializableType fromArchiveBinaryData(const std::vector<std::uint8_t>& archive_binary)
   {
diff --git a/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/serialization_extensions.h b/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/serialization_extensions.h
index b15451c92f4..1d93616feb9 100644
--- a/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/serialization_extensions.h
+++ b/tesseract_common/include/tesseract_common/serialization_extensions.h
@@ -47,8 +47,9 @@ struct extension
     using extension_type = typename U::extenstion;
   };
 
-  using extension_type = typename boost::mpl::
-      eval_if<has_member_extension_type<T>, traits_class_extension<T>, boost::mpl::string<'t', 'r', 's', 'x'>>::type;
+  using extension_type = typename boost::mpl::eval_if<has_member_extension_type<T>,
+                                                      traits_class_extension<T>,
+                                                      boost::mpl::string<'.', 't', 'r', 's', 'x'>>::type;
 
   static constexpr const char* value = boost::mpl::c_str<extension::extension_type>::value;
 };
@@ -65,8 +66,9 @@ struct extension
     using extension_type = typename U::extenstion;
   };
 
-  using extension_type = typename boost::mpl::
-      eval_if<has_member_extension_type<T>, traits_class_extension<T>, boost::mpl::string<'t', 'r', 's', 'b'>>::type;
+  using extension_type = typename boost::mpl::eval_if<has_member_extension_type<T>,
+                                                      traits_class_extension<T>,
+                                                      boost::mpl::string<'.', 't', 'r', 's', 'b'>>::type;
 
   static constexpr const char* value = boost::mpl::c_str<extension::extension_type>::value;
 };
@@ -75,6 +77,7 @@ struct extension
 
 /**
  * @brief A macro for defining serialization extension for classes
+ * @details The extension should include the '.', for example .yaml
  * @param T the class to define extensions for
  * @param X the xml serialziation extension for the provided class
  * @param B the binary serialzation extension for the provided class
@@ -88,6 +91,7 @@ struct extension
   struct extension<T>                                                                                                  \
   {                                                                                                                    \
     static constexpr const char* value = X;                                                                            \
+    static_assert(value[0] == '.', "XML extension value must start with a '.'");                                       \
   };                                                                                                                   \
   }                                                                                                                    \
   namespace serialization::binary                                                                                      \
@@ -96,6 +100,7 @@ struct extension
   struct extension<T>                                                                                                  \
   {                                                                                                                    \
     static constexpr const char* value = B;                                                                            \
+    static_assert(value[0] == '.', "Binary extension value must start with a '.'");                                    \
   };                                                                                                                   \
   }                                                                                                                    \
   }
diff --git a/tesseract_common/test/tesseract_common_serialization_unit.cpp b/tesseract_common/test/tesseract_common_serialization_unit.cpp
index 82a551cb19e..c9e7ebc0c52 100644
--- a/tesseract_common/test/tesseract_common_serialization_unit.cpp
+++ b/tesseract_common/test/tesseract_common_serialization_unit.cpp
@@ -738,7 +738,7 @@ struct ExtensionMacroTestA
   double a{ 0 };
 };
 
-TESSERACT_CLASS_EXTENSION(ExtensionMacroTestA, "etax", "etab")
+TESSERACT_CLASS_EXTENSION(ExtensionMacroTestA, ".etax", ".etab")
 
 struct ExtensionMacroTestB
 {
@@ -748,19 +748,19 @@ struct ExtensionMacroTestB
 TEST(TesseractCommonSerializeUnit, ExtensionXmlMacro)  // NOLINT
 {
   std::string ext = tesseract_common::serialization::xml::extension<ExtensionMacroTestA>::value;
-  EXPECT_EQ(ext, "etax");
+  EXPECT_EQ(ext, ".etax");
 
   std::string default_ext = tesseract_common::serialization::xml::extension<ExtensionMacroTestB>::value;
-  EXPECT_EQ(default_ext, "trsx");
+  EXPECT_EQ(default_ext, ".trsx");
 }
 
 TEST(TesseractCommonSerializeUnit, ExtensionBinaryMacro)  // NOLINT
 {
   std::string ext = tesseract_common::serialization::binary::extension<ExtensionMacroTestA>::value;
-  EXPECT_EQ(ext, "etab");
+  EXPECT_EQ(ext, ".etab");
 
   std::string default_ext = tesseract_common::serialization::binary::extension<ExtensionMacroTestB>::value;
-  EXPECT_EQ(default_ext, "trsb");
+  EXPECT_EQ(default_ext, ".trsb");
 }
 
 int main(int argc, char** argv)