File Formats

As a Virtual Assistant (VA) I get sent many different kinds of files. This article is on a few of the most common types of file extensions and what they are most commonly used for. Most of this information is from http://www.learnthenet.com which not only gives you a description of the file extension, but tells you what programs will open the particular format on a particular platform.

Graphic Files:

• *.gif
  Most common graphics file for the Internet. Mostly used for lineart, solid colors, icons, and thumbnails because it only supports 8-bit color (256 colors).
• *.jpg/jpeg/jfif
  Popular format for Internet graphics. Mostly used for photos and still images.
• *.tif/.tiff
  Primarily used when the end result is to be a printed output. File sizes can be large because of higher resolution capabilities.

Plain Text Files:

• *.html/htm
  As most know this a web document that requires a web browser to fully see the bells and whistles.
• *.txt
  These are files created in ASCII. They can be viewed with most word processing programs (i.e., Word, WordPerfect) and text editors (i.e., BBEdit, Notepad). Although when viewed with your word processing program you will probably see a lot of gobbledygook.

Formatted Documents:

• *.doc
  This is the most common extension for MS Word or WordPerfect created documents. Although other programs do use this extension for their text documents, also.
• *.pdf T
  his extension stands for Portable Document Format, a type of document developed by Adobe Systems, Inc. Many documents are being created in this format because what you see on one machine is going to be the same on another machine or platform. It allows formatted documents to retain their formatting and graphics as the creator sees them. The file is only readable with Adobe's Acrobat Reader which available for free from their website.

Compressed/Encoded Files:

• *.bin
  This is a Mac file compressed and requires Stuffit Expander to decompress.
• *.exe
  This is a DOS or Windows self-extracting file which means when you double click on its icon it will launch.
• *.hqx
  Another Mac format file used primarily for encoding documents for quicker, safer transfer across the Internet.
• *.zip
  Common compression for DOS and Windows files. Can decompress with WinZIP or Stuffit Expander

Well that should be enough to keep you thinking for awhile. I did find this site in my research for this article. It looks like it could be very useful if you have a file you can't convert. http://www.fileconverter.com/main.asp