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This is a list of file formats used by computers, organized by type.
Filename extension A filename extension, file name extension or file extension is a suffix to the name of a computer file (e.g., .txt, .docx, .md). The extension indicates a characteristic of the file contents or its intended use. A filename extension is typically ...
it is usually noted in parentheses if they differ from the file format name or abbreviation. Many
operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...
s do not limit filenames to one extension shorter than 4 characters, as was common with some operating systems that supported the File Allocation Table (FAT) file system. Examples of operating systems that do not impose this limit include
Unix-like A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X or *nix) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Unix-li ...
systems, and Microsoft Windows NT, 95- 98, and ME which have no three character limit on extensions for 32-bit or
64-bit In computer architecture, 64-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units are those that are 64 bits wide. Also, 64-bit CPUs and ALUs are those that are based on processor registers, address buses, or data buses of that size. A compu ...
applications on file systems other than pre-Windows 95 and Windows NT 3.5 versions of the FAT file system. Some filenames are given extensions longer than three characters. While MS-DOS and NT always treat the suffix after the last period in a file's name as its extension, in UNIX-like systems, the final period does not necessarily mean that the text after the last period is the file's extension. Some file formats, such as .txt or .text, may be listed multiple times.


Archive and compressed

* .?Q? – files that are compressed, often by the SQ program. * 7z – 7z: 7-Zip compressed file * A – An external file extension for C/C++ * AAC –
Advanced Audio Coding Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is an audio coding standard for lossy digital audio compression. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves higher sound quality than MP3 encoders at the same bit rate. AAC has been stan ...
* ace –
ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the c ...
: ACE compressed file * ALZ –
ALZip ALZip is an File archiver, archive and Data compression, compression utility from ESTsoft for Microsoft Windows. ALZip is a file compression program that can unzip 40 different zip file archives. ALZip can zip files into 8 different archives such ...
compressed file * APK – Android package: Applications installable on Android; package format of the
Alpine Linux Alpine Linux is a Linux distribution designed to be small, simple and secure. Alpine Linux uses musl, BusyBox and OpenRC instead of the more commonly used glibc, GNU Core Utilities and systemd respectively.
distribution * APPX – Microsoft Application Package (.appx) * AT3 – Sony's UMD data compression * ARC – ARC: pre-Zip data compression * ARC – Nintendo U8 Archive (mostly Yaz0 compressed) * ARJ – ARJ compressed file * ASS, SSA – ASS (also SSA): a subtitles file created by
Aegisub Aegisub is a subtitle editing application. It is the main tool of fansubbing, the practice of creating or translating unofficial subtitles for visual media by fans. It is the successor of the original SubStation Alpha and Sabbu. Aegisub's ...
, a video typesetting application (also a
Halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...
game engine file) * B – (B file) Similar to .a, but less compressed. * BA – BA: Scifer Archive (.ba), Scifer External Archive Type * BIN – compressed archive, can be read and used by CD-ROMs and Java, extractable by 7-zip and WINRAR * .bkf – Microsoft backup created by NTBackup.c * Blend – An external 3D file format used by the animation software,
Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...
. * .bz2 – bzip2 * BMP – Bitmap Image – You can create one by right-clicking the home screen, next, click new, then, click Bitmap Image * cab – A cabinet (.cab) file is a library of compressed files stored as one file. Cabinet files are used to organize installation files that are copied to the user's system. * c4 – JEDMICS image files, a DOD system * cals – JEDMICS image files, a DOD system * xaml – Used in programs like Visual Studio to create
exe Exe or EXE may refer to: * .exe, a file extension * exe., abbreviation for executive Places * River Exe, in England * Exe Estuary, in England * Exe Island, in Exeter, England Transportation and vehicles * Exe (locomotive), a British locomotive ...
files. * CPT, SEA –
Compact Pro Compact Pro is a software data compression utility for archiving and compressing files on the Apple Macintosh platform. It was a major competitor to StuffIt in the early 1990s, producing smaller archives in less time, able to create self-extract ...
(
Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
) * DAA – DAA: Closed-format,
Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...
-only compressed disk image * deb – deb: Debian install package * DMG – an Apple compressed/encrypted format * DDZ – a file which can only be used by the "daydreamer engine" created by "fever-dreamer", a program similar to RAGS, it's mainly used to make somewhat short games. * DN – Adobe Dimension CC file format * DNG – "Digital Negative" a type of raw image file format used in digital photography. * DPE – Package of AVE documents made with
Aquafadas Rakuten DX is a software company specialising in no-code development platforms to build mobile apps for smartphones, tablets and web designed for enterprises and digital publishers. Headquartered in Montpellier, France, Rakuten DX is a major sub ...
digital publishing tools. * .egg – Alzip Egg Edition compressed file * .egt – EGT Universal Document also used to create compressed cabinet files replaces .ecab * .ECAB, .ezip – EGT Compressed Folder used in advanced systems to compress entire system folders, replaced by EGT Universal Document * ESD – ESD: Electronic Software Distribution, a compressed and
encrypted In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can deci ...
WIM File * .ess – EGT SmartSense File, detects files compressed using the EGT compression system. * .exe – Windows application * .flipchart – Used in Prometheanbr>ActivInspire
Flipchart Software. * .gbs, .ggp, .gsc – GB
OtterUI binary scene file
* .gho, .ghs – GHO
Norton Ghost Ghost (an acronym for ''general hardware-oriented system transfer'') is a disk cloning and backup tool originally developed by Murray Haszard in 1995 for Binary Research. The technology was acquired in 1998 by Symantec. The backup and recove ...
* .gif – GIF Graphics Interchange Format * .gz –
gzip gzip is a file format and a software application used for file compression and decompression. The program was created by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler as a free software replacement for the compress program used in early Unix systems, and i ...
Compressed file * .html –
HTML The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaSc ...
code file * .ipg – Format in which
Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...
packages their
iPod game An iPod click wheel game or iPod game is a video game playable on the various versions of the Apple portable media player, the iPod. The original iPod had the game ''Brick'' (originally invented by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak) included as a ...
s. can be extracted through
Winrar WinRAR is a trialware file archiver utility for Windows, developed by Eugene Roshal of win.rar GmbH. It can create and view archives in RAR or ZIP file formats, and unpack numerous archive file formats. To enable the user to test the integrit ...
* jar –
jar A jar is a rigid, cylindrical or slightly conical container, typically made of glass, ceramic, or plastic, with a wide mouth or opening that can be closed with a lid, screw cap, lug cap, cork stopper, roll-on cap, crimp-on cap, press-on c ...
ZIP file with manifest for use with
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...
applications. * JPG – Joints Photographic Experts Group – Image File * JPEG – Joints Photographic Experts Group – Image File * .Lawrence – LBR Lawrence Compiler Type file * LBR – LBR Library file * LQR – LQR LBR Library file compressed by the SQ program. * .lzh – LHA Lempel, Ziv, Huffman * .lz – lzip Compressed file * .lzo – lzo * lzma – lzma Lempel–Ziv–Markov chain algorithm compressed file * LZX – LZX * .lua -
Lua Lua or LUA may refer to: Science and technology * Lua (programming language) * Latvia University of Agriculture * Last universal ancestor, in evolution Ethnicity and language * Lua people, of Laos * Lawa people, of Thailand sometimes referred t ...
* .mbw – MBRWizard archive * MHTML – Mime HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) code file * .midi - Musical Instrument Digital Interface * .mpq – MPQ Archives Used by
Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three gradu ...
* .bin – BIN
MacBinary MacBinary is a file format that combines the two ''forks'' of a classic Mac OS file into a single file, along with HFS's extended metadata. The resulting file is suitable for transmission over FTP, the World Wide Web, and electronic mail. The do ...
* .nl2pkg – NoLimits 2 Package * .nth – NTH: Nokia Theme Used by
Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...
Series 40 Series 40, often shortened as S40, is a software platform and application user interface (UI) software on Nokia's broad range of mid-tier feature phones, as well as on some of the Vertu line of luxury phones. It was one of the world's most wi ...
Cellphones * .oar – OAR: OAR archive * OSG – Compressed
osu! ''Osu!'' (stylized as ''osu!'') is a free-to-play rhythm game primarily developed, published, and created by Dean "peppy" Herbert. Inspired by iNiS' rhythm game ''Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan'', it was written in C Sharp (programming language), C# ...
live gameplay archive (optimized for spectating) * OSK – Compressed
osu! ''Osu!'' (stylized as ''osu!'') is a free-to-play rhythm game primarily developed, published, and created by Dean "peppy" Herbert. Inspired by iNiS' rhythm game ''Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan'', it was written in C Sharp (programming language), C# ...
skin archive * OSR – Compressed
osu! ''Osu!'' (stylized as ''osu!'') is a free-to-play rhythm game primarily developed, published, and created by Dean "peppy" Herbert. Inspired by iNiS' rhythm game ''Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan'', it was written in C Sharp (programming language), C# ...
replay archive * OSZ – Compressed
osu! ''Osu!'' (stylized as ''osu!'') is a free-to-play rhythm game primarily developed, published, and created by Dean "peppy" Herbert. Inspired by iNiS' rhythm game ''Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan'', it was written in C Sharp (programming language), C# ...
beatmap archive * PAK – Enhanced type of .ARC archive * .par, .par2 – PAR
Parchive Parchive (a portmanteau of parity archive, and formally known as Parity Volume Set Specification) is an erasure code system that produces par files for checksum verification of data integrity, with the capability to perform data recovery operatio ...
* .paf – PAF Portable Application File * .pea – PEA PeaZip archive file * PNG – Portable Network Graphic Image File * .procreate - Procreate’s drawing file * Webp - Raster image format developed by Google for web graphics * .php – PHP code file * .pyk – PYK Compressed file * .pk3 – PK3 Quake 3 archive (See note on Doom³) * .pk4 – PK4 Doom³ archive (Opens similarly to a zip archive.) * .pxz – PXZ A compressed layered image file used for the image editing website, pixlr.com . * py, pyw – Python code file * .rar – RAR Rar Archive, for multiple file archive (rar to .r01-.r99 to s01 and so on) * RAG, RAGS – Game file, a game playable in the RAGS game-engine, a free program which both allows people to create games, and play games, games created have the format "RAG game file" * RaX – Archive file created by RaX * RBXL – Roblox Studio place file (XML, binary) * RBXLX – Roblox Studio place file (exclusively XML) * RBXM – Roblox Studio model file (XML, binary) * RBXMX – Roblox Studio model file (exclusively XML) * RPM – Red Hat package/installer for Fedora, RHEL, and similar systems. * sb – Scratch file * sb2 – Scratch 2.0 file * sb3 – Scratch 3.0 file * SEN – Scifer Archive (.sen) – Scifer Internal Archive Type * .sitx – SIT StuffIt (
Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
) * SIS, SISX – SIS/ SISX: Symbian Application Package * SKB – Google SketchUp backup File * .sq – SQ: Squish Compressed Archive * .srt - SubRip Subtitle - file format for closed captioning or subtitles. * SWM – Splitted WIM File, usually found on
OEM An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...
Recovery Partition to store preinstalled Windows image, and to make Recovery backup (to USB Drive) easier (due to FAT32 limitations) * SZS – Nintendo Yaz0 Compressed Archive * TAR –
TAR Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bi ...
: group of files, packaged as one file * Gzip, .tar.gz – ( Gzip, .tar.gz): TGZ gzipped tar file * .tb – TB Tabbery Virtual Desktop Tab file * .tib – TIB Acronis True Image backup * UHA – Ultra High Archive Compression * .uue – UUE unified utility engine – the generic and default format for all things UUe-related. *uf2 microsoft makecode arcade game. * VIV – Archive format used to compress data for several video games, including Need For Speed: High Stakes. * VOL – video game data package. * VSA – Altiris Virtual Software Archive * WAX – Wavexpress – A ZIP alternative optimized for packages containing video, allowing multiple packaged files to be all-or-none delivered with near-instantaneous unpacking via NTFS file system manipulation. * .wfp a Wondershare Flimora project file * WIM – WIM A compressed disk image for installing
Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...
or higher, Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PC, or restoring a system image made from Backup and Restore (
Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...
/ 7) * XAP –
Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design l ...
Application Package * xz – xz compressed files, based on LZMA/LZMA2 algorithm * Z –
Unix Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, an ...
compress compress is a Unix shell compression program based on the LZW compression algorithm. Compared to more modern compression utilities such as gzip and bzip2, compress performs faster and with less memory usage, at the cost of a significantly lo ...
file * zoo –
zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoo ...
: based on LZW * zip – zip: popular compression format * ZIM – ZIM: an open file format that stores wiki content for offline usage


Physical recordable media archiving

*
ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...
– Generic format for most optical media, including CD-ROM,
DVD-ROM The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
,
Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
,
HD DVD HD DVD (short for High Definition Digital Versatile Disc) is an obsolete high-density optical disc format for storing data and playback of high-definition video. Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the ...
and UMD. * NRG – Proprietary optical media archive format used by
Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 unti ...
applications. * IMG – Raw disk image, for archiving
DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...
formatted
floppy disks A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined wi ...
, hard drives, and larger optical media. * ADF – for archiving Amiga floppy disks * ADZ – The GZip-compressed version of ADF. * DMS – a disk-archiving system native to the Amiga. * DSK – For archiving floppy disks from a number of other platforms, including the ZX Spectrum and
Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Si ...
. * D64 – An archive of a Commodore 64 floppy disk. * SDI – used for archiving and providing "virtual disk" functionality. * MDS
Daemon Tools DAEMON Tools is a virtual drive and optical disc authoring program for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. Overview DAEMON tools was originally a successor of ''Generic SafeDisc emulator'' and incorporated all of its features. The program claims ...
native disc image format used for making images from optical CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, HD DVD or Blu-ray. It comes together with MDF file and can be mounted with DAEMON Tools. * MDX – Daemon Tools format that allows getting one MDX disc image file instead of two (MDF and MDS). * DMG – Macintosh disk image files * CDI – DiscJuggler image file * CUE – CDRWrite CUE image file * CIF –
Easy CD Creator Roxio is an American software company specializing in developing consumer digital media products. Its product line includes tools for setting up digital media projects, media conversion software and content distribution systems. The company formed ...
.cif format * C2D – Roxio-WinOnCD .c2d format * DAA – PowerISO .daa format * B6T – BlindWrite 6 image file * B5T – BlindWrite 5 image file * BWT – BlindWrite 4 image file * FFPPKG – FreeFire Profile Export Package


Other Extensions

* HTML – Hypertext Markup Language * Msi – Windows installation file * Vdhx – Virtual disk created by Hyper-V (Hyper-V runs on windows operating system)


Computer-aided design

Computer-aided is a prefix for several categories of tools (e.g., design, manufacture, engineering) which assist professionals in their respective fields (e.g., machining,
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
, schematics).


Computer-aided design (CAD)

