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The primary reason that people choose to end launch files with .launch.xml or just .xml is to indicate to users/readers that these files are typically included by other launch files and not meant to be launched themselves. While files ending in .launch.xml or .xml can technically be parsed by roslaunch, the roslaunch command only tab autocompletes files ending in .launch.

I've also heard people mention that they like ending launch files with an xml extension to indicate to text editors that they should use XML syntax highlighting (although for most editors, this is configurable without the extension).

Loading YAML files to the param server happens in many launch files regardless of extension.