Lesson 2 – Understanding File Formats Walk-­‐in Assignment – Handout Answer Key + Reference What type of file has the following extension? .aif .mov .ai .eps .psd .docx .fnt .gz .htm .ini .jav .mid .pdf .mp4 .mp3 .tif .csv .gif .js .png .doc .rtf .jpg .xml .txt .otf .app .sit .fla .pkg .html .css .wav .xls .zip .tmp .ico .indd .prproj .ttf .tar .sql .asp .avi .bak .cgi .dat .exe .mpg .odf .pl .ppt .tar.gz .swf Write the extension in the appropriate box (some may be in more than one): IMAGES AND VECTORS MUSIC AND VIDEO / CODE MEDIA .pdf .eps .html .js .aif .wav .swf .tif .png .gif .css .txt .htm .mov .mv4 .mp3 .jpg .ico .asp .jav .avi .mid .mpg .bak .cgi .pl WORD PROCESSING FONTS SPREADSHEET .pdf .txt .docx .ttf .otf .xls .doc .rtf .fnt APPLICATION COMPRESSION DATA FILE .ai .psd .ppt .pkg .sit .csv .dat .pdf .app .fla .zip .tar .sql .odf .xml .indd .prproj .exe .tar.gz .gz .tmp .ini Extension
Type
Characteristics
.ai
Application
Adobe Illustrator
.aif
Audio
Audio Interchange File
.app
Application
.asp
Code / web
page
active server page – used to code Web pages
that connect to databases
.avi
video
Audio/Video Interleaved – movie clip – open
with mplayer, IE, or Navigator with plugin
.bak
Code/
backup file
Used by many applications – often created
automatically
.cgi
Code
Common Gateway Interface – used to
exchange information with a server (often used
with Perl)
.css
Code / style
sheet
plain text file containing web page style
preferences
.csv
data
Comma Separated Value file – a way of
presenting tabular data in
a text file – usually viewed in MS Excel.
.dat
data file
Used by several applications. Not to be opened
directly.
.doc / .docx
Word
Processing/
document
Microsoft Word file / Microsoft Word
XML Format Document file
.eps
Graphic File
Encapsulated Postscript File – can contain
vectors and pixel based graphics
.exe
application
self-extracting or executable file – run by
double-clicking in the Windows operating
system
.fla
Native
Application
/media
Macromedia Flash animation file – requires
Shockwave
.fnt
font
Font file
.gif
image
graphic in GIF format – open in web browser
or graphics program
.gz
application
compressed archive file created by Gzip in the
UNIX operating system
.htm / .html
text file
hypertext document – open in a web browser –
edit in any word-processor or text editor
.ico
Windows
icon
Open with an icon editor
.indd
Application
Adobe InDesign
.ini
—
Initialization file
.jav
Java
cross platform programming language used to
create complex interactive forms and special
effects
.jpg
image
Graphic in JPEG format (Joint Photographic
Experts Group) View with web browser or
image editing program
.js
JavaScript
part of Web page used to create interactive
effects such as mouse roll-overs and pop-up
boxes
.mid
audio
audio file in MIDI format
.mov
video
QuickTime movie – view using IE or Netscape
using plug-in
.mp3
audio
Audio file in MP3 format – CD-quality sound,
with 10x compression
.mp4
audio
a digital multimedia container format most
commonly used to store video and audio, but
can also be used to store other data such
as subtitles and still images.
.mpg
movie
Video movie in MPEG format (Motion Picture
Experts Group)
.odf
data
Open Document Formula. Spreadsheet
formula used by OpenOffice.org and StarOffice
Calc; allows the results of calculations
performed within the spreadsheet to be
automatically entered into one or more cells;
based on the OASIS OpenDocument standard
and formatted in XML.
.otf
font
Open Type Font (Template (Microsoft
Outlook)
.pdf
application
Portable Document Format – requires Adobe
Acrobat reader
.pkg
application
The PKG files contain compressed installer
files that are used to install Mac software
applications onto a user's hard drive.
.pl
application
Perl source file – text file, editable in any text
editor
.png
image
graphic in Portable Network Graphics format –
can work on all platforms
.prproj
application
Adobe Premier Project
.psd
application
Adobe Photoshop
.ppt
application
Microsoft PowerPoint file – used for creating
slides and overhead presentations
.rtf
application
Rich Text Format –
word-processor file with formatting codes
.sit
Compression
SIT is a compressed archive file Used by the
Smith Micro Stuff-IT expander
compression/decompression (codec) utility for
the Mac and Windows operating systems
.sql
Database
Structured Query Language file format written
in ASCII language
.swf
media
Macromedia Shockwave Flash animation
movie
.tar
application
file archive created in the Unix operating
system
.tar.gz
application
.tar archive compressed by Gzip
.tif
image
Tagged Image File format – graphic file –
editable in graphics program
.tmp
—
temporary file – used by many programs
.ttf
—
True Type Font file
.txt
text
contains only ASCII code – also called ‘text file’
– editable in any text editor
.wav
audio
Sound file in Waveform format
.xls
application
Microsoft Excel worksheet file
.xml
Web page
extensible markup language – a plain text file
for web pages
.zip
application
compressed file – open with WinZip or PKZip
References: http://www.mantex.co.uk/2009/10/31/common-­‐file-­‐types/ Wikipedia.com