Computer-aided design (CAD) software assists engineers, architects and other design professionals in project design. *
3DXML 3DXML is a proprietary 3D file format developed by Dassault Systemes under its 3DVIA Brand. It uses an XML container whose specifications were published. It should not be confused with X3D, the ISO standard XML-based file format for representing ...
– Dassault Systemes graphic representation * 3MF
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
3D Manufacturing Format * ACP – VA Software
VA – Virtual Architecture VA, Va and variants may refer to: Places * Vä, Sweden, a village * Vatican City (ISO 3166-1 country code VA) * Virginia, United States postal abbreviation Businesses and organizations Businesses * VA Software (also known as "VA Research" and "V ...
CAD file * AMF – Additive Manufacturing File Format * AEC – DataCAD drawing format * AR – Ashlar-Vellum Argon – 3D Modeling * ART – ArtCAM model * ASC –
BRL-CAD BRL-CAD is a constructive solid geometry (CSG) solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) system. It includes an interactive geometry editor, ray tracing support for graphics rendering and geometric analysis, computer network distributed frame ...
Geometry File (old ASCII format) * ASM – Solidedge Assembly, Pro/ENGINEER Assembly * BIN, BIM –
Data Design System Data Design System AS (DDS) supplies the construction industry with software tools for building information modelling (BIM). The company was founded in 1984 in Stavanger, Norway. In 2021, the company merged into Graphisoft. in the Nemetschek ...
DDS-CAD * BREP – Open CASCADE 3D model (shape) * C3D – C3D Toolkit File Format * C3P – Construct3 Files * CCC – CopyCAD Curves * CCM – CopyCAD Model * CCS – CopyCAD Session * CAD – CadStd * CATDrawing –
CATIA CATIA (, an acronym of computer-aided three-dimensional interactive application) is a multi-platform software suite for computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-aided engineering (CAE), 3D modeling and Product ...
V5 Drawing document * CATPart –
CATIA CATIA (, an acronym of computer-aided three-dimensional interactive application) is a multi-platform software suite for computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-aided engineering (CAE), 3D modeling and Product ...
V5 Part document * CATProduct –
CATIA CATIA (, an acronym of computer-aided three-dimensional interactive application) is a multi-platform software suite for computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-aided engineering (CAE), 3D modeling and Product ...
V5 Assembly document * CATProcess –
CATIA CATIA (, an acronym of computer-aided three-dimensional interactive application) is a multi-platform software suite for computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-aided engineering (CAE), 3D modeling and Product ...
V5 Manufacturing document * cgr –
CATIA CATIA (, an acronym of computer-aided three-dimensional interactive application) is a multi-platform software suite for computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-aided engineering (CAE), 3D modeling and Product ...
V5 graphic representation file * ckd –
KeyCreator KeyCreator is a commercial software application for 2D and 3D computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting available since 2004. History KeyCreator is a non-parametric, non-history based, "direct" 2D/3D solid modeling CAD program. Originally know ...
CAD Modeling * ckt –
KeyCreator KeyCreator is a commercial software application for 2D and 3D computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting available since 2004. History KeyCreator is a non-parametric, non-history based, "direct" 2D/3D solid modeling CAD program. Originally know ...
CAD Modeling * CO – Ashlar-Vellum Cobalt – parametric drafting and 3D modeling * DRW – Caddie Early version of Caddie drawing – Prior to Caddie changing to DWG * DFT – Solidedge Draft *
DGN DGN (design) is the name used for CAD file formats supported by Bentley Systems, MicroStation and Intergraph's Interactive Graphics Design System (IGDS) CAD programs. The DGN format is used in construction projects, including buildings, highways, ...
MicroStation design file * DGK – Delcam Geometry * DMT – Delcam Machining Triangles * DXF – ASCII Drawing Interchange file format,
AutoCAD AutoCAD is a commercial computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting software application. Developed and marketed by Autodesk, AutoCAD was first released in December 1982 as a desktop app running on microcomputers with internal graphics controllers. ...
* DWB – VariCAD drawing file * DWF – Autodesk's Web Design Format; AutoCAD &
Revit Autodesk Revit is a building information modelling software tool for architects, landscape architects, structural engineers, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineers, designers and contractors. The original software was developed by ...
can publish to this format; similar in concept to PDF files; Autodesk Design Review is the reader * DWG – Popular file format for Computer Aided Drafting applications, notably
AutoCAD AutoCAD is a commercial computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting software application. Developed and marketed by Autodesk, AutoCAD was first released in December 1982 as a desktop app running on microcomputers with internal graphics controllers. ...
, Open Design Alliance applications, and
Autodesk Inventor Autodesk Inventor is a computer-aided design application for 3D mechanical design, simulation, visualization, and documentation developed by Autodesk. Features Inventor allows 2D and 3D data integration in a single environment, creating a virt ...
Drawing files * EASM – SolidWorks eDrawings assembly file * EDRW – eDrawings drawing file * EMB – Wilcom ES Designer Embroidery CAD file * EPRT – eDrawings part file * EscPcb – "esCAD pcb" data file by Electro-System (Japan) * EscSch – "esCAD sch" data file by Electro-System (Japan) * ESW – AGTEK format * EXCELLON – Excellon file * EXP – Drawing Express format * F3D – Autodesk Fusion 360 archive file * FCStd – Native file format of
FreeCAD FreeCAD is a general-purpose parametric 3D computer-aided design (CAD) modeler and a building information modeling (BIM) software application with finite element method (FEM) support. It is intended for mechanical engineering product design bu ...
CAD/
CAM Calmodulin (CaM) (an abbreviation for calcium-modulated protein) is a multifunctional intermediate calcium-binding messenger protein expressed in all eukaryotic cells. It is an intracellular target of the secondary messenger Ca2+, and the bin ...
package * FM – FeatureCAM Part File * FMZ – FormZ Project file * G –
BRL-CAD BRL-CAD is a constructive solid geometry (CSG) solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) system. It includes an interactive geometry editor, ray tracing support for graphics rendering and geometric analysis, computer network distributed frame ...
Geometry File * GBR –
Gerber file The Gerber format is an open ASCII vector format for printed circuit board (PCB) designs. It is the de facto standard used by PCB industry software to describe the printed circuit board images: copper layers, solder mask, legend, drill data, et ...
* GLM –
KernelCAD Digital Geometric Kernel (Former KernelCAD), is a software development framework and a set of components for enabling 3D/CAD functionality in Windows applications, developed by DInsight. DInsight promotes KernelCAD as a quick way for adding 3D/C ...
model * GRB –
T-FLEX CAD T-FLEX CAD (T-FLEX) – is a Russian-made parametric computer-aided design (CAD) software application for 2D design, drafting, and 3D solid modeling based on commercial Parasolid geometric kernel. It's primarily developed and distributed b ...
File * GRI – AppliCad GRIM-In file in readable text form for importing roof and wall cladding job data generated by business management and accounting systems into the modelling/estimating program * GRO – AppliCad GRIM-Out file in readable text form for exporting roof and wall cladding data job material and labour costing data, material lists generated by the modelling/estimating program to business management and accounting systems * IAM –
Autodesk Inventor Autodesk Inventor is a computer-aided design application for 3D mechanical design, simulation, visualization, and documentation developed by Autodesk. Features Inventor allows 2D and 3D data integration in a single environment, creating a virt ...
Assembly file * ICD – IronCAD 2D CAD file * IDW –
Autodesk Inventor Autodesk Inventor is a computer-aided design application for 3D mechanical design, simulation, visualization, and documentation developed by Autodesk. Features Inventor allows 2D and 3D data integration in a single environment, creating a virt ...
Drawing file * IFC
buildingSMART buildingSMART, formerly the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI), is an international organisation which aims to improve the exchange of information between software applications used in the construction industry. It has developed Indu ...
for sharing AEC and FM data *
IGES The Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) is a vendor-neutral file format that allows the digital exchange of information among computer-aided design (CAD) systems. It's an ASCII-based textual format. The official title of IGES is ''D ...
– Initial Graphics Exchange Specification * .dgn, .cel –
Intergraph Standard File Formats Intergraph Standard File Formats (ISFF) are the file formats common to MicroStation and Intergraph's Interactive Graphics Design System (IGDS). ISFF is made available to the public, so that third-party developers could create applications for Micr ...
Intergraph Intergraph Corporation was an American software development and services company, which now forms part of Hexagon AB. It provides enterprise engineering and geospatially powered software to businesses, governments, and organizations around the w ...
* IO – Stud.io 3d model * IPN –
Autodesk Inventor Autodesk Inventor is a computer-aided design application for 3D mechanical design, simulation, visualization, and documentation developed by Autodesk. Features Inventor allows 2D and 3D data integration in a single environment, creating a virt ...
Presentation file * IPT –
Autodesk Inventor Autodesk Inventor is a computer-aided design application for 3D mechanical design, simulation, visualization, and documentation developed by Autodesk. Features Inventor allows 2D and 3D data integration in a single environment, creating a virt ...
Part file * JT – Jupiter Tesselation * MCD – Monu-CAD (Monument/Headstone Drawing file) * MDG – Model of Digital Geometric Kernel * model –
CATIA CATIA (, an acronym of computer-aided three-dimensional interactive application) is a multi-platform software suite for computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-aided engineering (CAE), 3D modeling and Product ...
V4 part document * OCD – Orienteering Computer Aided Design (OCAD) file * PAR – Solidedge Part * PIPE – PIPE-FLO Professional Piping system design file * PLN – ArchiCad project * PRT – NX (recently known as Unigraphics), Pro/ENGINEER Part, CADKEY Part * PSM – Solidedge Sheet * PSMODEL – PowerSHAPE Model * PWI – PowerINSPECT File * PYT – Pythagoras File * SKP – SketchUp Model * RLF – ArtCAM Relief * RVM –
AVEVA AVEVA Group plc is a British multinational information technology consulting company headquartered in Cambridge, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company started as the Comp ...
PDMS 3D Review model * RVT – Autodesk Revit project files * RFA – Autodesk Revit family files * RXF – AppliCad annotated 3D roof and wall geometry data in readable text form used to exchange 3D model geometry with other systems such as truss design software * S12 – Spirit file, by Softtech * SCAD – OpenSCAD 3D part model * SCDOC –
SpaceClaim SpaceClaim is a solid modeling CAD (computer-aided design) software that runs on Microsoft Windows and developed by SpaceClaim Corporation. The company is headquartered in Concord, Massachusetts. SpaceClaim Corporation was founded in 2005 to ...
3D Part/Assembly * SLDASM –
SolidWorks SolidWorks is a solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) application published by Dassault Systèmes. According to the publisher, over two million engineers and designers at more than 165,000 companies w ...
Assembly drawing * SLDDRW –
SolidWorks SolidWorks is a solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) application published by Dassault Systèmes. According to the publisher, over two million engineers and designers at more than 165,000 companies w ...
2D drawing * SLDPRT –
SolidWorks SolidWorks is a solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) application published by Dassault Systèmes. According to the publisher, over two million engineers and designers at more than 165,000 companies w ...
3D part model * dotXSI – For Softimage * STEP – Standard for the Exchange of Product model data * STL – Stereo Lithographic data format used by various CAD systems and stereo lithographic printing machines. * STD – Power Vision Plus – Electricity Meter Data (Circutor) * TCT – TurboCAD drawing template * TCW – TurboCAD for Windows 2D and 3D drawing * UNV –
I-DEAS I-DEAS (''Integrated Design and Engineering Analysis Software''), a computer-aided design software package. It was originally produced by SDRC in 1982. I-DEAS was used primarily in the automotive industry, most notably by Ford Motor Company (who ...
I-DEAS (Integrated Design and Engineering Analysis Software) * VC6 – Ashlar-Vellum Graphite – 2D and 3D drafting * VLM – Ashlar-Vellum Vellum, Vellum 2D, Vellum Draft, Vellum 3D, DrawingBoard * VS – Ashlar-Vellum Vellum Solids * WRL – Similar to STL, but includes color. Used by various CAD systems and 3D printing rapid prototyping machines. Also used for VRML models on the web. * X_B –
Parasolid Parasolid is a geometric modeling kernel originally developed by Shape Data Limited, now owned and developed by Siemens Digital Industries Software. It can be licensed by other companies for use in their 3D computer graphics software products. ...
s binary format * X_T –
Parasolid Parasolid is a geometric modeling kernel originally developed by Shape Data Limited, now owned and developed by Siemens Digital Industries Software. It can be licensed by other companies for use in their 3D computer graphics software products. ...
s * XE – Ashlar-Vellum Xenon – for associative 3D modeling * ZOFZPROJ – ZofzPCB 3D PCB model, containing mesh, netlist and BOM


Electronic design automation (EDA)

Electronic design automation (EDA), or electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), is specific to the field of electrical engineering. * BRD – Board file for EAGLE Layout Editor, a commercial PCB design tool * BSDL – Description language for testing through JTAG * CDL –
Transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch ...
-level
netlist In electronic design, a netlist is a description of the connectivity of an electronic circuit. In its simplest form, a netlist consists of a list of the electronic components in a circuit and a list of the nodes they are connected to. A network ...
format for IC design * CPF – Power-domain specification in
system-on-a-chip A system on a chip or system-on-chip (SoC ; pl. ''SoCs'' ) is an integrated circuit that integrates most or all components of a computer or other electronic system. These components almost always include a central processing unit (CPU), memory ...
(SoC) implementation (see also UPF) * DEFGate-level
layout Layout may refer to: * Page layout, the arrangement of visual elements on a page ** Comprehensive layout (comp), a proposed page layout presented by a designer to their client * Layout (computing), the process of calculating the position of obj ...
* DSPF – Detailed Standard Parasitic Format,
Analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...
-level parasitics of interconnections in IC design *
EDIF EDIF (Electronic Design Interchange Format) is a vendor-neutral format based on S-Expressions in which to store Electronic netlists and schematics. It was one of the first attempts to establish a neutral data exchange format for the electronic desi ...
– Vendor neutral gate-level
netlist In electronic design, a netlist is a description of the connectivity of an electronic circuit. In its simplest form, a netlist consists of a list of the electronic components in a circuit and a list of the nodes they are connected to. A network ...
format * FSDB –
Analog waveform An analog signal or analogue signal (see spelling differences) is any continuous signal representing some other quantity, i.e., ''analogous'' to another quantity. For example, in an analog audio signal, the instantaneous signal voltage varies ...
format (see also
Waveform viewer A waveform viewer is a software tool for viewing the signal levels of either a digital or analog circuit design.Janick Bergeron, ''Writing Testbenches: Functional verification of HDL Models'', Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000 Waveform viewers come ...
) *
GDSII GDSII stream format (GDSII), is a binary database file format which is the de facto industry standard for Electronic Design Automation data exchange of integrated circuit or IC layout artwork. It is a binary file format representing planar geom ...
– Format for PCB and
layout Layout may refer to: * Page layout, the arrangement of visual elements on a page ** Comprehensive layout (comp), a proposed page layout presented by a designer to their client * Layout (computing), the process of calculating the position of obj ...
of integrated circuits * HEX
ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because ...
-coded
binary Binary may refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * Binary number, a representation of numbers using only two digits (0 and 1) * Binary function, a function that takes two arguments * Binary operation, a mathematical operation that ta ...
format for
memory dump In computing, a core dump, memory dump, crash dump, storage dump, system dump, or ABEND dump consists of the recorded state of the working memory of a computer program at a specific time, generally when the program has crashed or otherwise termina ...
s * LEF – Library Exchange Format, physical abstract of cells for IC design *
LIB lib or Lib may refer to: Computing * Library (computing) ** .lib, a static library on Microsoft platforms ** , a directory on Unix-like systems * Lib-80, a Microsoft Library Manager tool; see Microsoft MACRO-80 People * Lib, one of two Jaredite ...
Library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
modeling (
function Function or functionality may refer to: Computing * Function key, a type of key on computer keyboards * Function model, a structured representation of processes in a system * Function object or functor or functionoid, a concept of object-oriente ...
, timing) format * MS12 – NI Multisim file * OASIS –
Open Artwork System Interchange Standard Open Artwork System Interchange Standard (OASIS) is a binary file format used by computers to represent and express an electronic pattern for an integrated circuit during its design and manufacture developed by SEMI. The language defines the code ...
*
OpenAccess OpenAccess is a proprietary API controlled by the OpenAccess Coalition that aims to facilitate Interoperability of electronic design automation software among the members of that coalition. OpenAccess Coalition OpenAccess Coalition is a coalition ...
– Design database format with
API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...
s * PSF – Cadence proprietary format to store simulation results/waveforms (2GB limit) * PSFXL – Cadence proprietary format to store simulation results/waveforms * SDC – Synopsys Design Constraints, format for synthesis constraints * SDF – Standard for gate-level timings * SPEF – Standard format for parasitics of interconnections in IC design * SPI, CIR –
SPICE A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spice ...
Netlist, device-level
netlist In electronic design, a netlist is a description of the connectivity of an electronic circuit. In its simplest form, a netlist consists of a list of the electronic components in a circuit and a list of the nodes they are connected to. A network ...
and commands for
simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the s ...
* SREC, S19 – S-record,
ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because ...
-coded format for
memory dump In computing, a core dump, memory dump, crash dump, storage dump, system dump, or ABEND dump consists of the recorded state of the working memory of a computer program at a specific time, generally when the program has crashed or otherwise termina ...
s * SST2 – Cadence proprietary format to store mixed-signal simulation results/waveforms * STIL – Standard Test Interface Language, IEEE1450-1999 standard for Test Patterns for IC * SV –
SystemVerilog SystemVerilog, standardized as IEEE 1800, is a hardware description and hardware verification language used to model, design, simulate, test and implement electronic systems. SystemVerilog is based on Verilog and some extensions, and since ...
source file * S*P – Touchstone/
EEsof PathWave Design is a division of Keysight Technologies that was formerly called EEsof ( ; electronic engineering software). It is a provider of electronic design automation (EDA) software that helps engineers design products such as cellular phone ...
Scattering parameter data file – multi-port blackbox performance, measurement or simulated * TLF – Contains timing and logical information about a collection of cells ( circuit elements) * UPF – Standard for Power-domain specification in SoC implementation * V –
Verilog Verilog, standardized as IEEE 1364, is a hardware description language (HDL) used to model electronic systems. It is most commonly used in the design and verification of digital circuits at the register-transfer level of abstraction. It is als ...
source file *
VCD Video CD (abbreviated as VCD, and also known as Compact Disc Digital Video) is a home video format and the first format for distributing films on standard optical discs. The format was widely adopted in Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the ...
– Standard format for digital simulation
waveform In electronics, acoustics, and related fields, the waveform of a signal is the shape of its graph as a function of time, independent of its time and magnitude scales and of any displacement in time.David Crecraft, David Gorham, ''Electro ...
* VHD, VHDL –
VHDL The VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) is a hardware description language (HDL) that can model the behavior and structure of digital systems at multiple levels of abstraction, ranging from the system level down to that of logic gate ...
source file * WGL – Waveform Generation Language, format for Test Patterns for IC


Test technology

Files output from Automatic Test Equipment or post-processed from such. * Standard Test Data Format


Database

* 4DB – 4D database Structure file * 4DD – 4D database Data file * 4DIndy – 4D database Structure Index file * 4DIndx – 4D database Data Index file * 4DR – 4D database Data resource file (in old 4D versions) * ACCDB – Microsoft Database ( Microsoft Office Access 2007 and later) * ACCDE – Compiled Microsoft Database ( Microsoft Office Access 2007 and later) * ADT – Sybase Advantage Database Server (ADS) * APR –
Lotus Approach Lotus Approach is a relational database management system included in IBM's Lotus SmartSuite for Microsoft Windows. As a start-up company, Approach was formed in 1991 and won over 30 awards the first year, including "best of show" at Comdex. Th ...
data entry & reports * BOX –
Lotus Notes HCL Notes (formerly IBM Notes and Lotus Notes; see Branding below) and HCL Domino (formerly IBM Domino and Lotus Domino) are the client and server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provide ...
Post Office mail routing database * CHML – Krasbit Technologies Encrypted database file for 1 click integration between contact management software and the chameleon(tm) line of imaging workflow solutions * DAF – Digital Anchor data file * DAT – DOS Basic * DAT –
Intersystems Caché InterSystems Caché ( ) is a commercial operational database management system from InterSystems, used to develop software applications for healthcare management, banking and financial services, government, and other sectors. Customer software c ...
database file * DB –
Paradox A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one's expectation. It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictory or a logically u ...
* DB –
SQLite SQLite (, ) is a database engine written in the C programming language. It is not a standalone app; rather, it is a library that software developers embed in their apps. As such, it belongs to the family of embedded databases. It is the m ...
* DBF – db/dbase II,III,IV and V, Clipper, Harbour/xHarbour, Fox/FoxPro, Oracle * DTA – Sage Sterling database file * EGT – EGT Universal Document, used to compress sql databases to smaller files, may contain original EGT database style. * ESS – EGT SmartSense is a database of files and its compression style. Specific to EGT SmartSense * EAP – Enterprise Architect Project * FDB –
Firebird Firebird and fire bird may refer to: Mythical birds * Phoenix (mythology), sacred firebird found in the mythologies of many cultures * Bennu, Egyptian firebird * Huma bird, Persian firebird * Firebird (Slavic folklore) Bird species ''Various sp ...
Databases * FDB –
Navision Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system from Microsoft, part of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 product family. The product is designed to assist with finance, manufacturing, customer relationship mana ...
database file * FP, FP3, FP5, FP7 – FileMaker Pro * FRM –
MySQL MySQL () is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). Its name is a combination of "My", the name of co-founder Michael Widenius's daughter My, and "SQL", the acronym for Structured Query Language. A relational database ...
table definition * GDB – Borland
InterBase InterBase is a relational database management system (RDBMS) currently developed and marketed by Embarcadero Technologies. InterBase is distinguished from other RDBMSs by its small footprint, close to zero administration requirements, and multi-g ...
Databases * GTABLE –
Google Drive Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service developed by Google. Launched on April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files in the cloud (on Google's servers), synchronize files across devices, and share files. In add ...
Fusion Table * KEXI – Kexi database file (
SQLite SQLite (, ) is a database engine written in the C programming language. It is not a standalone app; rather, it is a library that software developers embed in their apps. As such, it belongs to the family of embedded databases. It is the m ...
-based) * KEXIC – shortcut to a database connection for a Kexi databases on a server * KEXIS – shortcut to a Kexi database * LDB – Temporary database file, only existing when database is open * LIRS – Layered Intager Storage. Stores intageres with characters such as semicolons to create lists of data. * MDA – Add-in file for
Microsoft Access Microsoft Access is a database management system (DBMS) from Microsoft that combines the relational Access Database Engine (ACE) with a graphical user interface and software-development tools (not to be confused with the old Microsoft Access ...
* MDB –
Microsoft Access Microsoft Access is a database management system (DBMS) from Microsoft that combines the relational Access Database Engine (ACE) with a graphical user interface and software-development tools (not to be confused with the old Microsoft Access ...
database * ADP –
Microsoft Access Microsoft Access is a database management system (DBMS) from Microsoft that combines the relational Access Database Engine (ACE) with a graphical user interface and software-development tools (not to be confused with the old Microsoft Access ...
project (used for accessing databases on a server) * MDE – Compiled Microsoft Database (Access) * MDF – Microsoft SQL Server Database * MYD – MySQL MyISAM table data * MYI – MySQL MyISAM table index * NCF –
Lotus Notes HCL Notes (formerly IBM Notes and Lotus Notes; see Branding below) and HCL Domino (formerly IBM Domino and Lotus Domino) are the client and server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provide ...
configuration file * NSF –
Lotus Notes HCL Notes (formerly IBM Notes and Lotus Notes; see Branding below) and HCL Domino (formerly IBM Domino and Lotus Domino) are the client and server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provide ...
database * NTF –
Lotus Notes HCL Notes (formerly IBM Notes and Lotus Notes; see Branding below) and HCL Domino (formerly IBM Domino and Lotus Domino) are the client and server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provide ...
database design template * NV2 – QW Page NewViews object oriented accounting database * ODB –
LibreOffice Base LibreOffice Base is a free and open-source database development and administration tool for relational database management systems that is part of the LibreOffice office suite. LibreOffice Base was built off of a fork of OpenOffice.org and was ...
or OpenOffice Base database * ORA – Oracle tablespace files sometimes get this extension (also used for configuration files) * PCONTACT – WinIM Contact file * PDB – Palm OS Database * PDI – Portable Database Image * PDX –
Corel Paradox Paradox is a relational database management system currently published by Corel Corporation. It was originally released for MS-DOS by Ansa Software, and then updated by Borland after it bought the company. In mid 1991 Borland began the process to ...
database management * PRC – Palm OS resource database * SQL – bundled SQL queries * REC – GNU recutils database * REL – Sage Retrieve 4GL data file * RIN – Sage Retrieve 4GL index file * SDB –
StarOffice StarOffice is a discontinued proprietary office suite, intended to compete with the marketing-leading Microsoft Office. It served as the basis for open-source suites OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice. StarOffice supported the OpenOffice.org XML f ...
's StarBase * SDF – SQL Compact Database file * sqlite –
SQLite SQLite (, ) is a database engine written in the C programming language. It is not a standalone app; rather, it is a library that software developers embed in their apps. As such, it belongs to the family of embedded databases. It is the m ...
* UDL – Universal Data Link * waData – Wakanda (software) database Data file * waIndx – Wakanda (software) database Index file * waModel – Wakanda (software) database Model file * waJournal – Wakanda (software) database Journal file * WDB – Microsoft Works Database * WMDB –
Windows Media Windows Media is a discontinued multimedia framework for media creation and distribution for Microsoft Windows. It consists of a software development kit (SDK) with several application programming interfaces (API) and a number of prebuilt techn ...
Database file – The CurrentDatabase_360.wmdb file can contain file name, file properties, music, video, photo and playlist information.


