File Format Glossary & Terminology

File Format Terminology : A

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.

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File Format Terminology : B

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.

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File Format Terminology : C

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 Windows\System 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

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File Format Terminology : D

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.

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File Format Terminology : E

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.

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File Format Terminology : F

FFL

Microsoft Fast Find file.

FFO

Microsoft Fast Find file.

FLA

Macromedia Flash movie format.

FNT

Font file.

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File Format Terminology : G

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.

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File Format Terminology : H

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.

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File Format Terminology : I

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.

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File Format Terminology : J

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.

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File Format Terminology : K

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File Format Terminology : L

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.

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File Format Terminology : M

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.

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File Format Terminology : N

NCF

Netware command File.

NLM

Netware loadable Module.

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File Format Terminology : O

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.

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File Format Terminology : P

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.

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File Format Terminology : Q

QIF

Quicken Import file.

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File Format Terminology : R

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.

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File Format Terminology : S

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

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File Format Terminology : T

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.

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File Format Terminology : U

UDF

Uniqueness Definition File. Used for Windows unattended installations.

UUE

UU-encoded file.

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File Format Terminology : V

VBX

Microsoft Visual basic extension.

VM

Virtual Memory file.

VXD

Windows 9x virtual device driver.

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File Format Terminology : W

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.

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File Format Terminology : X

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.

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File Format Terminology : Y

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File Format Terminology : Z

ZIP

Compressed Zip archive.