Guide to Common File Types and Extensions in Supplemental Material

Please note that this list is not comprehensive; in many cases, a pointer is given to downloadable shareware and/or freeware (across several platforms when available) that can facilitate viewing and other handling of a particular file format. If you wish to recommend an addition to this list, please send a message to the Site Administrator. AIP assumes no responsibility for supporting any shareware or freeware listed herein, but has included the pointers to optimize the value of the service and as a service to prospective users.

This file last modified 12/29/09.

Use the following "JumpLinks" to browse a particular section of this listing:

[ A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z ]

A (Back to Top)

.AI -- Adobe Illustrator image file

.AIF (.AIFF) -- sound file; originally developed by Apple, but can be played using the MS-WINDOWS Media Player

.AIFC -- sound file; originally developed by Apple, but can be played using the MS-WINDOWS Media Player

.ARC -- ARChive format used by many computer types; has built-in LZW-based compression; use WinZip or other unpacking utility to decompress

.ARJ -- another archive format used by many computer types; has built-in LZ77-based compression; use WinZip or other unpacking utility to decompress

.ASC -- ASCII text file

.AU -- commonly used by NeXT and UNIX computers; use WPlany, a versatile sound player that plays .AU, .IFF, PC raw .SND, .VOC, and .WAV format files, to play

.AVI -- Microsoft's Video for Windows Audio Visual Interleaved format; allows both audio and visual information; can be played using the MS-WINDOWS Media Player

B (Back to Top)

.BIN -- Macbinary II encoded file; use Stuffit Expander to extract

.BINHEX -- Macintosh standard for a textual representation of a binary file; one of two Binary standards for Eudora; use BinHex to extract binary

.BMP -- Microsoft Windows BitMaP format; BMP allows up to 16.7 million colors, but provides no built-in compression; use MS-WINDOWS Paintbrush, WINDOWS95 Paint, or LView, a package for viewing multiple formats of pictures, including JPEG, BMP, GIF, TGA, etc., to view

C (Back to Top)

.CIF -- Crystallographic Information File

.CDR -- CorelDraw! image format

.CML -- Chemical Markup Language document

.CGM -- Computer Graphics Metafiles

.CPT -- Macintosh Compact Pro archive

D (Back to Top)

.DBF -- DataBase File — dBase

.DIB -- MS-WINDOWS/OS2 bitmap

.DOC -- MS-WORD for Windows DOCument

.DRW -- Micrografx DRaW files (image)

.DVI -- DVI file

.DWG -- AutoCAD DraWinG format

.DXF -- AutoCAD Data eXchange File

E (Back to Top)

.EPS -- Encapsulated PostScript

.EXE -- All executable files should be converted to standard ZIP format. A note during file submission or as part of the README.TXT should indicate the operating system required to run the executable. Self-executing ZIP files are no longer supported; please use the standard ZIP format.

F (Back to Top)

.FLI -- Animation format; popular for fractal animations; use MS-WINDOWS Media Player or AAplay, a Windows-based application for playing FLC/FLI animations, but that also extends the Windows Media Player to include these animation formats.

.FLC -- same as .FLI

G (Back to Top)

.GEM -- GEM Metafiles (image)

.GIF -- The CompuServe Graphics Interchange Format; provides built-in file compression; very popular format on the Web; use LView, a package for viewing multiple formats of pictures, including JPEG, BMP, GIF, TGA, etc., to view

H (Back to Top)

.HQX -- Macintosh BINHEX 4.0 format

.HTML (and .HTM) -- HTML is HyperText Markup Language, the coding language of the WWW; plain text file; use a Web browser or HTML editor to view

I (Back to Top)

.IEF -- image format

.IGF -- Inset Systems IGF files (image)

.IMAGE -- Macintosh disk image

J (Back to Top)

.JAR -- Java ARchive. A JAR file (or Java ARchive) is used for aggregating many files into one Archive that contains multiple Java files and is compressed using .ZIP compression; stores Java classes and metadata and may be digitally signed; runs as a program if the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is installed on the computer.

.JPG -- Joint Photographic Experts Group, a 24-bit graphic format; use LView or WinJPEG to view

.JPEG -- same as above

.JPE -- same as above

.JFIF -- same as above

K (Back to Top)

L (Back to Top)

M (Back to Top)

.MAC -- MacPaint image format

MathML -- Mathematical Markup Language

.MDB -- Access DataBase

.MOV -- Quicktime Movie format; Apple Macintosh native movie format; use Quicktime for Windows to view

.MOVIE -- Silicon Graphics Movie format

.MPEG -- MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) is the standard movie/video format for the WWW; use Mpegplay to view

.MPG -- same as above

N (Back to Top)

O (Back to Top)

P (Back to Top)

.P10 -- Tektronix Plot 10 files

.PCT -- Macintosh PICT files (image)

.PCX -- PC Paintbrush image format

.PDB -- Palmpilot DataBase document

.PDF -- Adobe's Portable Document Format; use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view

.PIC -- Lotus PIC files (image)

.PIX -- Inset Systems PIX files (image)

.PLT -- Hewlett-Packard PLoT files

.PNG -- Portable Network Graphics (image)

.PS -- PostScript

.PPT -- PowerPoint File (Microsoft)

Q (Back to Top)

.QT -- Quicktime Movie format; Apple Macintosh native movie format; use Quicktime for Windows to view

Quark -- desktop publishing software

R (Back to Top)

.RAR -- WinRAR Compressed Archive

.RLE -- MS-WINDOWS/OS2 bitmap

.RTF -- Rich Text Format

S (Back to Top)

.SEA -- Macintosh self-extracting archive

.SGML -- Standard Generalized Markup Language

.SIT -- Macintosh Stuffit archive

.SMIL (SMILES) -- Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language

.SVG -- Scalable Vector Graphics file (Adobe)

T (Back to Top)

.T -- troff file (also .tr, .roff)

.TAR -- UNIX Tape ARchive format. Used to create archive files. Often also compressed (.TAR.Z, .TAR.gz, .tar.z, .TAZ, .TGZ); uncompress, then untar

.TEX -- a TeX file

.TGA -- TrueVision Targa files from the Amiga family of computers; this format is used as input to create other utilities, such a programs to generate fractals; use LView to view

.TIF -- TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is a very large high quality image format; use LView or WinJPEG to view

.TIFF -- same as above

.TXT -- a plain (read: ASCII) TeXT File such as those created with the MS-WINDOWS Notepad or other ASCII text editor

U (Back to Top)

.UUE -- Binary-to-Text coded file; use Wincode to decode

V (Back to Top)

.VOC -- Creative Labs, Inc. VOiCe format for use with Soundblaster PC sound card; use WPlany to play (or MS-WINDOWS Media Player)

W (Back to Top)

.WAV -- Microsoft WAVeform format for use with Windows; use WPlany to play (or MS-WINDOWS Media Player)

.WK* -- Lotus spreadsheet, where * denotes version

.WMF -- MS-WINDOWS Metafile (image)

.WP -- WordPerfect document

.WPG -- WordPerfect Graphic files

X (Back to Top)

.XLS (XLW) -- Excel for Windows spreadsheet

.XML -- Extensible Markup Language — a plain text file for web pages

Y (Back to Top)

Z (Back to Top)

.Z -- a UNIX-compressed file; use WinZip or other unpacking utility to decompress

.ZIP -- a common DOS/WINDOWS file-compression format; use WinZip or other unpacking utility to decompress

.ZOO -- a common MS-DOS archive format; also provides LZ77-based compression; use Zoo to extract archives

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