Big Data (Distributed)

* Avro – Data format appropriate for ingestion of record based attributes. Distinguishing characteristic is schema is stored on each row enabling schema evolution. * Parquet – Columnar data storage. It is typically used within the Hadoop ecosystem. * ORC – Similar to Parquet, but has better data compression and schema evolution handling.


Desktop publishing

* AI –
Adobe Illustrator Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor and design program developed and marketed by Adobe Inc. Originally designed for the Apple Macintosh, development of Adobe Illustrator began in 1985. Along with Creative Cloud (Adobe's shift to month ...
* AVE, ZAVE –
Aquafadas Rakuten DX is a software company specialising in no-code development platforms to build mobile apps for smartphones, tablets and web designed for enterprises and digital publishers. Headquartered in Montpellier, France, Rakuten DX is a major sub ...
* CDR – CorelDRAW * CHP, pub, STY, CAP, CIF, VGR, FRM –
Ventura Publisher Ventura ( Italian, Portuguese and Spanish for "fortune") may refer to: Places ; Brazil * Boa Ventura de São Roque, a municipality in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil * Boa Ventura, Paraíba, a municipality in the state of Paraíba, i ...
– Xerox (DOS / GEM) * CPT –
Corel Photo-Paint Corel Photo-Paint is a raster graphics editor developed and marketed by Corel since 1992. Corel markets the software for Windows and Mac OS operating systems, previously having marketed versions for Linux (Version 9, requiring Wine). Its primary m ...
* DTP – Greenstreet Publisher, GST PressWorks * FM –
Adobe FrameMaker Adobe FrameMaker is a document processor designed for writing and editing large or complex documents, including structured documents. It was originally developed by Frame Technology Corporation, which was bought by Adobe. Overview FrameMaker ...
* GDRAW –
Google Drive Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service developed by Google. Launched on April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files in the cloud (on Google's servers), synchronize files across devices, and share files. In add ...
Drawing * ILDOC – Broadvision Quicksilver document * INDD – Adobe InDesign * MCF –
FotoInsight FotoInsight is a digital photo processing service for Windows, Mac OS and Linux users that was founded in 2003 in Cambridge, England, and is Europe's largest independent photo printer. Overview FotoInsight employs over 4,000 staff. across Europ ...
Designer * PDF – Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader * PMD – Adobe PageMaker * PPP – Serif
PagePlus PagePlus was a desktop publishing (page layout) program developed by Serif for Microsoft Windows. The first version was released in 1991 as the first commercial sub-£100 DTP package for Microsoft Windows. The final release was PagePlus X9, w ...
* PSD – Adobe Photoshop * PUB –
Microsoft Publisher Microsoft Publisher is a desktop publishing application from Microsoft, differing from Microsoft Word in that the emphasis is placed on page layout and graphic design rather than text composition and proofreading. Overview Publisher is includ ...
* QXD –
QuarkXPress QuarkXPress is a desktop publishing software for creating and editing complex page layouts in a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) environment. It runs on macOS and Windows. It was first released by Quark, Inc. in 1987 and is still owned and ...
* SLA, SCD –
Scribus Scribus () is free and open-source desktop publishing (DTP) software available for most desktop operating systems. It is designed for layout, typesetting, and preparation of files for professional-quality image-setting equipment. Scribus can a ...
* XCF – XCF: File format used by the GIMP, as well as other programs


Document

These files store formatted text and
plain text In computing, plain text is a loose term for data (e.g. file contents) that represent only characters of readable material but not its graphical representation nor other objects (floating-point numbers, images, etc.). It may also include a limit ...
. * 0 – Plain Text Document, normally used for licensing * 1ST – Plain Text Document, normally preceded by the words "README" (README.1ST) * 600 – Plain Text Document, used in UNZIP history log * 602 – Text602 (T602) document * ABW – AbiWord document * ACL – MS Word AutoCorrect List * AFP – Advanced Function Presentation * AMI – Lotus Ami Pro Amigaguide * ANS – American National Standards Institute (ANSI) text * ASC –
ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because ...
text * AWW – Ability Write * CCF – Color Chat 1.0 * CSV –
ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because ...
text as
comma-separated values A comma-separated values (CSV) file is a delimited text file that uses a comma to separate values. Each line of the file is a data record. Each record consists of one or more fields, separated by commas. The use of the comma as a field separat ...
, used in
spreadsheet A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in c ...
s and
database management systems In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases spa ...
* CWK – ClarisWorks-
AppleWorks AppleWorks was an integrated office suite containing a word processor, database, and spreadsheet. It was developed by Rupert Lissner for Apple Computer, originally for the Apple II platform and launched in 1984, and was later reworked for the Ma ...
document * DBK –
DocBook DocBook is a semantic markup language for technical documentation. It was originally intended for writing technical documents related to computer hardware and software, but it can be used for any other sort of documentation. As a semantic languag ...
XML sub-format * DITA –
Darwin Information Typing Architecture The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) specification defines a set of document types for authoring and organizing topic-oriented information, as well as a set of mechanisms for combining, extending, and constraining document types. It i ...
document *
DOC DOC, Doc, doc or DoC may refer to: In film and television * ''Doc'' (2001 TV series), a 2001–2004 PAX series * ''Doc'' (1975 TV series), a 1975–1976 CBS sitcom * "D.O.C." (''Lost''), a television episode * ''Doc'' (film), a 1971 Wester ...
Microsoft Word Microsoft Word is a word processor, word processing software developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name ''Multi-Tool Word'' for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other pla ...
document * DOCM – Microsoft Word macro-enabled document * DOCX – Office Open XML document * DOT –
Microsoft Word Microsoft Word is a word processor, word processing software developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name ''Multi-Tool Word'' for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other pla ...
document template * DOTX – Office Open XML text document template * DWD – DavkaWriter Heb/Eng word processor file * EGT – EGT Universal Document * EPUB – EPUB open standard for e-books * EZW – Reagency Systems easyOFFER document * FDX – Final Draft * FTM – Fielded Text Meta * FTX – Fielded Text (Declared) * GDOC –
Google Drive Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service developed by Google. Launched on April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files in the cloud (on Google's servers), synchronize files across devices, and share files. In add ...
Document *
HTML The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaSc ...
– HyperText Markup Language (.html, .htm) * HWP – Haansoft (Hancom) Hangul Word Processor document * HWPML – Haansoft (Hancom) Hangul Word Processor Markup Language document * LOG – Text log file * LWP –
Lotus Word Pro Lotus Word Pro is a word processor produced by IBM's Lotus Software group for use on Microsoft Windows-compatible computers and on IBM OS/2 Warp. Word Pro can be obtained as part of the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Word Pro was based upon Ami ...
* MBP – metadata for Mobipocket documents * MD –
Markdown Markdown is a lightweight markup language for creating formatted text using a plain-text editor. John Gruber and Aaron Swartz created Markdown in 2004 as a markup language that is appealing to human readers in its source code form. Markdown i ...
text document * ME – Plain text document normally preceded by the word "READ" (READ.ME) * MCW –
Microsoft Word Microsoft Word is a word processor, word processing software developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name ''Multi-Tool Word'' for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other pla ...
for Macintosh (versions 4.0–5.1) * Mobi – Mobipocket documents * NB – Mathematica Notebook * nb – Nota Bene Document (Academic Writing Software) * NBP – Mathematica Player Notebook * NEIS – 학교생활기록부 작성 프로그램 (Student Record Writing Program) Document * NT –
N-Triples N-Triples is a format for storing and transmitting data. It is a line-based, plain text serialisation format for RDF (Resource Description Framework) graphs, and a subset of the Turtle (Terse RDF Triple Language) format. N-Triples should not be ...
RDF container (.nt) * NQ – N-Quads RDF container (.nq) * ODM –
OpenDocument The Open Document Format for Office Applications (ODF), also known as OpenDocument, is an open file format for word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations and graphics and using ZIP-compressed XML files. It was developed wi ...
master document * ODOC – Synology Drive Office Document * ODT –
OpenDocument The Open Document Format for Office Applications (ODF), also known as OpenDocument, is an open file format for word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations and graphics and using ZIP-compressed XML files. It was developed wi ...
text document * OSHEET – Synology Drive Office Spreadsheet * OTT –
OpenDocument The Open Document Format for Office Applications (ODF), also known as OpenDocument, is an open file format for word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations and graphics and using ZIP-compressed XML files. It was developed wi ...
text document template * OMM – OmmWriter text document * PAGES – Apple
Pages Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to: Roles * Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation * Page (servant), traditionally a young mal ...
document * PAP – Papyrus word processor document * PER - Canadian Forces Personnel Appraisal System (CFPAS) Personnel Evaluation Report (PER) * PDR - Canadian Forces Personnel Appraisal System (CFPAS) Personnel Development Report (PDR) * PDAX – Portable Document Archive (PDA) document index file * PDF –
Portable Document Format Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating syste ...
* QUOX –
Question Object File Format A question is an utterance which serves as a request for information. Questions are sometimes distinguished from interrogatives, which are the grammar, grammatical forms typically used to express them. Rhetorical questions, for instance, are inte ...
for Quobject Designer or Quobject Explorer *
Radix-64 In computer programming, Base64 is a group of binary-to-text encoding schemes that represent binary data (more specifically, a sequence of 8-bit bytes) in sequences of 24 bits that can be represented by four 6-bit Base64 digits. Common to all bina ...
– Need helps!!! * RTF – Rich Text document * RPT –
Crystal Reports Crystal Reports is a business intelligence application marketed to small- and medium-sized businesses by SAP. History Terry Cunningham and the Cunningham Group originated the software in 1984. Crystal Services Inc. marketed the product (origin ...
* SDW – StarWriter text document, used in earlier versions of
StarOffice StarOffice is a discontinued proprietary office suite, intended to compete with the marketing-leading Microsoft Office. It served as the basis for open-source suites OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice. StarOffice supported the OpenOffice.org XML f ...
* SE – Shuttle Document * STW – OpenOffice.org XML (obsolete) text document template * Sxw – OpenOffice.org XML (obsolete) text document *
TeX Tex may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tex (nickname), a list of people and fictional characters with the nickname * Joe Tex (1933–1982), stage name of American soul singer Joseph Arrington Jr. Entertainment * ''Tex'', the Italian ...
– TeX * INFO –
Texinfo Texinfo is a typesetting syntax used for generating documentation in both on-line and printed form (creating filetypes as , , , etc., and its own hypertext format, ) with a single source file. It is implemented by a computer program released as fr ...
*
Troff troff (), short for "typesetter roff", is the major component of a document processing system developed by Bell Labs for the Unix operating system. troff and the related nroff were both developed from the original roff. While nroff was inte ...
– Unix OS
document processing system A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features. Early word processors were stand-alone devices dedicated to the function, but current ...
* TXT
ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because ...
or
Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, wh ...
plain text file * UOF – Uniform Office Format * UOML – Unique Object Markup Language * VIA – Revoware VIA Document Project File * WPD – WordPerfect document * WPS – Microsoft Works document * WPT – Microsoft Works document template * WRD – WordIt! document * WRF – ThinkFree Write * WRI –
Microsoft Write Microsoft Write is a basic word processor included with Windows 1.0 and later, until Windows NT 3.51. Throughout its lifespan it was minimally updated, and is comparable to early versions of MacWrite. Early versions of Write only work with Wri ...
document * xhtml, xht –
XHTML Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) is part of the family of XML markup languages. It mirrors or extends versions of the widely used HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the language in which Web pages are formulated. While HTML, prior ...
eXtensible HyperText Markup Language *
XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable ...
– eXtensible Markup Language * XPS – XPS: Open XML Paper Specification


Financial records

* MYO – MYOB Limited (Windows) File * MYOB – MYOB Limited (Mac) File * TAX –
TurboTax TurboTax is a software package for preparation of American income tax returns, produced by Intuit. TurboTax is a market leader in its product segment, competing with H&R Block Tax Software and TaxAct. TurboTax was developed by Michael A. Chipm ...
File * YNAB – You Need a Budget (YNAB) File


Financial data transfer formats

* IFX – Interactive Financial Exchange
XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable ...
-based specification for various forms of financial transactions * .ofx –
Open Financial Exchange Open Financial Exchange (OFX) is a data-stream format for exchanging financial information that evolved from Microsoft's Open Financial Connectivity (OFC) and Intuit's Open Exchange file formats. History Microsoft, Intuit and CheckFree announc ...
open standard supported by CheckFree and
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
and partly by Intuit; SGML and later
XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable ...
based * QFX – proprietary pay-only format used only by
Intuit Intuit Inc. is an American business software company that specializes in financial software. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and the CEO is Sasan Goodarzi. Intuit's products include the tax preparation application ...
* .qif –
Quicken Interchange Format Quicken Interchange Format (QIF) is an open specification for reading and writing financial data to media (i.e. files). Background Although still widely used, QIF is a format older than Open Financial Exchange (OFX). The inability to reconcile i ...
open standard formerly supported by
Intuit Intuit Inc. is an American business software company that specializes in financial software. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and the CEO is Sasan Goodarzi. Intuit's products include the tax preparation application ...


Font file

* ABF – Adobe Binary Screen Font * AFM – Adobe Font Metrics * BDF – Bitmap Distribution Format * BMF – ByteMap Font Format * BRFNT – Binary Revolution Font Format * FNT –
Bitmapped Font upright=1, The Smiley, smiley face in the top left corner is a raster image. When enlarged, individual pixels appear as squares. Enlarging further, each pixel can be analyzed, with their colors constructed through combination of the values for ...
Graphics Environment Manager GEM (for Graphics Environment Manager) is an operating environment released by Digital Research (DRI) in 1985 for use with the DOS operating system on Intel 8088 and Motorola 68000 microprocessors. GEM is known primarily as the graphical ...
(GEM) * FON –
Bitmapped Font upright=1, The Smiley, smiley face in the top left corner is a raster image. When enlarged, individual pixels appear as squares. Enlarging further, each pixel can be analyzed, with their colors constructed through combination of the values for ...
– Microsoft Windows * MGF – MicroGrafx Font * OTF –
OpenType OpenType is a format for scalable computer fonts. It was built on its predecessor TrueType, retaining TrueType's basic structure and adding many intricate data structures for prescribing typographic behavior. OpenType is a registered trademark ...
Font * PCF – Portable Compiled Format * PFA – Printer Font ASCII * PFB – Printer Font Binary – Adobe * PFM – Printer Font Metrics – Adobe * AFM – Adobe Font Metrics * FOND – Font Description resource – Mac OS * SFD – FontForge spline font database Font * SNF – Server Normal Format * TDF – TheDraw Font * TFM – TeX font metric * .ttf, .ttc –
TrueType TrueType is an outline font standard developed by Apple in the late 1980s as a competitor to Adobe's Type 1 fonts used in PostScript. It has become the most common format for fonts on the classic Mac OS, macOS, and Microsoft Windows operating ...
Font * UFO – Unified Font Object is a cross-platform, cross-application, human readable, future proof format for storing font data. * WOFF – Web Open Font Format


General purpose

These file formats allow for the rapid creation of new binary file formats. * IFDS - Incredibly Flexible Data Storage file format. File extension and the magic number does not have to be IFDS.


Geographic information system

* ASC – ASCII point of interest (POI) text file * APR –
ESRI Esri (; Environmental Systems Research Institute) is an American multinational geographic information system (GIS) software company. It is best known for its ArcGIS products. With a 43% market share, Esri is the world's leading supplier of GIS ...
ArcView 3.3 and earlier project file * DEM –
USGS DEM The USGS DEM standard is a geospatial file format developed by the United States Geological Survey for storing a raster-based digital elevation model. It is an open standard, and is used throughout the world. It has been superseded by the USGS's o ...
file format * E00 – ARC/INFO interchange file format *
GeoJSON GeoJSON is an open standard format designed for representing simple geographical features, along with their non-spatial attributes. It is based on the JSON format. The features include points (therefore addresses and locations), line strings ( ...
–Geographically located data in object notation * GeoTIFF – Geographically located raster data * GML –
Geography Markup Language The Geography Markup Language (GML) is the XML grammar defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) to express geographical features. GML serves as a modeling language for geographic systems as well as an open interchange format for geographi ...
file * GPX – XML-based interchange format * ITN
TomTom TomTom N.V. is a Dutch multinational developer and creator of location technology and consumer electronics. Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Amsterdam, TomTom released its first generation of satellite navigation devices to market in 2004. ...
Itinerary format * MXD – ESRI ArcGIS project file, 8.0 and higher * NTF – National Transfer Format file * OV2 –
TomTom TomTom N.V. is a Dutch multinational developer and creator of location technology and consumer electronics. Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Amsterdam, TomTom released its first generation of satellite navigation devices to market in 2004. ...
POI overlay file * SHP – ESRI
shapefile The shapefile format is a geospatial vector data format for geographic information system (GIS) software. It is developed and regulated by Esri as a mostly open specification for data interoperability among Esri and other GIS software product ...
* TAB – MapInfo Table file format * GeoTIFF – Geographically located raster data: text file giving corner coordinate, raster cells per unit, and rotation * DTED – Digital Terrain Elevation Data *
KML Keyhole Markup Language (KML) is an XML notation for expressing geographic annotation and visualization within two-dimensional maps and three-dimensional Earth browsers. KML was developed for use with Google Earth, which was originally named Key ...
Keyhole Markup Language Keyhole Markup Language (KML) is an XML notation for expressing geographic annotation and visualization within two-dimensional maps and three-dimensional Earth browsers. KML was developed for use with Google Earth, which was originally named Ke ...
, XML-based


Graphical information organizers

* 3DT3D Topicscape, the database in which the meta-data of a 3D Topicscape is held, it is a form of 3D concept map (like a 3D mind-map) used to organize ideas, information, and computer files * ATY3D Topicscape file, produced when an association type is exported; used to permit round-trip (export Topicscape, change files and folders as desired, re-import to 3D Topicscape) * CAGLinear Reference System * FES3D Topicscape file, produced when a fileless occurrence in 3D Topicscape is exported to Windows. Used to permit round-trip (export Topicscape, change files and folders as desired, re-import them to 3D Topicscape) * MGMF – MindGenius Mind Mapping Software file format * MM
FreeMind FreeMind is a free mind mapping application written in Java, which is further developed by the fork Freeplane until today (2021). FreeMind itself was last updated in 2014. FreeMind is licensed under the GNU General Public License Version 2. It ...
mind map file (XML) * MMP
Mind Manager MindManager is a commercial mind mapping software application developed by Mindjet. The software provides ways for users to visualize information in mind maps and flowcharts. MindManager can be used to manage projects, organize information, and ...
mind map file * TPC3D Topicscape file, produced when an inter-Topicscape topic link file is exported to Windows; used to permit round-trip (export Topicscape, change files and folders as desired, re-import to 3D Topicscape)


Graphics


Color palettes

* ACT – Adobe Color Table. Contains a raw color palette and consists of 256 24-bit RGB colour values. * ASE – Adobe Swatch Exchange. Used by Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. * GPL – GIMP palette file. Uses a text representation of color names and RGB values. Various open source graphical editors can read this format, including GIMP,
Inkscape Inkscape is a free and open-source vector graphics editor used to create vector images, primarily in Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format. Other formats can be imported and exported. Inkscape can render primitive vector shapes (e.g. rec ...
, Krita,
KolourPaint KolourPaint is a free and open-source raster graphics editor by KDE. It is similar to Microsoft Paint before the version shipped with Windows 7, but has some additional features such as support for transparency, color balance and image rotation ...
,
Scribus Scribus () is free and open-source desktop publishing (DTP) software available for most desktop operating systems. It is designed for layout, typesetting, and preparation of files for professional-quality image-setting equipment. Scribus can a ...
, CinePaint, and
MyPaint MyPaint is a free and open-source raster graphics editor for digital painting. It is available for Windows, macOS, and Unix-like operating systems. History MyPaint versions up to 1.00 and bug/issue tracking were hosted by Gna!. MyPaint uses gra ...
. * PAL – Microsoft
RIFF A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or acc ...
palette file


Color management

* ICC, ICM – Color profile conforming the specification of the ICC.


