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Question: What are file formats? |
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Answer: File formats on the internet tell the browser what type of application created a particular file. A browser can display many types of files. Files that can not be displayed directly in the browser can tell the browser what program they work with. |
Browsers display .jpg and .gif files as pictures. Many additional extensions point to specific plug-in or helper applications. By default a .mov (movie) file may not play correctly without setting up your browser to play the movie correctly.
Below is an incomplete list of many of the common file extensions.
| .arc | Compressed archive. |
| .au | audio (sound) file |
| .bin | binary file |
| .btoa | Binary to ASCII. |
| .cpio | Archives created by UNIX CPIO tape archiving program. |
| .doc | document file (program specific) |
| .exe | PC executable file |
| .gif | Graphics Interchange Format file. |
| .gz or .z | Compressed archive file. |
| .Hqx or .hqx | Macintosh BinHex compression format. |
| .html or .htm | hyper text markup language (web document) |
| .jpg or .jpeg | Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format. |
| .lha or .lzh | DOS compressed archive. |
| .mov | movie file (Quicktime) |
| .mpg or mpeg | Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) format. |
| Portable Document Format (adobe acrobat reader) | |
| .pit | Compressed file created by Macintosh PACKIt3.1.3. |
| .ps or .PS | PostScript document. |
| .qt | Quick Time video format |
| .sea | A Macintosh self-extracting archive. |
| sh | A Shell archive created by UNIX SHAR. |
| .sit | Compressed Macintosh file. |
| .tar | Compressed files. |
| .tif | Tagged Image Format File. TIFF files come in various versions. |
| .txt | Text file. Should be plain ASCII file. |
| .uu or .uue | A binary file in ASCII format. |
| .wav | PC sound file |
| .Z | A unix compressed file. |
| .zip | Compressed archive file. |
Question: So that isn't the full list, what does ??? stand for?
- Answer: Like I know? I found a list that is much more comprehensive than the above list.
Look at the
Computer Knowledge Home Page.
Question: How am I going to remember all of these?
- Answer: Don't! Learn to look at them and if there is something that you don't recognize -
remember where to look it up so that you can find out what it is.
Question: There is one that I need to know and I don't see it on the list here?
- Answer: I'm sure there are many not on the list here. Ask someone - If you think it's is a
frequently used file extension - let me know and I'll add it to the list.
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