Below is a list of common file formats. If you would like to add one to the list, please email us with the extension and a brief description.
ACE – ACE Archiver compression file.
AIF – Audio Interchange File used with SGI and Macintosh applications.
ANI – Animated cursors used in Microsoft Windows.
API – Application Program Interface.
ART – Clipart.
ASC – ASCII text file.
ASM – Assembler code.
ASP – Microsoft Active Server Page.
AVI – Audio/Video Interleaved used for Windows based movies.
BAK – Backup Files.
BAS – BASIC programming language sourcecode.
BAT – MS-DOS batch file.
BFC – Briefcase document used in Windows.
BIN – Binary File.
BIN – MacBinary-encoded files.
BMP – Bitmap format.
BUD – Backup Disk for Quicken by Intuit.
BZ2 – Bzip2-compressed files.
C – C source file.
CAT – Security Catalog file.
CBL – Cobol code.
CBT – Computer Based Training.
CDA – Compact Disc Audio Track.
CDT – Corel Draw Template file.
CFML – ColdFusion Markup Language.
CGI – Common Gateway Interface. Web based programs and scripts.
CHM – Compiled HTML Help files used by Windows.
CLASS – Javascript Class file.
CLP – Windows Clipboard file.
CMD – Dos Command File.
COM – Command File.
CPL – Control panel item – The settings in Control Panels represent
CPL files in the WindowsSystem folder.
CPP – C++ programming language source code.
CSS – Cascading Style Sheet. Creates a common style reference
for a set of web pages.
CSV – Comma Separated Values format.
CMF – Corel Metafile.
CUR – Cursor in Microsoft Windows.
DAO – Registry Backup file for Windows registry.
DAT – Data file.
DD – Compressed Archive by Macintosh DiskDoubler.
DEB – Debian packages.
DEV – Device Driver.
DIC – Dictionary file.
DIR – Macromedia Director file.
DLL – Dynamic Linked Library. Microsoft application file.
DOC – Document format for Word Perfect and Microsoft Word.
DOT – Microsoft Word Template.
DRV – Device Driver.
DS – TWAIN Data source file.
DUN – Dial-up networking configuration file.
DWG – Autocad drawing.
DXF – Autocad drawing exchange format file.
EMF – Enhanced Windows Metafile.
EML – Microsoft Outlook e-mail file.
EPS – Encapsulated PostScript supported by most graphics programs.
EPS2 – Adobe PostScript Level II Encapsulated Postscript.
EXE – DOS based executable file which is also known as a program.
FFL – Microsoft Fast Find file.
FFO – Microsoft Fast Find file.
FLA – Macromedia Flash movie format.
FNT – Font file.
GIF – Graphics Interchange Format that supports animation.
Created by CompuServe and used primarily for web use.
GID – Windows global index. Contains the index information
used by “Help” in Windows.
GRP – Microsoft Program Manager Group.
GZ – Unix compressed file.
HEX – Macintosh binary hex(binhex) file.
HLP – Standard help file.
HT – HyperTerminal files.
HQX – Macintosh binary hex(binhex) file.
HTM – Hyper Text Markup. This markup language is used for web
design.
HTML – Hyper Text Markup Language. This markup language is
used for web design.
ICL – Icon Library File.
ICM – Image Color Matching profile.
ICO – Microsoft icon image.
INF – Information file used in Windows.
INI – Initialization file used in Windows.
JAR – Java Archive. A compressed java file format.
JPEG – Compression scheme supported by most graphics programs
and used predominantly for web use.
JPG – More common extension for JPEG described above.
JS – JavaScript File – A text file containing JavaScript programming
code.
LAB – Microsoft Excel mailing labels.
LGO – Windows 9x startup logo.
LIT – eBooks in Microsoft Reader format.
LNK – Windows 9x shortcut file.
LOG – Application log file.
LSP – Autocad(visual) lisp program.
MAQ – Microsoft Access Query.
MAR – Microsoft Access Report.
MDB – Microsoft Access DataBase File.
MDL – Rose model file. Opens with Visual Modeler or Rational
Rose.
MID – MIDI music file.
MOD – Microsoft Windows 9.x kernel module.