Raster graphics

Raster or bitmap files store images as a group of
pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the ...
s. *
ART Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
America Online proprietary format * BLP –
Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three gradu ...
proprietary texture format * BMPMicrosoft Windows Bitmap formatted image * BTI – Nintendo proprietary texture format * CD5 –
Chasys Draw IES Chasys Draw IES (previously called Chasys Draw Artist) is a suite of applications including a layer-based raster graphics editor with adjustment layers, linked layers, timeline and frame-based animation, icon editing, image stacking and comp ...
image * CIT – Intergraph is a monochrome bitmap format * CPT –
Corel PHOTO-PAINT Corel Photo-Paint is a raster graphics editor developed and marketed by Corel since 1992. Corel markets the software for Windows and Mac OS operating systems, previously having marketed versions for Linux (Version 9, requiring Wine). Its primary m ...
image * CR2 – Canon camera raw format; photos have this on some Canon cameras if the quality ''RAW'' is selected in camera settings * CLIP – CLIP STUDIO PAINT format * CPL – Windows control panel file * DDS – DirectX texture file * DIB – Device-Independent Bitmap graphic * DjVu – DjVu for scanned documents * EGT – EGT Universal Document, used in EGT SmartSense to compress PNG files to yet a smaller file * Exif –
Exchangeable image file format Exchangeable image file format (officially Exif, according to JEIDA/JEITA/CIPA specifications) is a standard that specifies formats for images, sound, and ancillary tags used by digital cameras (including smartphones), scanners and other syste ...
(Exif) is a specification for the image format used by digital cameras * GIFCompuServe's Graphics Interchange Format * GRF –
Zebra Technologies Zebra Technologies Corporation is an American mobile computing company specializing in technology used to sense, analyze, and act in real time. The company manufactures and sells marking, tracking, and computer printing technologies. Its product ...
proprietary format * ICNS – format for ''
icons An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most c ...
'' in
macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
. Contains bitmap images at multiple resolutions and bitdepths with
alpha channel In computer graphics, alpha compositing or alpha blending is the process of combining one image with a background to create the appearance of partial or full transparency. It is often useful to render picture elements (pixels) in separate pas ...
. * ICO – a format used for ''
icons An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most c ...
'' in Microsoft Windows. Contains small bitmap images at multiple resolutions and bitdepths with 1-bit transparency or alpha channel. * .iff, .ilbm, .lbm – IFF
ILBM Interleaved Bitmap (ILBM) is an image file format conforming to the Interchange File Format (IFF) standard. The format originated on the Amiga platform, and on IBM-compatible systems, files in this format or the related PBM (Planar Bitmap) form ...
* JNG – a single-frame MNG using JPEG compression and possibly an
alpha channel In computer graphics, alpha compositing or alpha blending is the process of combining one image with a background to create the appearance of partial or full transparency. It is often useful to render picture elements (pixels) in separate pas ...
* JPEG, JFIF, .jpg, .jpeg – Joint Photographic Experts Group; a lossy image format widely used to display photographic images * JP2 – JPEG2000 * JPS – JPEG Stereo * KRA – Krita image file * LBM –
Deluxe Paint Deluxe Paint, often referred to as ''DPaint'', is a bitmap graphics editor created by Dan Silva for Electronic Arts and published for the then-new Amiga 1000 in November 1985. A series of updated versions followed, some of which were ported ...
image file * MAX – ScanSoft
PaperPort PaperPort is commercial document management software published by Kofax, used for working with scanned documents. It uses a built-in optical character recognition to create files in searchable Portable Document Format (PDF); text in these file ...
document * MIFF –
ImageMagick ImageMagick, invoked from the command line as magick, is a free and open-source cross-platform software suite for displaying, creating, converting, modifying, and editing raster images. Created in 1987 by John Cristy, it can read and write ov ...
's native file format * MNG –
Multiple-image Network Graphics Multiple-image Network Graphics (MNG) is a graphics file format, published in 2001, for animated images. Its specification is publicly documented and there are free software reference implementations available. MNG is closely related to the ...
, the animated version of PNG * MSP – a format used by old versions of Microsoft Paint; replaced by BMP in Microsoft Windows 3.0 * NITF – A U.S. Government standard commonly used in
Intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can be des ...
systems * OTB – Over The Air bitmap, a specification designed by
Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...
for black and white images for
mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...
s * PBM – Portable bitmap * PC1 – Low resolution, compressed Degas picture file * PC2 – Medium resolution, compressed Degas picture file * PC3 – High resolution, compressed Degas picture file * PCF – Pixel Coordination Format * PCX – a lossless format used by ZSoft's PC Paint, popular for a time on
DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...
systems. * PDN – Paint.NET image file * PGM – Portable graymap * PI1 – Low resolution, uncompressed Degas picture file * PI2 – Medium resolution, uncompressed Degas picture file; also Portrait Innovations encrypted image format * PI3 – High resolution, uncompressed Degas picture file *
PICT The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from ear ...
, PCT – Apple
Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
PICT image * PNG – Portable Network Graphic (lossless, recommended for display and edition of graphic images) * PNM – Portable anymap graphic bitmap image * PNS – PNG Stereo * PPM –
Portable Pixmap Netpbm (formerly Pbmplus) is an open-source package of graphics programs and a programming library. It is used mainly in the Unix world, where one can find it included in all major open-source operating system distributions, but also works on Micr ...
(Pixel Map) image * PSB – Adobe Photoshop Big image file (for large files) * PSD, PDD – Adobe Photoshop Drawing * PSP –
Paint Shop Pro PaintShop Pro (PSP) is a raster graphics editor, raster and vector graphics editor for Microsoft Windows. It was originally published by Jasc Software. In October 2004, Corel purchased Jasc Software and the distribution rights to Paint Shop Pro. P ...
image * PX – Pixel image editor image file * PXM –
Pixelmator Pixelmator is a graphic editor developed for macOS by Lithuanian brothers Saulius and Aidas Dailide, and built upon a combination of open-source and macOS technologies. Pixelmator features selection, painting, retouching, navigation, and color ...
image file * PXR – Pixar Image Computer image file * QFX – QuickLink Fax image * RAW – General term for minimally processed image data (acquired by a
digital camera A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile devices ...
) * RLE – a run-length encoding image * SCT – Scitex Continuous Tone image file * SGI, RGB, INT, BW –
Silicon Graphics Image Silicon Graphics Image (SGI) or the RGB file format is the native raster graphics file format for Silicon Graphics workstations. The format was invented by Paul Haeberli. It can be run-length encoded (RLE). FFmpeg and ImageMagick, among othe ...
* TGA, .tga, .targa, .icb, .vda, .vst, .pix – Truevision TGA (Targa) image * TIFF, .tif, .tiff –
Tagged Image File Format Tag Image File Format, abbreviated TIFF or TIF, is an image file format for storing raster graphics images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and photographers. TIFF is widely supported by scanning, faxing, word process ...
(usually lossless, but many variants exist, including lossy ones) * TIFF, EP, .tif, .tiff – Tag Image File Format / Electronic Photography, ISO 12234-2; tends to be used as a basis for other formats rather than in its own right. * VTF – Valve Texture Format * XBM –
X Window System The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems. X provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving windows on the display device and interacting wi ...
Bitmap * XCF – GIMP image (from Gimp's origin at the
eXperimental Computing Facility Founded in 1986, the eXperimental Computing Facility (XCF) is an undergraduate computing-interest organization at University of California, Berkeley. The "Experimental" description was given in contrast to the Open Computing Facility and the Co ...
of the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...
) * XPM – X Window System Pixmap * ZIF – Zoomable/Zoomify Image Format (a web-friendly, TIFF-based, zoomable image format)


Vector graphics

Vector graphics Vector graphics is a form of computer graphics in which visual images are created directly from geometric shapes defined on a Cartesian plane, such as points, lines, curves and polygons. The associated mechanisms may include vector display ...
use geometric primitives such as points, lines, curves, and polygons to represent images. * 3DV – 3-D wireframe graphics by Oscar Garcia * AMF – Additive Manufacturing File Format * AWG – Ability Draw * AI
Adobe Illustrator Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor and design program developed and marketed by Adobe Inc. Originally designed for the Apple Macintosh, development of Adobe Illustrator began in 1985. Along with Creative Cloud (Adobe's shift to month ...
Document * CGM – Computer Graphics Metafile, an
ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...
Standard * CDR – CorelDRAW Document * CMX – CorelDRAW vector image * DP – Drawing Program file for
PERQ The PERQ, also referred to as the Three Rivers PERQ or ICL PERQ, was a pioneering workstation computer produced in the late 1970s through the early 1980s. In June 1979, the company took its very first order from the UK's Rutherford Appleton La ...
* DRAWIO – Diagrams.net offline diagram *
DXF AutoCAD DXF (Drawing Interchange Format, or Drawing Exchange Format) is a CAD data file format developed by Autodesk for enabling data interoperability between AutoCAD and other programs. DXF was introduced in December 1982 as part of AutoCA ...
– ASCII Drawing Interchange file Format, used in
AutoCAD AutoCAD is a commercial computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting software application. Developed and marketed by Autodesk, AutoCAD was first released in December 1982 as a desktop app running on microcomputers with internal graphics controllers. ...
and other CAD-programs * E2D – 2-dimensional vector graphics used by the editor which is included in JFire * EGT – EGT Universal Document, EGT Vector Draw images are used to draw vector to a website * EPS – Encapsulated Postscript * FS – FlexiPro file * GBR –
Gerber file The Gerber format is an open ASCII vector format for printed circuit board (PCB) designs. It is the de facto standard used by PCB industry software to describe the printed circuit board images: copper layers, solder mask, legend, drill data, et ...
* ODG –
OpenDocument The Open Document Format for Office Applications (ODF), also known as OpenDocument, is an open file format for word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations and graphics and using ZIP-compressed XML files. It was developed wi ...
Drawing * MOVIE.BYU – Need Helps!!! *
RenderMan The name RenderMan can cause confusion because it has been used to refer to different things developed by Pixar Animation Studios: * RenderMan Interface Specification (RISpec), an open API (technical specification) developed by Pixar for a standar ...
– Need Helps!!! * SVG – Scalable Vector Graphics, employs
XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable ...
* 3DMLW – Scene description languages (3D vector image formats) * STL – STL: Stereo Lithographic data format (see
STL (file format) STL is a file format native to the stereolithography CAD software created by 3D Systems. STL has several backronyms such as "Standard Triangle Language" and "Standard Tessellation Language". This file format is supported by many other softwar ...
) used by various CAD systems and stereo lithographic printing machines. See above. * .wrl – Virtual Reality Modeling Language,
VRML VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language, pronounced ''vermal'' or by its initials, originally—before 1995—known as the Virtual Reality Markup Language) is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional (3D) interactive vector graph ...
Uses this extension for the creation of 3D viewable web images. *
X3D X3D is a royalty-free ISO/IEC standard for declaratively representing 3D computer graphics. File format support includes XML, ClassicVRML, Compressed Binary Encoding (CBE) and a draft JSON encoding. X3D became the successor to the Virtual Re ...
– Need Helps!!! * SXD – OpenOffice.org XML (obsolete) Drawing * TGAX – Texture format used by Zwift * V2D – voucher design used by the voucher management included in JFire * VDOC – Vector format used in AnyCut, CutStorm, DrawCut, DragonCut, FutureDRAW, MasterCut, SignMaster, VinylMaster software by Future Corporation * VSD – Vector format used by
Microsoft Visio Microsoft Visio ( ) (formerly Microsoft Office Visio) is a diagramming and vector graphics application and is part of the Microsoft Office family. The product was first introduced in 1992, made by the Shapeware Corporation, later renamed Visio ...
* VSDX – Vector format used by MS Visio and opened by VSDX Annotator * VND – Vision numeric Drawing file used in TypeEdit, Gravostyle. * WMF – WMF: Windows Meta File * EMF – EMF: Enhanced (Windows) MetaFile, an extension to WMF * ART –
Xara Xara is an international software company founded in 1981, with an HQ in Berlin and development office in Hemel Hempstead, UK. It has developed software for a variety of computer platforms, in chronological order: the Acorn Atom, BBC Micro, Z ...
–Drawing (superseded by XAR) * XAR –
Xara Xara is an international software company founded in 1981, with an HQ in Berlin and development office in Hemel Hempstead, UK. It has developed software for a variety of computer platforms, in chronological order: the Acorn Atom, BBC Micro, Z ...
–Drawing


3D graphics

3D graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for th ...
are 3D models that allow building models in real-time or non-real-time 3D rendering. * 3DMF – QuickDraw 3D Metafile (.3dmf) * 3DM –
OpenNURBS Initiative Rhinoceros (typically abbreviated Rhino or Rhino3D) is a commercial 3D computer graphics and computer-aided design (CAD) application software that was developed by Robert McNeel & Associates, an American, privately held, and employee-owned com ...
3D Model (used by Rhinoceros 3D) (.3dm) * 3MF –
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
3D Manufacturing Format (.3mf) * 3DSlegacy 3D Studio Model (.3ds) * ABC – Alembic (computer graphics) * AC –
AC3D AC3D is a 3D design program which has been available since 1994. The software is used by designers for modeling 3D graphics for games and simulations - most notably it is used by the scenery creators at Laminar Research on the X-Plane (simulator ...
Model (.ac) * AMF – Additive Manufacturing File Format * AN8 –
Anim8or Anim8or is a freeware OpenGL-based 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling and animation program by R. Steven Glanville, a software engineer at NVidia. Currently at stable version 1.01.1402, it is a compact program with several tools which would normall ...
Model (.an8) * AOI – Art of Illusion Model (.aoi) * ASM –
PTC Creo Creo is a family of Computer-aided design (CAD) apps supporting product design for discrete manufacturers and is developed by PTC. The suite consists of apps, each delivering a distinct set of capabilities for a user role within product developm ...
assembly (.asm) * B3D – Blitz3D Model (.b3d) * BLEND –
Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...
(.blend) * BLOCK –
Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...
encrypted blend files (.block) * BMD3 – Nintendo GameCube first-party J3D proprietary model format (.bmd) * BDL4 – Nintendo GameCube and Wii first-party J3D proprietary model format (2002, 2006–2010) (.bdl) * BRRES – Nintendo Wii first-party proprietary model format 2010+ (.brres) * BFRES – Nintendo
Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. Th ...
and later
Switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...
first-party proprietary model format * C4D – Cinema 4D (.c4d) * Cal3D – Cal3D (.cal3d) * CCP4 – X-ray crystallography voxels (electron density) * CFL – Compressed File Library (.cfl) * COB – Caligari Object (.cob) * CORE3D – Coreona 3D Coreona 3D Virtual File(.core3d) * CTM – OpenCTM (.ctm) * DAE –
COLLADA COLLADA (for ''COLLA''borative ''D''esign ''A''ctivity) is an interchange file format for interactive 3D applications. It is managed by the nonprofit technology consortium, the Khronos Group, and has been adopted by ISO as a publicly available ...
(.dae) * DFF –
RenderWare RenderWare is a video game engine developed by British game developer Criterion Software. Overview Released in 1993, RenderWare is a 3D computer graphics, 3D Application programming interface, API and graphics rendering Game engine#Game middlewa ...
binary stream, commonly used by Grand Theft Auto III-era games as well as other RenderWare titles * DPM – deepMesh (.dpm) * DTS –
Torque Game Engine Torque Game Engine, or TGE, is an open-source cross-platform 3D computer game engine, developed by GarageGames and actively maintained under the current versions Torque 3D as well as Torque 2D. It was originally developed by Dynamix for the 2001 ...
( .dts) * EGG –
Panda3D Panda3D is a game engine that includes graphics, audio, I/O, collision detection, and other abilities relevant to the creation of 3D games. Panda3D is free, open-source software under the revised BSD license. Panda3D's intended game-development ...
Engine * FACT – Electric Image (.fac) * FBX – Autodesk FBX (.fbx) * G –
BRL-CAD BRL-CAD is a constructive solid geometry (CSG) solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) system. It includes an interactive geometry editor, ray tracing support for graphics rendering and geometric analysis, computer network distributed frame ...
geometry (.g) * GLB – a binary form of
glTF glTF is a standard file format for three-dimensional scenes and models. A glTF file uses one of two possible file extensions: .gltf (JSON/ASCII) or .glb ( binary). Both .gltf and .glb files may reference external binary and texture resources. A ...
required to be loaded in Facebook 3D Posts. (.glb) * GLM – Ghoul Mesh (.glm) *
glTF glTF is a standard file format for three-dimensional scenes and models. A glTF file uses one of two possible file extensions: .gltf (JSON/ASCII) or .glb ( binary). Both .gltf and .glb files may reference external binary and texture resources. A ...
– the JSON-based standard developed by
Khronos Group The Khronos Group, Inc. is an open, non-profit, member-driven consortium of 170 organizations developing, publishing and maintaining royalty-free interoperability standards for 3D graphics, virtual reality, augmented reality, parallel computation ...
(.gltf) * .hec – Hector Game Engine – Flatspace model format * IO – Bricklink Stud.io 2.0 Model File (.io) * IOB –
Imagine (3D modeling software) Imagine was the name of a cutting-edge 3D modeling and ray tracing program, originally for the Amiga computer and later also for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. It was created by Impulse, Inc. It used the .iob extension for its objects. Imagine was ...
(.iob) * JAS – Cheetah 3D file (.jas) * JMESH – Universal mesh data exchange file based on JMesh specification (.jmsh for text/ JSON based, .bmsh for binary/ UBJSON based) * LDR – LDraw Model File (.ldr) * LWO –
Lightwave LightWave 3D is a 3D computer graphics program developed by NewTek. It has been used in films, television, motion graphics, digital matte painting, visual effects, video game development, product design, architectural visualizations, virtu ...
Object (.lwo) * LWS –
Lightwave LightWave 3D is a 3D computer graphics program developed by NewTek. It has been used in films, television, motion graphics, digital matte painting, visual effects, video game development, product design, architectural visualizations, virtu ...
Scene (.lws) * LXF – LEGO Digital Designer Model file (.lxf) * LXO – Luxology
Modo (software) Modo (stylized as MODO, and originally modo) is a polygon and subdivision surface modeling, sculpting, 3D painting, animation and rendering package developed by Luxology, LLC, which is now merged with and known as Foundry. The program incorpo ...
file (.lxo) * M3D – Model3D, universal, engine-neutral format (.m3d) * MA – Autodesk
Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...
ASCII File (.ma) * MAX – Autodesk
3D Studio Max Autodesk 3ds Max, formerly 3D Studio and 3D Studio Max, is a professional 3D computer graphics program for making 3D animations, models, games and images. It is developed and produced by Autodesk Media and Entertainment. It has modeling capab ...
file (.max) * MB – Autodesk
Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...
Binary File (.mb) * MPD – LDraw Multi-Part Document Model File (.mpd) * MD2 – MD2: Quake 2 model format (.md2) * MD3 – MD3: Quake 3 model format (.md3) * MD5 – MD5:
Doom 3 ''Doom 3'' is a 2004 survival horror first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Activision. ''Doom 3'' was originally released for Microsoft Windows on August 3, 2004, adapted for Linux later that year, and ported ...
model format (.md5) * MDX –
Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three gradu ...
's own model format (.mdx) * MESH – New York University(.m) * MESH – Meshwork Model (.mesh) * MIOBJECT �
Mine-Imator
object file (.miobject) * MIPARTICLE �
Mine-Imator
particle file (.miparticle) * MIMODEL �
Mine-Imator
model file (.mimodel) * MM3D – Misfit Model 3d (.mm3d) * MPO – Multi-Picture Object – This JPEG standard is used for 3d images, as with the Nintendo 3DS * MRC – MRC: voxels in cryo-electron microscopy * NIF –
Gamebryo Gamebryo (; ; formerly NetImmerse until 2003) is a game engine developed by Gamebase Co., Ltd. and Gamebase USA, that incorporates a set of tools and plugins including run-time libraries, supporting video game developers for numerous cross-pl ...
NetImmerse File (.nif) * OBJ – Wavefront .obj file (.obj) * OFF – OFF Object file format (.off) * OGEX – Open Game Engine Exchange (OpenGEX) format (.ogex) * PLY – PLY: Polygon File Format / Stanford Triangle Format (.ply) * PRC – Adobe
PRC China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
(embedded in PDF files) * PRT –
PTC Creo Creo is a family of Computer-aided design (CAD) apps supporting product design for discrete manufacturers and is developed by PTC. The suite consists of apps, each delivering a distinct set of capabilities for a user role within product developm ...
part (.prt) * POV –
POV-Ray The Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer, most commonly acronymed as POV-Ray, is a cross-platform ray-tracing program that generates images from a text-based scene description. It was originally based on DKBTrace, written by David Kirk Buck and Aaro ...
document (.pov) * R3D – Realsoft 3D (Real-3D) (.r3d) * RWX –
RenderWare RenderWare is a video game engine developed by British game developer Criterion Software. Overview Released in 1993, RenderWare is a 3D computer graphics, 3D Application programming interface, API and graphics rendering Game engine#Game middlewa ...
Object (.rwx) * SIA – Nevercenter Silo Object (.sia) * SIB – Nevercenter Silo Object (.sib) * SKP –
Google Sketchup SketchUp is a suite of subscription products that include SketchUp Pro Desktop, a 3D modeling Computer-Aided Design (CAD) program for a broad range of drawing and design applications — including architectural, interior design, industrial and ...
file (.skp) * SLDASM –
SolidWorks SolidWorks is a solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) application published by Dassault Systèmes. According to the publisher, over two million engineers and designers at more than 165,000 companies w ...
Assembly Document (.sldasm) * SLDPRT –
SolidWorks SolidWorks is a solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) application published by Dassault Systèmes. According to the publisher, over two million engineers and designers at more than 165,000 companies w ...
Part Document (.sldprt) * SMD –
Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...
Studiomdl Data format (.smd) * U3D – Universal 3D format (.u3d) * USD –
Universal Scene Description Universal Scene Description (USD) is a framework for interchange of 3D computer graphics data. The framework focuses on collaboration, non-destructive editing, and enabling multiple views and opinions about graphics data. USD is used in many indust ...
(.usd) * USDA �
Universal Scene Description , Human-readable text format
(.usda) * USDC �

