Feb '02 Tools

What are file extension? They're those silly letter combinations that appear after the dot in the name of a file. Have you ever received a file that you can't open and you don't know what to do? Have you ever tried to run a program and received an error message telling you there was a problem with a file or a file was missing? In order to work with a file, you need to have the appropriate program installed on your computer that will let you either open or import it. If you know what type of a file it is, you can probably determine what program is needed to access it.

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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 - 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.

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.
EVE - TTMaker Event Scheduling File.
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. Used primarily for web sites.
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 primarily for web sites.
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.
LOG - Application log file.
LSP - Autocad(visual) lisp program.

MAQ - Microsoft Access Query.
MAR - Microsoft Access Report.
MDB - Microsoft Access DataBase File.
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.

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.
PIF - Program Information File
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.
POT - Microsoft PowerPoint design template.
PPD - PostScript Printer description file used in Macintosh and Windows operating systems
PPS - Microsoft PowerPoint slide show.
PPT - Microsoft PowerPoint presentation(default extension).
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.
REG - Registry file that contains registry settings.
RM - RealAudio video file.
RSC - Standard resource file.
RTF - Rich Text Format.

SCR - Screen Saver file.
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.

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 - equivalent to RTF, Rich Text Format, that enables saving text with formatting information.

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.