MOV – Quicktime movie.
MP3 – MPEG Audio Layer 3.
MPEG – Animation file format.
MPP – Microsoft Project File.
MSG – Microsoft Outlook message file.
MSG – Fidonet messages.
NCF – Netware command File.
NLM – Netware loadable Module.
O – Object file, used by linkers.
OCX – ActiveX Control: A component of the Windows environment.
OGG – Ogg Vorbis digitally encoded music file.
OST – Microsoft Exchange/Outlook offline file.
PAK – WAD file that contains information about levels, settings,
maps, etc for Quake and Doom.
PCL – Printer Control Language file. PCL is a Page Description
Language developed by HP.
PCT – Macintosh drawing format.
PDF – Portable Document File by Adobe. Viewable in a web browser
or
with Adobe Acrobat.
PDF – Printer Description File. Provides printer support for
certain
applications.
PDR – Port driver for windows 95. It is actually a virtual
device driver (vxd).
PHP – Web page that contains a PHP script.
PHTML – Web page that contains a PHP script.
PIF – Program Information File
PIF – Vector graphics GDF file(IBM Mainframe)
PIF – Macintosh Compressed archive
PL – Perl source code file.
PM – Perl Module.
PM3 – PageMaker 3.0 document.
PM4 – PageMaker 4.0 document.
PM5 – PageMaker 5.0 document.
PM6 – PageMaker 6.0 document.
PNG – Portable Network Graphic file.
POL – System Policy file for Windows NT.
POT – Microsoft PowerPoint design template.
PPD – PostScript Printer description file used in Macintosh
and Windows operating systems to provide printer specific features
to a driver.
PPS – Microsoft PowerPoint slide show.
PPT – Microsoft PowerPoint presentation(default extension).
PRN – A print file created as the result of “printing
to file”.
PS – PostScript file.
PSD – Native Adobe Photoshop format.
PSP – Paint Shop Pro image.
PST – Personal Folder File for Microsoft Outlook.
PUB – Microsoft Publisher document.
PWL – Windows Password list file.
QIF – Quicken Import file.
RAM – RealAudio Metafile.
RAR – RAR compressed archive created by Eugene Roshall.
RAW – Raw File Format.
RDO – Raster Document Object. Proprietary file type used on
Xerox
Digipath Scan and Makeready workstations.
REG – Registry file that contains registry settings.
RM – RealAudio video file.
RPM – RedHat Package Manager.
RSC – Standard resource file.
RTF – Rich Text Format.
SCR – Screen Saver file.
SEA – Self-extracting archive for Macintosh Stuffit files.
SGML – Standard Generalized Markup Language.
SH – Unix shell script.
SHTML – HTML file that supports Server Side Includes(SSI).
SIT – Compressed Macintosh Stuffit files.
SMD – SEGA mega drive ROM file.
SVG – Adobe scalable vector graphics file.
SWF – Shockwave Flash file by Macromedia.
SWP – DOS swap file.
SYS – Windows system file used for hardware configuration or
drivers.
TAR – Unix Tape Archive.
TGA – Targa bitmap.
TIFF – Tagged Image File Format. Universal graphics format
supported
by most graphics applications.
TMP – Windows temporary file.
TTF – True Type font.
TXT – Text Format.
UDF – Uniqueness Definition File. Used for Windows unattended
installations.
UUE – UU-encoded file.
VBX – Microsoft Visual basic extension.
VM – Virtual Memory file.
VXD – Windows 9x virtual device driver.
WAV – Waveform sound file.
WMF – Windows Metafile (graphics format).
WRI – Write Document: This is equivalent to RTF, Rich Text
Format,
that enables saving text with formatting information.
WSZ – Winamp Skin.
XCF – The GIMP’s native image format.
XIF – Wang imaging file. Wang Image Viewer comes with Windows
95/2000.
XIF – Xerox Image file (same as TIFF).
XIF – Image file eXtended by ScanSoft is similar to TIFF and
is a Pagis application format.
XLS – Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet.
XLT – Microsoft Excel Template.
XML – Extensible markup language.
XSL – XML style sheet.
ZIP – Compressed Zip archive.
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