(.usdc) * USDZ �

(.usdz) * VIM –
Revizto Revizto (from the Latin ''revisto'' meaning visual check) is a cloud computing, cloud-based collaboration software platform designed for Building information modeling, BIM collaboration, supporting both Three-dimensional space, 3D and Two-dimensi ...
visual information model format (.vimproj) * VRML97 –
VRML VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language, pronounced ''vermal'' or by its initials, originally—before 1995—known as the Virtual Reality Markup Language) is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional (3D) interactive vector graph ...
Virtual reality modeling language (.wrl) * VUE –
Vue Vue or VUE may refer to: Places * Vue, Loire-Atlantique, a commune in France * The Vue, a skyscraper in Charlotte, North Carolina Arts, entertainment and media * Vue (band), a rock and roll band from San Francisco, California * Vue Cinemas, a c ...
scene file (.vue) * VWX –
Vectorworks Vectorworks, Inc. is a U.S.-based software development company that focuses on CAD and BIM software for the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC), landscape, and entertainment industries. Vectorworks is owned by the Nemetschek Grou ...
(.vwx) * WINGS – Wings3D (.wings) * W3D – Westwood 3D Model (.w3d) * X – DirectX 3D Model (.x) * X3D – Extensible 3D (.x3d) * Z3D –
Zmodeler ''ZModeler'' (or ''Zanoza Modeler'') is a 3D modeling application developed by Oleg Melashenko. It is aimed at modelers who model vehicles and other objects for computer games such as Euro Truck Simulator, UK Truck Simulator, American Truck Simula ...
(.z3d) * ZBMX – Mecabricks
Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...
Add-On (.zbmx)


Links and shortcuts

* Alias –
Alias (Mac OS) In classic Mac OS System 7 and later, and in macOS, an alias is a small file that represents another object in a local, remote, or removable file system and provides a dynamic link to it; the target object may be moved or renamed, and the alias ...
* JNLP – Java Network Launching Protocol, an
XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable ...
file used by
Java Web Start In computing, Java Web Start (also known as JavaWS, javaws or JAWS) is a deprecated framework developed by Sun Microsystems (now Oracle) that allows users to start application software for the Java Platform directly from the Internet using a web b ...
for starting Java applets over the Internet * LNK – binary-format
file shortcut In computing, a file shortcut is a handle in a user interface that allows the user to find a file or resource located in a different directory or folder from the place where the shortcut is located. Similarly, an Internet shortcut allows the use ...
in Microsoft Windows 95 and later * APPREF-MS –
File shortcut In computing, a file shortcut is a handle in a user interface that allows the user to find a file or resource located in a different directory or folder from the place where the shortcut is located. Similarly, an Internet shortcut allows the use ...
format used by
ClickOnce ClickOnce is a component of Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 and later, and supports deploying applications made with Windows Forms or Windows Presentation Foundation. It is similar to Java Web Start for the Java Platform or Zero Install for Linux. ...
* NAL – ZENworks Instant shortcut (opens a .EXE not on the C:/ ) * URL – INI file pointing to a URL
bookmark A bookmark is a thin marking tool, commonly made of card, leather, or fabric, used to keep track of a reader's progress in a book and allow the reader to easily return to where the previous reading session ended. Alternate materials for boo ...
s/Internet shortcut in Microsoft Windows * WEBLOC –
Property list In the macOS, iOS, NeXTSTEP, and GNUstep programming frameworks, property list files are files that store serialized objects. Property list files use the filename extension .plist, and thus are often referred to as p-list files. Property lis ...
file pointing to a URL
bookmark A bookmark is a thin marking tool, commonly made of card, leather, or fabric, used to keep track of a reader's progress in a book and allow the reader to easily return to where the previous reading session ended. Alternate materials for boo ...
s/Internet shortcut in
macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
* SYM – Symbolic link * .desktop – Desktop entry on
Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...
Desktop environments In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphica ...


Mathematical

* Harwell-Boeing – a file format designed to store
sparse matrices In numerical analysis and scientific computing, a sparse matrix or sparse array is a matrix in which most of the elements are zero. There is no strict definition regarding the proportion of zero-value elements for a matrix to qualify as sparse b ...
* MML –
MathML Mathematical Markup Language (MathML) is a mathematical markup language, an application of XML for describing mathematical notations and capturing both its structure and content. It aims at integrating mathematical formulae into World Wide W ...
– Mathematical Markup Language * ODF –
OpenDocument The Open Document Format for Office Applications (ODF), also known as OpenDocument, is an open file format for word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations and graphics and using ZIP-compressed XML files. It was developed wi ...
Math Formula * SXM – OpenOffice.org XML (obsolete) Math Formula


Object code, executable files, shared and dynamically linked libraries

* .8BF – files plugins for some photo editing programs including Adobe Photoshop,
Paint Shop Pro PaintShop Pro (PSP) is a raster graphics editor, raster and vector graphics editor for Microsoft Windows. It was originally published by Jasc Software. In October 2004, Corel purchased Jasc Software and the distribution rights to Paint Shop Pro. P ...
, GIMP and
Helicon Filter Helicon Filter, also referred to as Helicon, Filter, or as HF, was a proprietary commercial and shareware photo editing software program for Microsoft Windows, similar to such programs as Adobe Photoshop and GIMP, developed and published ...
. * .a - a
static library In computer science, a static library or statically-linked library is a set of routines, external functions and variables which are resolved in a caller at compile-time and copied into a target application by a compiler, linker, or binder, produ ...
on on Unix-like systems * .a – Objective C native static library * a.out – (no suffix for executable image, .o for object files, .so for
shared object In computer science, a library is a collection of non-volatile resources used by computer programs, often for software development. These may include configuration data, documentation, help data, message templates, pre-written code and subro ...
files) classic
UNIX Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, an ...
object format, now often superseded by ELF * APK – Android Application Package * APP – A folder found on macOS systems containing program code and resources, appearing as one file. *
BAC BAC or Bac may refer to: Places * Bac, Rožaje, Bac, a village in Montenegro * Baile Átha Cliath, Irish language name for Dublin city. * Bîc River, aka ''Bâc River'', a Moldovan river * Baç Bridge, bridge in Turkey * Barnes County Municipal A ...
– an executable image for the
RSTS/E RSTS () is a multi-user time-sharing operating system developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC, now part of Hewlett-Packard) for the PDP-11 series of 16-bit minicomputers. The first version of RSTS (RSTS-11, Version 1) was implemented in 1 ...
system, created using the
BASIC-PLUS BASIC-PLUS is an extended dialect of the BASIC programming language that was developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) for use on its RSTS/E time-sharing operating system for the PDP-11 series of 16-bit minicomputers in the early 1970s thr ...
COMPILE command * BPL – a Win32 PE file created with
Borland Delphi Delphi is a general-purpose programming language and a software product that uses the Delphi dialect of the Object Pascal programming language and provides an integrated development environment (IDE) for rapid application development of desktop, ...
or
C++Builder C++Builder is a rapid application development (RAD) environment, originally developed by Borland and owned by Embarcadero Technologies (a subsidiary of Idera), for writing programs in the C++ programming language currently targeting Windows (bo ...
containing a package. * Bundle – a Macintosh plugin created with
Xcode Xcode is Apple's integrated development environment (IDE) for macOS, used to develop software for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS. It was initially released in late 2003; the latest stable release is version 14.2, released on December 13, ...
or
make Make or MAKE may refer to: * Make (magazine), a tech DIY periodical *Make (software), a software build tool *Make, Botswana, in the Kalahari Desert *Make Architects Make Architects is an international architecture practice headquartered in Londo ...
which holds executable code, data files, and folders for that code. * .Class – used in
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...
* COFF – no suffix for executable image, .o for object files UNIX Common Object File Format, now often superseded by ELF * COM – files commands used in
DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...
and CP/M * DCUDelphi compiled unit * DLL – library used in Windows and OS/2 to store data, resources and code. * DOL – the format used by the GameCube and Wii, short for Dolphin, which was the codename of the GameCube. * .EAR – archives of Java enterprise applications *
ELF An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...
– (no suffix for executable image, .o for object files, .so for shared object files) used in many modern
Unix Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, an ...
and
Unix-like A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X or *nix) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Unix-li ...
systems, including Solaris, other System V Release 4 derivatives,
Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...
, and BSD) * expander, expander – file format (see bundle) * .exe –
DOS executable The DOS MZ executable format is the executable file format used for .EXE files in DOS. The file can be identified by the ASCII string "MZ" (hexadecimal: 4D 5A) at the beginning of the file (the " magic number"). "MZ" are the initials of Mark Z ...
(
.exe .exe is a common filename extension denoting an executable file (the main execution point of a computer program) for Microsoft Windows, OS/2, and DOS. File formats There are numerous file formats which may be used by a file with a extensi ...
: used in
DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...
) * .ipa, .IPA – file extension for apple IOS application executable file. Another form of zip file. *
JEFF Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...
– a file format allowing execution directly from static memory * .JAR – archives of Java class files * .XPIPKZIP archive that can be run by
Mozilla Mozilla (stylized as moz://a) is a free software community founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, spreads and supports Mozilla products, thereby promoting exclusively free software and open standards, w ...
web browser A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used o ...
s to install software. * LIB - a
static library In computer science, a static library or statically-linked library is a set of routines, external functions and variables which are resolved in a caller at compile-time and copied into a target application by a compiler, linker, or binder, produ ...
on Microsoft platforms * Mach-O – (no suffix for executable image, .o for object files, .dylib and .bundle for shared object files) Mach-based systems, notably native format of
macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
,
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
,
watchOS watchOS is the operating system of the Apple Watch, developed by Apple Inc. It is based on iOS, the operating system used by the iPhone, and has many similar features. It was released on April 24, 2015, along with the Apple Watch, the only d ...
, and
tvOS tvOS (formerly known as Apple TV Software) is an operating system developed by Apple Inc. for the Apple TV, a digital media player. In the first-generation Apple TV, Apple TV Software was based on Mac OS X. Starting with the second-generation, ...
* .NLM –
NetWare Loadable Module A NetWare Loadable Module (NLM) is a loadable kernel module (a binary code module) that can be loaded into Novell's NetWare operating system. NLMs can implement hardware drivers, server functions (e.g. clustering), applications (e.g. GroupW ...
the native 32-bit binaries compiled for Novell's NetWare Operating System (versions 3 and newer) * .
EXE Exe or EXE may refer to: * .exe, a file extension * exe., abbreviation for executive Places * River Exe, in England * Exe Estuary, in England * Exe Island, in Exeter, England Transportation and vehicles * Exe (locomotive), a British locomotive ...
New Executable The New Executable (abbreviated NE or NewEXE) is a 16-bit .exe file format, a successor to the DOS MZ executable format. It was used in Windows 1.0–3.x, Windows 9x, multitasking MS-DOS 4.0, OS/2 1.x, and the OS/2 subset of Windows NT up to ver ...
(used in multitasking ("European") MS-DOS 4.0,
16-bit 16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors. A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two mo ...
Microsoft Windows, and
OS/2 OS/2 (Operating System/2) is a series of computer operating systems, initially created by Microsoft and IBM under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci. As a result of a feud between the two companies over how to position OS/2 r ...
) * .o – un-linked object files directly from the compiler * OBJ -
object file An object file is a computer file containing object code, that is, machine code output of an assembler or compiler. The object code is usually relocatable, and not usually directly executable. There are various formats for object files, and the ...
on Windows * .
EXE Exe or EXE may refer to: * .exe, a file extension * exe., abbreviation for executive Places * River Exe, in England * Exe Estuary, in England * Exe Island, in Exeter, England Transportation and vehicles * Exe (locomotive), a British locomotive ...
Portable Executable The Portable Executable (PE) format is a file format for executables, object code, DLLs and others used in 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows operating systems. The PE format is a data structure that encapsulates the information necessary fo ...
used in Microsoft Windows and some other systems) * RLL – used in Microsoft operating systems together with a DLL file to store program resources * .s1esExecutable used for S1ES learning system. * .so – shared library, typically ELF * .VAP – Value Added Process the native 16-bit binaries compiled for Novell's NetWare Operating System (version 2, NetWare 286, Advanced NetWare, etc.) * WAR, .WAR – .WAR are archives of Java
Web application A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection. History In earlier computing models like client-serv ...
s * XBE – XBE is Xbox executable * .XAP – Windows Phone package * XCOFF – (no suffix for executable image, .o for object files, .a for shared object files) extended COFF, used in AIX * XEX – XEX is Xbox 360 executable * LIST – variable list Object extensions: * .VBX – .VBX are Visual Basic extensions * .OCX – .OCX are Object Control extensions * .TLB – .TLB are Windows Type Library


Page description language

* DVI – DVI are Device independent format * .egt – Universal Document can be used to store CSS type styles * PLD – PLD (Need to be added!!!) * PCL – PCL (Need to be added!!!) * PDF – PDF are Portable Document Format * .ps, .ps, .gz – PostScript (Need to be added!!!) * SNP – SNP are
Microsoft Access Microsoft Access is a database management system (DBMS) from Microsoft that combines the relational Access Database Engine (ACE) with a graphical user interface and software-development tools (not to be confused with the old Microsoft Access ...
Report Snapshot * XPS – XPS * XSL-FO – XSL-FO (Formatting Objects) * Configurations, Metadata ** CSS – CSS are Cascading Style Sheets ** .xslt, .xsl – XML Style Sheet ** .tpl –
Web template A web template system in web publishing lets web designers and developers work with ''web templates'' to automatically generate custom web pages, such as the results from a search. This reuses static web page elements while defining dynamic el ...


Personal information manager

* MSG – Microsoft Outlook task manager * ORG –
Lotus Organizer Lotus Organizer is a discontinued personal information manager (PIM). It was initially developed by Threadz, a small British software house, reaching version 3.0. Organizer was subsequently acquired by Lotus Development Corporation, for whom the pa ...
PIM package * ORG – Emacs Org-Mode Mindmanager, contacts, calendar, email-integration * PST, OST – Microsoft Outlook email communication * SC2 – Microsoft Schedule+ calendar


Presentation

* GSLIDES –
Google Drive Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service developed by Google. Launched on April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files in the cloud (on Google's servers), synchronize files across devices, and share files. In add ...
Presentation * KEY, KEYNOTE – Apple Keynote Presentation * NB – Mathematica Slideshow * NBP – Mathematica Player slideshow * ODP –
OpenDocument The Open Document Format for Office Applications (ODF), also known as OpenDocument, is an open file format for word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations and graphics and using ZIP-compressed XML files. It was developed wi ...
Presentation * OTP – OpenDocument Presentation template * PEZ –
Prezi Prezi is a Hungarian video and visual communications software company founded in 2009 in Hungary, with offices in San Francisco, Budapest and Riga as of 2020. According to Prezi, in 2021, the software company has more than 100 million users wor ...
Desktop Presentation * POT – Microsoft PowerPoint template * PPS – Microsoft PowerPoint Show * PPT – Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation * PPTX – Office Open XML Presentation * PRZ –
Lotus Freelance Graphics Lotus Freelance Graphics is an information graphics and presentation program developed by Lotus Software (formerly Lotus Development Corp.) following its acquisition of Graphic Communications Inc in 1986. It was first released for DOS and OS/2 op ...
* SDD –
StarOffice StarOffice is a discontinued proprietary office suite, intended to compete with the marketing-leading Microsoft Office. It served as the basis for open-source suites OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice. StarOffice supported the OpenOffice.org XML f ...
's StarImpress * SHF – ThinkFree Show * SHOW – Haansoft(Hancom) Presentation software document * SHW –
Corel Presentations Corel Presentations (which is often referred to simply as Presentations) is a presentation program akin to Microsoft PowerPoint and LibreOffice Impress. The current release, version 2021 (Release 21 internally), is available only as part of the C ...
slide show creation * SLP – Logix-4D Manager Show Control Project * SSPSS – SongShow Plus Slide Show * STI – OpenOffice.org XML (obsolete) Presentation template * SXI – OpenOffice.org XML (obsolete) Presentation * THMX – Microsoft PowerPoint theme template * WATCH – Dataton Watchout Presentation


Project management software

* MPP –
Microsoft Project Microsoft Project is a project management software product, developed and sold by Microsoft. It is designed to assist a project manager in developing a schedule, assigning resources to tasks, tracking progress, managing the budget, and anal ...


Reference management software

Formats of files used for bibliographic information ( citation) management. * bib –
BibTeX BibTeX is reference management software for formatting lists of references. The BibTeX tool is typically used together with the LaTeX document preparation system. Within the typesetting system, its name is styled as . The name is a portmanteau ...
* enl –
EndNote A note is a string of text placed at the bottom of a page (paper), page in a book or document or at the end of a chapter, volume, or the whole text. The note can provide an author's comments on the main text or citations of a reference work in ...
* ris – Research Information Systems
RIS (file format) RIS is a standardized tag format developed by Research Information Systems, Incorporated (the format name refers to the company) to enable citation programs to exchange data. It is supported by a number of reference managers. Many digital libra ...


Scientific data (data exchange)

* .fits – FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) standard data format for astronomy * Silo – Silo, a storage format for visualization developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory * SPC – SPC, spectroscopic data *
EAS3 EAS3 (EAS = Ein-Ausgabe-System) is a software toolkit for reading and writing structured binary data with geometry information and for postprocessing of these data. It is meant to exchange floating-point data according to IEEE standard between di ...
– binary format for structured data * EOSSA – Electro-Optic Space Situational Awareness format * OST – (Open Spatio-Temporal) extensible, mainly images with related data, or just pure data; meant as an open alternative for microscope images * CCP4 – CCP4, X-ray crystallography voxels (electron density) * MRC – MRC, voxels in cryo-electron microscopy *
HITRAN HITRAN (an acronym for High Resolution Transmission) molecular spectroscopic database is a compilation of spectroscopic parameters used to simulate and analyze the transmission and emission of light in gaseous media, with an emphasis on planetary a ...
– spectroscopic data with one optical/infrared transition per line in the ASCII file (.hit) * .root – hierarchical platform-independent compressed binary format used by
ROOT In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...
* SDF – Simple Data Format (SDF), a platform-independent, precision-preserving binary data I/O format capable of handling large, multi-dimensional arrays. * MYD – Everfine LEDSpec software file for LED measurements * CSDM – (Core Scientific Dataset Model) model for multi-dimensional and correlated datasets from various spectroscopies, diffraction, microscopy, and imaging techniques (.csdf, .csdfe).


Multi-domain

*
NetCDF NetCDF (Network Common Data Form) is a set of software libraries and self-describing, machine-independent data formats that support the creation, access, and sharing of array-oriented scientific data. The project homepage is hosted by the Unidat ...
– Network common data format * HDR, HDF, h4, h5 –
Hierarchical Data Format Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) is a set of file formats (HDF4, HDF5) designed to store and organize large amounts of data. Originally developed at the U.S. National Center for Supercomputing Applications, it is supported by The HDF Group, a non-p ...
* SDXF – SDXF, (Structured Data Exchange Format) * CDF –
Common Data Format Common Data Format (CDF) is a library and toolkit that was developed by the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) at NASA started in 1985. The software is an interface for the storage and manipulation of multi-dimensional data sets. See al ...
* CGNS –
CGNS CGNS stands for CFD General Notation System. It is a general, portable, and extensible standard for the storage and retrieval of CFD analysis data. It consists of a collection of conventions, and free and open software implementing those convent ...
, CFD General Notation System
FMF
– Full-Metadata Format


Meteorology

*
GRIB GRIB (GRIdded Binary or General Regularly-distributed Information in Binary form) is a concise data format commonly used in meteorology to store historical and forecast weather data. It is standardized by the World Meteorological Organization's C ...
– Grid in Binary, WMO format for weather model data *
BUFR The Binary Universal Form for the Representation of meteorological data (BUFR) is a binary data format maintained by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The latest version is BUFR Edition 4. BUFR Edition 3 is also considered current for op ...
– WMO format for weather observation data * PP – UK Met Office format for weather model data * NASA-Ames – Simple text format for observation data. First used in aircraft studies of the atmosphere.


Chemistry

* CML –
Chemical Markup Language Chemical Markup Language (ChemML or CML) is an approach to managing molecular information using tools such as XML and Java. It was the first domain specific implementation based strictly on XML, first based on a DTD and later on an XML Schema, t ...
(CML) (.cml) * .mol, .sd, .sdf – Chemical table file (CTab) * .dx, .jdx – Joint Committee on Atomic and Molecular Physical Data (JCAMP) * .smi –
Simplified molecular input line entry specification The simplified molecular-input line-entry system (SMILES) is a specification in the form of a line notation for describing the structure of chemical species using short ASCII strings. SMILES strings can be imported by most molecule editors f ...
(SMILES)


Mathematics

* .g6, .s6 – graph6, sparse6, ASCII encoding of Adjacency matrices


Biology

Molecular biology and bioinformatics: *AB1 – In DNA sequencing, chromatogram files used by instruments from
Applied Biosystems Applied Biosystems is one of various brands under the Life Technologies brand of Thermo Fisher Scientific corporation. The brand is focused on integrated systems for genetic analysis, which include computerized machines and the consumables used w ...
*ACE – A
sequence assembly In bioinformatics, sequence assembly refers to aligning and merging fragments from a longer DNA sequence in order to reconstruct the original sequence. This is needed as DNA sequencing technology might not be able to 'read' whole genomes in one ...
format *ASN.1 –
Abstract Syntax Notation One Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) is a standard interface description language for defining data structures that can be serialized and deserialized in a cross-platform way. It is broadly used in telecommunications and computer networking, an ...
, is an International Standards Organization (
ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...
) data representation format used to achieve interoperability between platforms.
NCBI The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is part of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is approved and funded by the government of the United States. The ...
uses ASN.1 for the storage and retrieval of data such as nucleotide and protein sequences, structures, genomes, and PubMed records. *BAM – Binary Alignment/Map format (compressed SAM format) *BCF – Binary compressed VCF format *BED – The browser extensible display format is used for describing
gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...
s and other features of DNA sequences *CAF – Common Assembly Format for
sequence assembly In bioinformatics, sequence assembly refers to aligning and merging fragments from a longer DNA sequence in order to reconstruct the original sequence. This is needed as DNA sequencing technology might not be able to 'read' whole genomes in one ...
* CRAM – compressed file format for storing biological sequences aligned to a reference sequence * DDBJ – The flatfile format used by the
DDBJ The DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) is a biological database that collects DNA sequences. It is located at the National Institute of Genetics (NIG) in the Shizuoka prefecture of Japan. It is also a member of the International Nucleotide Sequence D ...
to represent database records for
nucleotide Nucleotides are organic molecules consisting of a nucleoside and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both of which are essential biomolecule ...
and
peptide sequence Peptides (, ) are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Long chains of amino acids are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty amino acids are called oligopeptides, and include dipeptides, tripeptides, and tetrapeptides. A ...
s from
DDBJ The DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) is a biological database that collects DNA sequences. It is located at the National Institute of Genetics (NIG) in the Shizuoka prefecture of Japan. It is also a member of the International Nucleotide Sequence D ...
databases. * EMBL – The flatfile format used by the EMBL to represent database records for
nucleotide Nucleotides are organic molecules consisting of a nucleoside and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both of which are essential biomolecule ...
and
peptide sequence Peptides (, ) are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Long chains of amino acids are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty amino acids are called oligopeptides, and include dipeptides, tripeptides, and tetrapeptides. A ...
s from EMBL databases. * FASTA – The
FASTA format In bioinformatics and biochemistry, the FASTA format is a text-based format for representing either nucleotide sequences or amino acid (protein) sequences, in which nucleotides or amino acids are represented using single-letter codes. The format ...
, for sequence data. Sometimes also given as FNA or FAA (Fasta Nucleic Acid or Fasta Amino Acid). * FASTQ – The
FASTQ format FASTQ format is a text-based format for storing both a biological sequence (usually nucleotide sequence) and its corresponding quality scores. Both the sequence letter and quality score are each encoded with a single ASCII character for brevity. ...
, for sequence data with quality. Sometimes also given as QUAL. * GCPROJ – The Genome Compiler project. Advanced format for genetic data to be designed, shared and visualized. * GenBank – The flatfile format used by the
NCBI The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is part of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is approved and funded by the government of the United States. The ...
to represent database records for
nucleotide Nucleotides are organic molecules consisting of a nucleoside and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both of which are essential biomolecule ...
and
peptide sequence Peptides (, ) are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Long chains of amino acids are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty amino acids are called oligopeptides, and include dipeptides, tripeptides, and tetrapeptides. A ...
s from the
GenBank The GenBank sequence database is an open access, annotated collection of all publicly available nucleotide sequences and their protein translations. It is produced and maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI; a part ...
and
RefSeq The Reference Sequence (RefSeq) database is an open access, annotated and curated collection of publicly available nucleotide sequences ( DNA, RNA) and their protein products. RefSeq was first introduced in 2000. This database is built by National ...
databases * GFF – The
General feature format In bioinformatics, the general feature format (gene-finding format, generic feature format, GFF) is a file format used for describing genes and other features of DNA, RNA and protein sequences. GFF Versions The following versions of GFF exist: ...
is used to describe
gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...
s and other features of DNA, RNA, and
protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...
sequences * GTF – The
Gene transfer format The Gene transfer format (GTF) is a file format used to hold information about gene structure. It is a tab-delimited text format based on the general feature format (GFF), but contains some additional conventions specific to gene information. A s ...
is used to hold information about
gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...
structure * MAF – The Multiple Alignment Format stores multiple alignments for whole-genome to whole-genome comparison

* NCBI – Structured ASN.1 format used at
National Center for Biotechnology Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is part of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is approved and funded by the government of the United States. The ...
for DNA and protein data * NEXUS – The
Nexus file The extensible NEXUS file format is widely used in bioinformatics. It stores information about taxa, morphological and molecular characters, distances, genetic codes, assumptions, sets, trees, etc. Several popular phylogenetic programs such as PA ...
encodes mixed information about genetic sequence data in a block structured format * NeXML – XML format for phylogenetic trees * NWK – The Newick tree format is a way of representing graph-theoretical trees with edge lengths using parentheses and commas and useful to hold phylogenetic trees. * PDB – structures of biomolecules deposited in
Protein Data Bank The Protein Data Bank (PDB) is a database for the three-dimensional structural data of large biological molecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids. The data, typically obtained by X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, or, increasingly, ...
, also used to exchange protein and nucleic acid structures * PHD – Phred output, from the base-calling software Phred * PLN – Protein Line Notation used i
proteax softwarespecification
* SAM – SAM, Sequence Alignment Map format, in which the results of the
1000 Genomes Project The 1000 Genomes Project (abbreviated as 1KGP), launched in January 2008, was an international research effort to establish by far the most detailed catalogue of human genetic variation. Scientists planned to sequence the genomes of at least one th ...
will be released * SBML – The Systems Biology Markup Language is used to store biochemical network computational models * SCF – Staden chromatogram files used to store data from DNA sequencing * SFF – Standard Flowgram Format * SRA – format used by the
National Center for Biotechnology Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is part of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is approved and funded by the government of the United States. The ...
Short Read Archive to store high-throughput DNA sequence data * Stockholm – The Stockholm format for representing
multiple sequence alignment Multiple sequence alignment (MSA) may refer to the process or the result of sequence alignment of three or more biological sequences, generally protein, DNA, or RNA. In many cases, the input set of query sequences are assumed to have an evolutio ...
s * Swiss-Prot – The flatfile format used to represent database records for
protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...
sequences from the Swiss-Prot database * VCF –
Variant Call Format The Variant Call Format (VCF) specifies the format of a text file used in bioinformatics for storing gene sequence variations. The format has been developed with the advent of large-scale genotyping and DNA sequencing projects, such as the 1000 G ...
, a standard created by the
1000 Genomes Project The 1000 Genomes Project (abbreviated as 1KGP), launched in January 2008, was an international research effort to establish by far the most detailed catalogue of human genetic variation. Scientists planned to sequence the genomes of at least one th ...
that lists and annotates the entire collection of human variants (with the exception of approximately 1.6 million variants).


Biomedical imaging

* .dcm –
Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) is the standard for the communication and management of medical imaging information and related data. DICOM is most commonly used for storing and transmitting medical images enabling the inte ...
(DICOM) * NIfTI – Neuroimaging Informatics Technology Initiative * .nii – single-file (combined data and meta-data) style * .nii.gz –
gzip gzip is a file format and a software application used for file compression and decompression. The program was created by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler as a free software replacement for the compress program used in early Unix systems, and i ...
-compressed, used transparently by some software, notably the FMRIB Software Library (FSL) * .gii – single-file (combined data and meta-data) style; NIfTI offspring for brain surface data * .img, .hdr – dual-file (separate data and meta-data, respectively) style * .BRIK, .HEAD – AFNI data, meta-data * .MGH – uncompressed, Massachusetts General Hospital imaging format, used by the FreeSurfer brain analysis package * .MGZ – zip-compressed, Massachusetts General Hospital imaging format, used by the FreeSurfer brain analysis package * .img, .hdr – Analyze data, meta-data * MINC – Medical Imaging NetCDF format * .mnc – previously based on NetCDF; since version 2.0, based on HDF5


Biomedical signals (time series)

* ACQ – AcqKnowledge format for Windows/PC from Biopac Systems Inc., Goleta, CA, USA * ADICHT – LabChart format from ADInstruments Pty Ltd, Bella Vista NSW, Australia * BCI2000 – The BCI2000 project, Albany, NY, USA * BDF – BioSemi data format from BioSemi B.V. Amsterdam, Netherlands * BKR – The EEG data format developed at the University of Technology Graz, Austria * CFWB – Chart Data Format from ADInstruments Pty Ltd, Bella Vista NSW, Australia * DICOM – Waveform An extension of Dicom for storing waveform data * ecgML – A markup language for electrocardiogram data acquisition and analysis * EDF, EDF+ – European Data Format * FEF – File Exchange Format for Vital signs, CEN TS 14271
GDF
– The General Data Format for biomedical signals * HL7aECG – Health Level 7 v3 annotated ECG * MFER – Medical waveform Format Encoding Rules * OpenXDF – Open Exchange Data Format from Neurotronics, Inc., Gainesville, FL, USA *
SCP-ECG SCP-ECG, which stands for ''Standard communications protocol for computer assisted electrocardiography'', is a standard for ECG traces, annotations, and metadata, that specifies the interchange format and a messaging procedure for ECG cart-to-hos ...
– Standard Communication Protocol for Computer assisted electrocardiography EN1064:2007 * SIGIF – A digital SIGnal Interchange Format with application in neurophysiology * WFDB – Format of Physiobank
XDF
– eXtensible Data Format


Other biomedical formats

* HL7 – Health Level 7, a framework for exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of health information electronically * xDT – a family of data exchange formats for medical records


Biometric formats

* CBF – Common Biometric Format, based on CBEFF 2.0 (Common Biometric ExFramework). * EBF – Extended Biometric Format, based on CBF but with
S/MIME S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) is a standard for public key encryption and signing of MIME data. S/MIME is on an IETF standards track and defined in a number of documents, most importantly . It was originally developed by R ...
encryption support and semantic extensions * CBFX – XML Common Biometric Format, based upon XCBF 1.1 (OASIS XML Common Biometric Format) * EBFX – XML Extended Biometric Format, based on CBFX but with W3C XML Encryption support and semantic extensions


* ADB –
Ada Ada may refer to: Places Africa * Ada Foah, a town in Ghana * Ada (Ghana parliament constituency) * Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria Asia * Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, ...
body * ADS –
Ada Ada may refer to: Places Africa * Ada Foah, a town in Ghana * Ada (Ghana parliament constituency) * Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria Asia * Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, ...
specification * AHK – AutoHotkey script file * APPLESCRIPT – applescript: see SCPT * AS – Adobe Flash ActionScript File * AU3 – AutoIt, AutoIt version 3 * AWK - AWK (programming language), AWK * BAT – Batch file * BAS – QBasic & QuickBASIC * BTM — Batch file * CLASS — Compiled
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...
binary * CLJS – ClojureScript * CMD – Batch file * Coffee – CoffeeScript * C – C (programming language), C * CPP – C++ * CS – C Sharp (programming language), C# * INO – Arduino sketch (program) * EGG – Chicken Scheme compiler, Chicken * EGT – EGT Asterisk Application Source File, EGT Universal Document * ERB – Embedded Ruby, Ruby on Rails Script File * GO – Go (programming language), Go * HTA – HTA (programming language), HTML Application * IBI – Icarus script * ICI – ICI * IJS – J (programming language), J script * .ipynb – IPython Notebook * ITCL – Itcl * JS – JavaScript and JScript * JSFL – Adobe JavaScript language * .kt – Kotlin (programming language), Kotlin * LUA – Lua programming language, Lua * M – Mathematica package file * MRC – MIRC script, mIRC Script * NCF – NetWare Command File (scripting for Novell's NetWare OS) * NUC – compiled script * NUD – C++ External module written in C++ * NUT – Squirrel programming language, Squirrel * nqp – Raku (programming language), Raku language Not Quite Perl, or Raku bootstrapping language * O — Compiled and optimized C (programming language), C/C++ binary * pde – Processing (programming language), Processing script * PHP – PHP * PHP? – PHP (? = version number) * PL – Perl * PM – Perl module * PS1 – Windows PowerShell shell script * PS1XML – Windows PowerShell format and type definitions * PSC1 – Windows PowerShell console file * PSD1 – Windows PowerShell data file * PSM1 – Windows PowerShell module file * PY – Python (programming language), Python * PYC – Python (programming language), Python byte code files * PYO – Python (programming language), Python * R – R (programming language), R scripts * r – REBOL, REBOL scripts * raku – Raku (programming language), Raku language Raku script (compiled into memory) * rakumod – Raku (programming language), Raku language Raku module (precompiled) * rakudoc – Raku (programming language), Raku language Raku documentation file (a slang or sublanguage of Raku) * rakutest – Raku (programming language), Raku language Unit test files in Raku * RB – Ruby programming language, Ruby * RDP – Remote Desktop Protocol, RDP connection * red – Red (programming language), Red scripts * RS – Rust (programming language) * SB2, SB3 – Scratch (programming language), Scratch * SCPT – Applescript * SCPTD – See SCPT. * SDL – State Description Language * SH – Shell script * SYJS – SyMAT JavaScript * SYPY – SyMAT Python * TCL – Tcl * TNS �
Ti-Nspire Code/File
* TS – Typescript * VBS – VBScript, Visual Basic Script * XPL – XProc script/pipeline * ebuild – Gentoo Linux's portage package.


Security

Authentication and general encryption formats are listed here. * OMF – OpenPGP Message Format used by Pretty Good Privacy, GNU Privacy Guard, and other OpenPGP software; can contain keys, signed data, or encrypted data; can be binary or text ("ASCII armored")


Certificates and keys

* GXK – Galaxkey, an encryption platform for authorized, private and confidential email communication * .ssh – OpenSSH private key, Secure Shell private key; format generated by ssh-keygen or converted from PPK with PuTTYgen * .pub – OpenSSH public key, Secure Shell public key; format generated by ssh-keygen or PuTTYgen * .ppk – PuTTY private key, Secure Shell private key, in the format generated by PuTTYgen instead of the format used by OpenSSHLeo Notenboom
"How do I create and use Public Keys with SSH?"
/ref> * .nSign – nSign public key nSign public key in a custom format


X.509

* .cer, .crt, .der – Distinguished Encoding Rules stores certificates * .p7b, .p7c – PKCS7, PKCS#7 SignedData commonly appears without main data, just certificates or Revocation list, certificate revocation lists (CRLs) * .p12, .pfx – PKCS 12, PKCS#12 can store public certificates and private keys * PEM – Privacy-enhanced Electronic Mail: full format not widely used, but often used to store Distinguished Encoding Rules in Base64 format * PFX – Microsoft predecessor of PKCS#12


Encrypted files

This section shows file formats for encrypted general data, rather than a specific program's data. * AXX – Encrypted file, created with AxCrypt * Encrypted Email Attachment, EEA – An encrypted CAB, ostensibly for protecting email attachments * TC – Virtual encrypted disk container, created by TrueCrypt * KODE – Encrypted file, created with KodeFile * nSignE – An encrypted private key, created by nSign


Password files

Password files (sometimes called keychain files) contain lists of other passwords, usually encrypted. * BPW – Encrypted password file created by Bitser password manager * KDB – KeePass 1 database * KDBX – KeePass 2 database


Signal data (non-audio)

* ACQ – AcqKnowledge format for Windows/PC from Biopac * ADICHT – LabChart format from ADInstruments * BKR – The EEG data format developed at the University of Technology Graz * BDF, CFG – Configuration file for Comtrade data * CFWB – Chart Data format from ADInstruments * DAT – Raw data file for Comtrade data * EDF – European data format * FEF (file format), FEF – File Exchange Format for Vital signs * General Data Format for Biomedical Signals, GDF – General data formats for biomedical signals * GMS – Gesture And Motion Signal format * IROCK – intelliRock Sensor Data File Format * MFER – Medical waveform Format Encoding Rules * SAC – Seismic Analysis Code, earthquake seismology data format *
SCP-ECG SCP-ECG, which stands for ''Standard communications protocol for computer assisted electrocardiography'', is a standard for ECG traces, annotations, and metadata, that specifies the interchange format and a messaging procedure for ECG cart-to-hos ...
– Standard Communication Protocol for Computer assisted electrocardiography * SEED, MSEED – Standard for the Exchange of Earthquake Data, seismological data and sensor metadata * SEG Y, SEGY – Reflection seismology data format * SIGIF – SIGnal Interchange Format * WIN, WIN32 – NIED/ERI seismic data format (.cnt)


Sound and music


Audio compression (data)#Difficulties in lossless compression of audio data, Lossless audio


Uncompressed

* 8SVX – Commodore-Amiga 8-bit sound (usually in an Interchange File Format, IFF container) * 8SVX, 16SVX – Commodore-Amiga 16-bit sound (usually in an Interchange File Format, IFF container) * AIFF, AIF, AIFC – Audio Interchange File Format * Au file format, AU – Simple audio file format introduced by Sun Microsystems * Broadcast Wave Format, BWF – Broadcast Wave Format, an extension of WAVE * Red Book (audio CD standard), CDDA – Compact Disc Digital Audio * Direct Stream Digital, DSF, DFF – Direct Stream Digital audio file, also used in Super Audio CD * Raw audio format, RAW – Raw samples without any header or sync * WAV – Microsoft Wave


Compressed

* RA, RM – RealAudio format * FLAC – Libre software, Free lossless codec of the Ogg project * LA – Lossless audio * PAC – Lossless Predictive Audio Compression, LPAC * APE – Monkey's Audio * OFR, OFS, OFF – OptimFROG * RKA – RKAU * SHN – Shorten (file format), Shorten * TAK – Tom's Lossless Audio Kompressor * THD – Dolby TrueHD * TTA (codec), TTA – Free lossless audio codec (True Audio) * WV – WavPack * WMA – Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless * BRSTM – Binary Revolution Stream * DTS, DTSHD, DTSMA – DTS (sound system) * AST – Nintendo Audio Stream * AW – Nintendo Audio Sample used in first-party games * PSF – Portable Sound Format, PlayStation variant (originally PlayStation Sound Format)


Data compression#Lossy audio compression, Lossy audio

* Dolby AC3, AC3 – Usually used for Dolby Digital tracks * Adaptive Multi-Rate audio codec, AMR – For GSM and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, UMTS based mobile phones * MP1 – Moving Picture Experts Group, MPEG]
Layer 1
* MP2 (format), MP2 – Moving Picture Experts Group, MPEG]
Layer 2
* MP3 – Moving Picture Experts Group, MPEG]
Layer 3
* SPX – Speex (Ogg project, specialized for voice, low bitrates) * GSM – GSM Full Rate, originally developed for use in mobile phones * WMA – Windows Media Audio * Advanced Audio Coding, AAC – Advanced Audio Coding (usually in an MPEG-4 container) * Musepack, MPC – Musepack * TwinVQ, VQF – Yamaha TwinVQ * OTS (file format), OTS – Audio File (similar to MP3, with more data stored in the file and slightly better compression; designed for use with OtsLabs' OtsAV) * SWA – Adobe Shockwave Audio (Same compression as MP3 with additional header information specific to Adobe Director) * VOX – Dialogic ADPCM Low Sample Rate Digitized Voice * VOC – Creative Labs Soundblaster Creative Voice 8-bit & 16-bit Also output format of RCA Audio Recorders * DWD – DiamondWare Digitized * SMP – Turtlebeach SampleVision * Ogg, OGG – Ogg Vorbis


Tracker music, Tracker modules and related

* MOD (file format), MOD – Soundtracker and Protracker sample and melody modules * MT2 �
MadTracker
2 module * S3M (file format), S3M – Scream Tracker 3 module * XM (file format), XM – Fast Tracker module * IT (file format), IT – Impulse Tracker module * NSF – NES Sound Format * MID, MIDI – Standard Musical Instrument Digital Interface, MIDI file; most often just notes and controls but occasionally also sample dumps (.mid, .rmi) * FTM �
FamiTracker
Project file * BTM �
BambooTracker
Project file


Sheet music files

* ABC – ABC notation, ABC Notation sheet music file * DARMS – DARMS File Format also known as the Ford-Columbia Format * ETF – Enigma Transportation Format abandoned sheet music exchange format * GP – Guitar Pro sheet music and tablature file * KERN – HumDrum File Format, Kern File Format sheet music file * LY – GNU LilyPond, LilyPond sheet music file * MEI – Music Encoding Initiative file format that attempts to encode all musical notations * MUS, MUSX – Finale (software), Finale sheet music file * MXL, XML – MusicXML standard sheet music exchange format * MSCX, MSCZ – MuseScore sheet music file * SMDL – Standard Music Description Language sheet music file * SIB – Sibelius (computer program), Sibelius sheet music file


Other file formats pertaining to audio

* NIFF – Notation Interchange File Format * PTB – Power Tab Editor Tablature, tab * ASF – Advanced Systems Format * CUST – DeliPlayer custom sound format * GYM – Sega Genesis, Genesis YM2612 log * JAM notation, JAM – JAM notation, Jam music format * MNG – Background music for the Creatures (artificial life program), Creatures game series, starting from Creatures 2 * RMJ – RealJukebox Media used for RealPlayer * SID – MOS Technology SID#Software emulation, Sound Interface Device – Commodore 64 instructions to play SID music and sound effects * SPC700 sound format, SPC – Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES sound format * TXM – Track ax media * VGM (file format), VGM – Stands for "Video Game Music", log for several different chips * YM – Atari ST/Amstrad CPC YM2149 sound chip format * PVD – Portable Voice Document used for Oaisys & Mitel call recordings


Playlist formats

* AIMPPL – AIMP Playlist format * ASX – Advanced Stream Redirector * RAM – Real Audio Metafile For RealAudio files only. * XPL – HDi (interactivity), HDi playlist * XSPF – XML Shareable Playlist Format * ZPL – Xbox Music (Formerly Zune) Playlist format from Microsoft * M3U – Multimedia playlist file * PLS (file format), PLS – Multimedia playlist, originally developed for use with the museArc


Audio editing and music production

* ALS – Ableton Live set * ALC – Ableton Live clip * ALP – Ableton Live pack * ATMOS, AUDIO, METADATA – Dolby Atmos Rendering and Mastering related file * AUP – Audacity (audio editor), Audacity project file * AUP3 – Audacity 3.0 project file * BAND – GarageBand project file * CEL – Adobe Audition loop file (''C''ool ''E''dit ''L''oop) * CAU – Caustic project file * CPR – Steinberg Cubase project file * CWP – Cakewalk Sonar project file * DRM – Steinberg Cubase drum file * DMKIT – Image-Line's Drumaxx drum kit file * ENS – Native Instruments, Native Instruments Reaktor Ensemble * FLM – Image-Line, Image Line FL Studio Mobile project file * FLP – Image-Line, Image Line FL Studio project file * GRIR – Native Instruments, Native Instruments Komplete Guitar Rig Impulse Response * LOGIC – Logic Pro X project file * MMP – LMMS project file (alternatively MMPZ for File compression, compressed formats) * MMR – MAGIX Music Maker project file * MX6HS – Mixcraft 6 Home Studio project file * NPR – Steinberg Nuendo project file * OMF, OMFI – Open Media Framework Interchange OMFI succeeds OMF (Open Media Framework) * PTX – Pro Tools 10 or later project file * PTF – Pro Tools 7 up to Pro Tools 9 project file * PTS – Legacy Pro Tools project file * RIN – Soundways RIN-M file containing sound recording participant credits and song information * RPP, RPP-BAK – REAPER project file * REAPEAKS – REAPER peak (waveform cache) file * SES – Adobe Audition multitrack session file * SFK – Sound Forge waveform cache file * SFL – Sound Forge sound file * SNG – MIDI sequence file (MidiSoft, Korg, etc.) or n-Track Studio project file * STF – StudioFactory project file. It contains all necessary patches, samples, tracks and settings to play the file * SND – Akai MPC sound file * SYN – SynFactory project file. It contains all necessary patches, samples, tracks and settings to play the file * UST – Utau Editor sequence excluding WAV, wave-file * VCLS – VocaListener project file * VPR – Vocaloid 5 Editor sequence excluding WAV, wave-file * VSQ – Vocaloid 2 Editor sequence excluding WAV, wave-file * VSQX – Vocaloid 3 & 4 Editor sequence excluding WAV, wave-file * 🗿 �
ThirtyDollar
Project file


Recorded television formats

* DVR-MS – Windows XP Media Center Edition's Windows Media Center recorded television format * WTV (Windows Recorded TV Show), WTV –
Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...
's and up Windows Media Center recorded television format


Source code for computer programs

* ADA, ADB, 2.ADA –
Ada Ada may refer to: Places Africa * Ada Foah, a town in Ghana * Ada (Ghana parliament constituency) * Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria Asia * Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, ...
(body) source * ADS, 1.ADA – Ada (specification) source * ASM, S – Assembly language source * BAS – BASIC, FreeBASIC, Visual Basic,
BASIC-PLUS BASIC-PLUS is an extended dialect of the BASIC programming language that was developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) for use on its RSTS/E time-sharing operating system for the PDP-11 series of 16-bit minicomputers in the early 1970s thr ...
source, PICAXE basic * BB – Blitz Basic Blitz3D * BMX – Blitz Basic BlitzMax * C – C (programming language), C source * CLJ – Clojure source code * CLS – Visual Basic class * COB, CBL – COBOL source * CPP, CC, CXX, C, CBP – C++ source * CS – C Sharp (programming language), C# source * CSPROJ – C Sharp (programming language), C# project (Visual Studio .NET) * D – D (programming language), D source * DBA – DarkBASIC source * DBPro123 – DarkBASIC Professional project * E – Eiffel (programming language), Eiffel source * EFS – EGT Forever Source File * EGT – EGT Asterisk Source File, could be J, C#, VB.net, EF 2.0 (EGT Forever) * EL – Emacs Lisp source * FOR, FTN, F, F77, F90 – Fortran source * FRM – Visual Basic form * FRX – Visual Basic form stash file (binary form file) * FTH – Forth (programming language), Forth source * GED – GameMaker: Studio, Game Maker Extension Editable file as of version 7.0 * GM6 – Game Maker Editable file as of version 6.x * GMD – Game Maker Editable file up to version 5.x * GMK – Game Maker Editable file as of version 7.0 * GML – Game Maker Language script file * GO – Go (programming language), Go source * H – C/C++ header file * HPP, HXX – C++ header file * HS – Haskell (programming language), Haskell source * I – SWIG interface file * INC – Turbo Pascal included source * JAVA –
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...
source * L – lex (software), lex source * LGT – Logtalk source * LISP – Common Lisp source * M – Objective-C source * M – MATLAB * M – Mathematica * M4 – M4 (computer language), m4 source * ML – Standard ML and OCaml source * MSQR – M² source file, created by Mattia Marziali * N – Nemerle source * NB – Nuclear Basic source * P – Parser source * PAS, PP, P – Pascal (programming language), Pascal source (DPR for projects) * PHP, PHP3, PHP4, PHP5, PHPS, Phtml – PHP source * PIV – Pivot stickfigure animator * PL, PM – Perl *PLI, PL1 – PL/I * PRG – Ashton-Tate; dbII, dbIII and dbIV, db, db7, clipper, Microsoft Fox and FoxPro, harbour, xharbour, and Xbase * PRO – IDL (programming language), IDL * POL – Apcera Policy Language doclet * PY – Python (programming language), Python source * R – R (programming language), R source * raku, rakumod, rakudoc, rakutest, nqp – Raku (programming language), Raku Language * RED – Red (programming language), Red source * REDS – Red (programming language), Red/System source * RB – Ruby (programming language), Ruby source * RESX – Resource file for .NET Framework, .NET applications * RC, RC2 – Resource script files to generate resources for .NET Framework, .NET applications * RKT, RKTL – Racket (programming language), Racket source * SCALA – Scala (programming language), Scala source * SCI, SCE – Scilab * SCM – Scheme (programming language), Scheme source * SD7 – Seed7 source * SKB, SKC – Sage Retrieve 4GL Common Area (Main and Amended backup) * SKD – Sage Retrieve 4GL Database * SKF, SKG – Sage Retrieve 4GL File Layouts (Main and Amended backup) * SKI – Sage Retrieve 4GL Instructions * SKK – Sage Retrieve 4GL Report Generator * SKM – Sage Retrieve 4GL Menu * SKO – Sage Retrieve 4GL Program * SKP, SKQ – Sage Retrieve 4GL Print Layouts (Main and Amended backup) * SKS, SKT – Sage Retrieve 4GL Screen Layouts (Main and Amended backup) * SKZ – Sage Retrieve 4GL Security File * SLN – Visual Studio solution *SPIN – Spin (programming language), Spin source (for Parallax Propeller microcontrollers) * STK – Stickfigure file for Pivot stickfigure animator * SWG – SWIG source code * TCL – Tcl source code * VAP – Visual Studio Analyzer project * VB – VB.NET, Visual Basic.NET source * VBG – Visual Studio compatible project group * VBP, VIP – Visual Basic project * VBPROJ – Visual Basic .NET project * VCPROJ – Visual C++ project * VDPROJ – Visual Studio deployment project * XPL – XProc script/pipeline * XQ – XQuery file * XSL – XSLT stylesheet * Y – yacc source


Spreadsheet

* 123 – Lotus 1-2-3 * AB2 – Abykus worksheet * AB3 – Abykus workbook * AWS – Ability Office, Ability Spreadsheet * BCSV – Nintendo proprietary table format * CLF – ThinkFree Calc * CELL – Haansoft(Hancom) SpreadSheet software document * CSV – Comma-separated values, Comma-Separated Values * GSHEET –
Google Drive Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service developed by Google. Launched on April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files in the cloud (on Google's servers), synchronize files across devices, and share files. In add ...
Spreadsheet * numbers – An Apple Numbers Spreadsheet file * gnumeric – Gnumeric
spreadsheet A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in c ...
, a
gzip gzip is a file format and a software application used for file compression and decompression. The program was created by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler as a free software replacement for the compress program used in early Unix systems, and i ...
ed
XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable ...
file * LCW – Lucid 3-D * ODS –
OpenDocument The Open Document Format for Office Applications (ODF), also known as OpenDocument, is an open file format for word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations and graphics and using ZIP-compressed XML files. It was developed wi ...
spreadsheet * OTS –
OpenDocument The Open Document Format for Office Applications (ODF), also known as OpenDocument, is an open file format for word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations and graphics and using ZIP-compressed XML files. It was developed wi ...
spreadsheet template * QPW – Quattro Pro spreadsheet * SDC –
StarOffice StarOffice is a discontinued proprietary office suite, intended to compete with the marketing-leading Microsoft Office. It served as the basis for open-source suites OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice. StarOffice supported the OpenOffice.org XML f ...
StarCalc Spreadsheet * SLK – SYLK (SYmbolic LinK) * STC – OpenOffice.org XML (obsolete) Spreadsheet template * SXC – OpenOffice.org XML (obsolete) Spreadsheet * TAB – tab delimited columns; also TSV (Tab-separated values, Tab-Separated Values) * TXT – text file * VC – Visicalc * WK1 – Lotus 1-2-3 up to version 2.01 * WK3 – Lotus 1-2-3 version 3.0 * WK4 – Lotus 1-2-3 version 4.0 * WKS – Lotus 1-2-3 * WKS – Microsoft Works * WQ1 – Quattro Pro DOS version * XLK – Microsoft Excel worksheet backup * XLS – Microsoft Excel worksheet sheet (97–2003) * XLSB – Microsoft Excel binary workbook * XLSM – Microsoft Excel Macro-enabled workbook * XLSX – Office Open XML worksheet sheet * XLR – Microsoft Works version 6.0 * XLT – Microsoft Excel worksheet template * XLTM – Microsoft Excel Macro-enabled worksheet template * XLW – Microsoft Excel worksheet workspace (version 4.0)


Tabulated data

* TSV – Tab-separated values * CSV – Comma-separated values * databank format, db – databank format; accessible by many econometrics, econometric applications * data Interchange Format, dif – accessible by many
spreadsheet A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in c ...
applications


Video

*Advanced Authoring Format, AAF – mostly intended to hold edit decisions and rendering information, but can also contain compressed media essence * 3GP – the most common video format for cell phones * GIF – Animated GIF (simple animation; until recently often avoided because of patent problems) * Advanced Systems Format, ASF – container (enables any form of video compression, compression to be used; MPEG-4 is common; video in ASF-containers is also called Windows Media Video (WMV)) * Advanced Video Codec High Definition, AVCHD – Advanced Video Codec High Definition * Audio Video Interleave, AVI – container (a shell, which enables any form of compression to be used) * .bik – Bink Video, BIK Bink Video file. A video compression system developed by RAD Game Tools * BRAW – a video format used by Blackmagic's Ursa Mini Pro 12K cameras. * CAM (file format), CAM – aMSN webcam log file * COLLAB – Blackboard Collaborate session recording * Digital Audio Tape, DAT – video standard data file (automatically created when we attempted to burn as video file on the CD) * DVR-MS – Windows XP Media Center Edition's Windows Media Center recorded television format * Flash Video, FLV – Flash video (encoded to run in a flash animation) * MPEG-1 – M1V Video * MPEG-2 – M2V Video * NOA – rare movie format use in some Japanese eroges around 2002 * Adobe Flash#FLA, FLA – Adobe Flash (for producing) * FLR – (text file which contains scripts extracted from SWF by a free ActionScript decompiler named FLARE) * SOL – Adobe Flash shared object ("Flash cookie") * STR – PlayStation (console), Sony PlayStation video stream * M4V – video container file format developed by Apple Inc., Apple * .mkv – Matroska Matroska is a container format, which enables any video format such as MPEG-4 Part 2, MPEG-4 ASP or H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, AVC to be used along with other content such as Subtitle (captioning), subtitles and detailed metadata, meta information * WRAP – MediaForge (*.wrap) * MNG – mainly simple animation containing PNG and JPEG objects, often somewhat more complex than animated GIF * .mov – QuickTime#File formats, QuickTime container which enables any form of compression to be used; Sorenson codec is the most common; QTCH is the filetype for cached video and audio streams * .mpeg, .mpg, .mpe - MPEG * THP – Nintendo proprietary movie/video format * MPEG-4 – MPEG-4 Part 14, shortened "MP4" multimedia container (most often used for Sony's PlayStation Portable and Apple's iPod) * MXF – Material Exchange Format (standardized wrapper format for audio/visual material developed by SMPTE) * ROQ – used by Quake 3 * NSV – Nullsoft Streaming Video, NSV Nullsoft Streaming Video (media container designed for streaming video content over the Internet) * Ogg – container, multimedia * RM – RealMedia * SVI – SVI (file format), SVI Samsung video format for portable players * SMI – SAMI, SMI SAMI Caption file (HTML like subtitle for movie files) * .smk – Smacker video, SMK Smacker video file. A video compression system developed by RAD Game Tools * SWF – Adobe Flash (for viewing) * Windows Media Video, WMV – Windows Media Video (See ASF) * WTV (Windows Recorded TV Show), WTV –
Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...
's and up Windows Media Center recorded television format * YUV – raw video format; resolution (horizontal x vertical) and sample structure 4:2:2 or 4:2:0 must be known explicitly * WebM – video file format for web video using HTML5


Video editing, production

* BRAW – Blackmagic Design RAW video file name * DRP – DaVinci Resolve, Davinci Resolve 17 project file * FCP – Final Cut Pro project file * MSWMM – Windows Movie Maker project file * PPJ, PRPROJ – Adobe Premiere Pro video editing file * IMOVIEPROJ – iMovie project file * VEG, VEG-BAK – Sony Vegas project file * SUF – Sony camera configuration file (setup.suf) produced by XDCAM-EX camcorders * WLMP – Windows Live Movie Maker project file * KDENLIVE – :fr:Kdenlive, Kdenlive project file * VPJ – VideoPad project file * MOTN – Appl
Motion
project file * IMOVIEMOBILE – iMovie project file for
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
users * WFP, WVE — Wondershare Filmora Project * PDS – PowerDirector, Cyberlink PowerDirector project * VPROJ – VSDC Free Video Editor project file


Video game data

List of common file formats of data for video games on systems that support filesystems, most commonly PC games. Minecraft — files used by Mojang to develop Minecraft * MCADDON – format used by the Bedrock Edition of Minecraft for add-ons; Resource packs for the game * MCFUNCTION – format used by Minecraft for storing functions * MCMETA – format used by Minecraft for storing data for customizable texture packs for the game * MCPACK – format used by the Bedrock Edition of Minecraft for in-game texture packs; full addons for the game * MCR – format used by Minecraft for storing data for in-game worlds before version 1.2 * MCTEMPLATE – format used by the Bedrock Edition of Minecraft for world templates * MCWORLD – format used by the Bedrock Edition of Minecraft for in-game worlds * NBS – format used by Note Block Studio, a tool that can be used to make note block songs for Minecraft. TrackMania/Maniaplanet Engine – Formats used by games based on the TrackMania engine. * GBX – All user-created content is stored in this file type. ** REPLAY.GBX – Stores the replay of a race. ** CHALLENGE.GBX, MAP.GBX – Stores tracks/maps. ** SYSTEMCONFIG.GBX – Launcher info. ** TRACKMANIAVEHICLE.GBX – Info about a certain car type. ** VEHICLETUNINGS.GBX – Vehicle physics. ** SOLID.GBX – A block's model. ** ITEM.GBX – Custom Maniaplanet item. ** BLOCK.GBX – Custom Maniaplanet block. ** TEXTURE.GBX – Info about a texture that are used in materials. ** MATERIAL.GBX – Info about a material such as surface type that are used in Solids. ** TMEDCLASSIC.GBX – Block info. ** GHOST.GBX – Player ghosts in Trackmania (2020 video game), Trackmania and TrackMania Turbo. ** CONTROLSTYLE.GBX – Menu files. ** SCORES.GBX – Stores info about the player's best times. ** PROFILE.GBX – Stores a player's info such as their login. * DDS – Almost every texture in the game uses this format. * PAK – Stores environment data such as valid blocks. * LOC – A locator. Locators allow the game to download content such as car skins from an external server. * SCRIPT.TXT – Scripts for Maniaplanet such as menus and game modes. * XML – ManiaLinks. Doom engine – Formats used by games based on the Doom (video game series), Doom engine. * DEH – DeHackEd files to mutate the game executable (not officially part of the DOOM engine) * DSG – Saved game * LMP – A lump is an entry in a DOOM wad. * LMP – Saved demo recording * MUS – Music file (usually contained within a WAD file) * Doom WAD, WAD – Data storage (contains music, maps, and textures) Quake engine – Formats used by games based on the Quake (series), Quake engine. * BSP – Binary space partitioning, BSP: (For Binary space partitioning) compiled map format * MAP – MAP (file format), MAP: Raw map format used by Level editor, editors like GtkRadiant or Quake Army Knife, QuArK * MDL, MD2, MD3, MD5 – MDL/ MD2/ MD3/ MD5: Model for an item used in the game * PAK, PK2 – PAK (file format), PAK/PK2 (file extension), PK2: Data storage * PK3, PK4 – PK3 (file extension), PK3/PK4 (file extension), PK4: used by the Quake II, Quake III Arena and Quake 4 game engines, respectively, to store game data, textures etc. They are actually .zip files. * .dat – not specific file type, often generic extension for "data" files for a variety of applications ** sometimes used for general data contained within the .PK3/PK4 files ** .fontdat – a .dat file used for formatting game fonts * .roq – Video format * .sav – Savegame format Unreal Engine – Formats used by games based on the Unreal (1998 video game), Unreal engine. * U – Unreal script format * UAX – Animations format for Unreal Engine 2 * UMX – Map format for Unreal Tournament * UMX – Music format for Unreal Engine 1 * UNR – Map format for Unreal (1998 video game), Unreal * UPK – Package format for cooked content in Unreal Engine 3 * USX – Sound format for Unreal Engine 1 and Unreal Engine 2 * UT2 – Map format for Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2004 * UT3 – Map format for Unreal Tournament 3 * UTX – Texture format for Unreal Engine 1 and Unreal Engine 2 * UXX – Cache format; these are files a client downloaded from server (which can be converted to regular formats) Duke Nukem 3D Engine – Formats used by games based on this engine * DMO – Save game * GRP – Data storage * MAP – Map (usually constructed with Build engine, BUILD.EXE) Diablo Engine – Formats used by Diablo by Blizzard Entertainment. * SV – Save Game * ITM – Item File Real Virtuality (engine), Real Virtuality Engine – Formats used by Bohemia Interactive. Operation:Flashpoint, ARMA 2, VBS2 * SQF – Format used for general editing * SQM – Format used for mission files * PBO – Binarized file used for compiled models * LIP – Format that is created from WAV files to create in-game accurate lip-synch for character animations. Source (game engine), Source Engine – Formats used by
Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...
. Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal (video game), Portal, Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, Alien Swarm, Portal 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Titanfall, Insurgency, Titanfall 2, Day of Infamy (video game), Day of Infamy * VMF – Valve Hammer Map editor raw map file * VMX – Valve Hammer Map editor backup map file * BSP – Source Engine compiled map file * MDL – Source Engine model format * SMD – Source Engine uncompiled model format * PCF – Source Engine particle effect file * HL2 – Half-Life 2 save format * DEM – Source Engine demo format * VPK – Source Engine pack format * VTF – Source Engine texture format * VMT – Source Engine material format. Pokemon Generation V * CGB – Pokemon Black and White/Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 C-Gear skins. Other Formats * ARC – used to store New Super Mario Bros. Wii level data * B – used for Grand Theft Auto (Video Game), Grand Theft Auto saved game files * BOL – used for levels on Poing!PC * DBPF – The Sims 2, DBPF, Package * DIVA – Project DIVA timings, Element (UML), element coördinates, MP3 references, notes, Computer animation, animation poses and scores. * ESM, ESP – Master and Plugin data archives for the Creation Engine * HAMBU – format used by the Aidan's Funhouse game RGTW for storing map data * HE0, HE2, HE4 – HE games File * GCF – format used by the Steam (service), Steam content management system for file archives * IMG – format used by Renderware-based ''Grand Theft Auto'' games for data storage * LOVE – format used by the LOVE2D Engine * MAP – format used by Halo: Combat Evolved for archive compression, Doom³, and various other games * MCA – format used by Minecraft for storing data for in-game worlds * NBT – format used by Minecraft for storing program variables along with their (Java) type identifiers * OEC – format used by OE-Cake for scene data storage * OSB –
osu! ''Osu!'' (stylized as ''osu!'') is a free-to-play rhythm game primarily developed, published, and created by Dean "peppy" Herbert. Inspired by iNiS' rhythm game ''Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan'', it was written in C Sharp (programming language), C# ...
storyboard data * OSC – osu!stream combined stream data * OSF2 – free osu!stream song file * OSR –
osu! ''Osu!'' (stylized as ''osu!'') is a free-to-play rhythm game primarily developed, published, and created by Dean "peppy" Herbert. Inspired by iNiS' rhythm game ''Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan'', it was written in C Sharp (programming language), C# ...
replay data * OSU –
osu! ''Osu!'' (stylized as ''osu!'') is a free-to-play rhythm game primarily developed, published, and created by Dean "peppy" Herbert. Inspired by iNiS' rhythm game ''Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan'', it was written in C Sharp (programming language), C# ...
beatmap data * OSZ2 – paid osu!stream song file * P3D – format for panda3d by Disney * PLAGUEINC – format used by Plague Inc. for storing custom scenario information * POD – format used by Terminal Reality * RCT – Used for templates and save files in RollerCoaster Tycoon games * REP – used by
Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three gradu ...
for scenario replays in StarCraft. * Simcity, DBPF, .dat, .SC4Lot, .SC4Model – All game plugins use this format, commonly with different file extensions(Simcity 4) * SMZIP – ZIP-based package for StepMania songs, themes and announcer packs. * SOLITAIRETHEME8 – A solitaire theme for Windows solitaire * USLD – format used by Unison Shift to store level layouts. * VVVVVV – format used by VVVVVV * CPS – format used by The Powder Toy, Powder Toy save * STM – format used by The Powder Toy, Powder Toy stamp * PKG – format used by Bungie for the PC Beta of Destiny 2, for nearly all the game's assets. * CHR – format used by Team Salvato, for the character files of Doki Doki Literature Club! * Z5 – format used by Z-machine for story files in interactive fiction. * scworld – format used by Survivalcraft to store sandbox worlds. * scskin – format used by Survivalcraft to store player skins. * scbtex – format used by Survivalcraft to store block textures. * prison – format used by Prison Architect to save prisons * escape – format used by Prison Architect to save escape attempts * WBFS - ( Wii Backup File System) * .GBA - Game Boy Advance ROM File * .pss - Sony PlayStation 2 Game Video file and is used to store audio and video data by games for the Playstation 2 console.


Video game storage media

List of the most common filename extensions used when a game's ROM image or storage medium is copied from an original read-only memory (ROM) device to an external memory such as hard disk for back up purposes or for making the game playable with an emulator. In the case of cartridge-based software, if the platform specific extension is not used then filename extensions ".rom" or ".bin" are usually used to clarify that the file contains a copy of a content of a ROM. ROM, disk or tape images usually do not consist of one file or ROM, rather an entire file or ROM structure contained within one file on the backup medium. * .a26 – Atari 2600 * .a52 – Atari 5200 * .a78 – Atari 7800 * .lnx – Atari Lynx * .jag, .j64 – Atari Jaguar * .iso, .wbfs, .wad, .wdf – Wii and WiiU * .gcm, .iso – GameCube * .min – Pokemon mini * .nds – Nintendo DS * .dsi – Nintendo DSiWare * .3ds – Nintendo 3DS * .cia – Nintendo 3DS Installation File (for installing games with the use of the FBI homebrew application) * .gb – Game Boy (this applies to the original Game Boy and the Game Boy Color) * .gbc – Game Boy Color * .gba – Game Boy Advance * .sav – Game Boy Advance Saved Data Files * .sgm – Visual Boy Advance Save States * .n64, .v64, .z64, .u64, .usa, .jap, .pal, .eur, .bin – Nintendo 64 * .pj – Project64, Project 64 Save States * .nes – Nintendo Entertainment System * .fds – Family Computer Disk System, Famicom Disk System * .jst – Jnes Save States * .fc# – FCEUX Save States (.fc#, where # is any character, usually a number) * .gg – Game Gear * .sms – Master System * .sg – SG-1000 * .smd, .bin – Sega Genesis, Mega Drive/Genesis * .32x – 32X, Sega 32X * .smc, .078, .sfc – Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES (.078 is for split ROMs, which are rare) * .fig – Super Famicom (Japanese releases are rarely .fig, above extensions are more common) * .srm – Super NES Saved Data Files * .zst, .zs1-.zs9, .z10-.z99 – ZSNES Save States (.zst, .zs1-.zs9, .z10-.z99) * .frz, .000-.008 – Snes9X Save States * .pce – TurboGrafx 16, TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine * .npc, .ngp – Neo Geo Pocket * .ngc – Neo Geo Pocket Color * .vb – Virtual Boy * .int – Intellivision * .min – Pokémon Mini * .vec – Vectrex * .bin – Magnavox Odyssey², Odyssey² * .ws – WonderSwan * .wsc – WonderSwan, WonderSwan Color * .tzx – ZX Spectrum (for exact copies of ZX Spectrum games) * TAP – for tape images without copy protection * Z80, SNA – (for snapshots of the emulator RAM) * DSK – (for disk images) * .tap – Commodore 64 (.tap) (for tape images including copy protection) * T64 – (for tape images without copy protection, considerably smaller than .tap files) * D64 – (for disk images) * CRT – (for cartridge images) * .adf – Amiga (.adf) (for 880K diskette images) * ADZ – GZip-compressed version of the above. * DMS – ''Disk Masher System'', previously used as a disk-archiving system native to the Amiga, also supported by emulators. * .pss - A Sony PlayStation 2 Game Video file and is used to store audio and video data by games for the Playstation 2 console.


Virtual machines


Microsoft Virtual PC, Microsoft Virtual Server, Virtual Server

* .vfd – Virtual Floppy Disk * .vhd – Virtual Hard Disk * .vud – Virtual Undo Disk * .vmc – Virtual Machine Configuration * .vsv – Virtual Machine Saved State


VMware ESX, GSX, VMware Workstation, Workstation, VMware Player, Player

* .log – Virtual Machine Logfile * VMDK, .vmdk, .dsk – Virtual Machine Disk * .nvram – Virtual Machine BIOS * .vmem – Virtual Machine paging file * .vmsd – Virtual Machine snapshot metadata * .vmsn – Virtual Machine snapshot * .vmss, .std – Virtual Machine suspended state * .vmtm – Virtual Machine team data * .vmx, .cfg – Virtual Machine configuration * .vmxf – Virtual Machine team configuration


VirtualBox

* .vdi – VirtualBox virtual disk image * .vbox-extpack – VirtualBox extension pack


Parallels Workstation

* .hdd – Virtual Machine hard disk * .pvs – Virtual Machine preferences/configuration * .sav – Virtual Machine saved state


QEMU

* .cow – Copy-on-write * Qcow, .qcow – QEMU copy-on-write * .qcow2 – QEMU copy-on-write – version 2 * .qed – QEMU enhanced disk format


Web page

Static code analysis, Static * Document Type Definition, DTD – Document Type Definition (standard), MUST be public and free * .html, .htm –
HTML The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaSc ...
HyperText Markup Language * .xhtml, .xht –
XHTML Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) is part of the family of XML markup languages. It mirrors or extends versions of the widely used HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the language in which Web pages are formulated. While HTML, prior ...
eXtensible HyperText Markup Language * .mht, .mhtml – MHTML Archived HTML, store all data on one web page (text, images, etc.) in one big file * .maff – Mozilla Archive Format, MAF web archive based on ZIP (file format), ZIP Dynamically generated * .asp – Active Server Pages, ASP Microsoft Active Server Page * .aspx – ASP.NET, ASPX Microsoft Active Server Page. NET * .adp – AOLserver, ADP AOLserver Dynamic Page * .bml – BML Better Markup Language (templating) * .cfm – ColdFusion, CFM ColdFusion * .cgi – Common Gateway Interface, CGI * .ihtml – iHTML Inline HTML * .jsp – JavaServer Pages, JSP JavaServer Pages * .las, .lasso, .lassoapp – Lasso (programming language), Lasso, A file created or served with the Lasso Programming Language * .pl – Perl * .php, .php?, .phtml – PHP ? is version number (previously abbreviated ''Personal Home Page'', later changed to ''PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor'') * .shtml – Server Side Includes, SSI HTML with Server Side Includes (Apache) * .stm – Server Side Includes, SSI HTML with Server Side Includes (Apache)


Markup languages and other web standards-based formats

* .atom, .xml – Atom (standard), Atom Another syndication format. * .eml – Email#Filename extensions, EML Format used by several desktop email clients. * .jsonld – JSON-LD A JSON-based serialization for linked data. * .kprx – KPRX A XML-based serialization for workflow definition generated by K2. * .ps – PostScript, PS A XML-based serialization for test automation scripts called PowerScripts for K2 based applications. * .metalink, .met – Metalink A format to list metadata about downloads, such as mirrors, checksums, and other information. * .rss, .xml – RSS (file format), RSS Syndication format. * .markdown, .md –
Markdown Markdown is a lightweight markup language for creating formatted text using a plain-text editor. John Gruber and Aaron Swartz created Markdown in 2004 as a markup language that is appealing to human readers in its source code form. Markdown i ...
Plain text formatting syntax, which is popularly used to format "readme" files. * .se – Shuttle Another lightweight markup language.


Other

* AXD – cookie extensions found in temporary internet folder * APK - Android Package Kit * BDF – Binary Data Format – raw data from recovered blocks of unallocated space on a hard drive * CBP – CD Box Labeler Pro, CentraBuilder, Code::Blocks Project File, Conlab Project * CEX – SolidWorks Enterprise PDM Vault File * COL – Nintendo GameCube proprietary collision file (.col) * CREDX – CredX Dat File * DDB – Generating code for Vocaloid singers voice (see .DDI) * DDI – Vocaloid phoneme library (Japanese, English, Korean, Spanish, Chinese, Catalan) * DUPX – DuupeCheck database management tool project file * FTM – Family Tree Maker data file * FTMB – Family Tree Maker backup file * GA3 – Graphical Analysis 3 * .ged – GEDCOM (GEnealogical Data COMmunication) format to exchange genealogy data between different genealogy software * HLP – Windows help file * IGC – flight tracks downloaded from GPS devices in the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, FAI's prescribed format * INF – similar format to INI file; used to install device drivers under Windows, inter alia. * JAM Message Base Format, JAM – JAM Message Base Format for BBSes * KMC – tests made with KatzReview's MegaCrammer * KCL – Nintendo GameCube/ Wii proprietary collision file (.kcl) * KTR – Hitachi Vantara Pentaho Data Integration/Kettle Transformation Project file * LNK –
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
Windows format for Hyperlinks to Executables * LSM – LSMaker script file (program using layered .jpg to create special effects; specifically designed to render lightsabers from the ''Star Wars'' universe) (.lsm) * NARC – Archive format used in Nintendo DS games. * OER – AU OER Tool, Open Educational Resource editor * PA – Used to assign sound effects to materials in KCL files (.pa) * PIF – Used to run MS-DOS programs under Windows * POR – So called "portable" SPSS files, readable by PSPP * PXZ – Compressed file to exchange media elements with PSALMO * RISE – File containing RISE generated information model evolution * Screensaver, SCR – Windows Screen Saver file * TOPC – TopicCrunch SEO Project file holding keywords, domain, and search engine settings (ASCII) * XLF – Utah State University Extensible LADAR Format * XMC – Assisted contact lists format, based on XML and used in kindergartens and schools * ZED – My Heritage Family Tree * zone – Zone file a text file containing a DNS zone * FX – DirectX, Microsoft DirectX plain text effects and properties for the associated file and are used to specify the textures, shading, rendering, lighting and other 3D effects (.fx) * MIFRAMES �
Mine-imator
keyframes file (.miframes) * MILANGUAGE �
Mine-Imator
language data file (.milanguage) * MIDATA �
Mine-Imator
data file (.midata)


Cursors

* ANI (file format), ANI – Animated cursor * CUR – Cursor file * Smes – Hawk's Dock configuration file


Generalized files


General data formats

These file formats are fairly well defined by long-term use or a general standard, but the content of each file is often highly specific to particular software or has been extended by further standards for specific uses.


Text-based

* CSV –
comma-separated values A comma-separated values (CSV) file is a delimited text file that uses a comma to separate values. Each line of the file is a data record. Each record consists of one or more fields, separated by commas. The use of the comma as a field separat ...
* HTML – hyper text markup language * CSS – cascading style sheets * INI file, INI – a configuration text file whose format is substantially similar between applications * JSON – JavaScript Object Notation is an openly used data format now used by many languages, not just JavaScript * TSV – tab-separated values *
XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable ...
– an open data format * YAML – an open data format * ReStructuredText – an open text format for technical documents used mainly in the Python (programming language), Python programming language * .md –
Markdown Markdown is a lightweight markup language for creating formatted text using a plain-text editor. John Gruber and Aaron Swartz created Markdown in 2004 as a markup language that is appealing to human readers in its source code form. Markdown i ...
an open lightweight markup language to create simple but rich text, often used to format README files * AsciiDoc – an open human-readable markup document format semantically equivalent to
DocBook DocBook is a semantic markup language for technical documentation. It was originally intended for writing technical documents related to computer hardware and software, but it can be used for any other sort of documentation. As a semantic languag ...
* .yni - a configuration file similar to YAML


Generic file extensions

These are filename extensions and broad types reused frequently with differing formats or no specific format by different programs.


Binary files

* .bak, .bk – Bak file various backup formats: some just copies of data files, some in application-specific data backup formats, some formats for general file backup programs * BIN – binary data, often
memory dump In computing, a core dump, memory dump, crash dump, storage dump, system dump, or ABEND dump consists of the recorded state of the working memory of a computer program at a specific time, generally when the program has crashed or otherwise termina ...
s of executable code or data to be re-used by the same software that originated it * DAT – data file, usually binary data proprietary to the program that created it, or an MPEG-1 stream of Video CD * DSK – file representations of various disk storage images * RAW – raw (unprocessed) data * SZH - files that are associated with zero unique file types (the most prevalent being the Binary Data format)


Text files

* .cnf, .conf, .cfg – configuration file substantially software-specific * .log – logfiles usually text, but sometimes binary * .asc, .txt – human-readable
plain text In computing, plain text is a loose term for data (e.g. file contents) that represent only characters of readable material but not its graphical representation nor other objects (floating-point numbers, images, etc.). It may also include a limit ...
, usually no more specific


Partial files


Differences and patches

* diff – text file differences created by the program diff and applied as updates by patch (Unix), patch


Incomplete transfers

* .!ut – !UT partly complete uTorrent download * .crdownload – CRDOWNLOAD partly complete Google Chrome download * .opdownload – OPDOWNLOAD partly complete Opera (web browser), Opera download * .part – PART partly complete Mozilla Firefox or Transmission (BitTorrent client), Transmission download * .partial – PARTIAL partly complete Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge download


Temporary files

* .temp, .tmp – Temporary file sometimes in a specific format, but often just raw data in the middle of processing * Pseudo-pipelines, Pseudo-pipeline – Pipeline (software)#Pseudo-pipelines, Pseudo-pipeline file used to simulate a software pipe


See also

* List of filename extensions * MIME#Content-Type, a standard for referring to file formats * List of motion and gesture file formats * List of file signatures, or "magic numbers"


References


External links

*
File formats
at FileInfo.com {{DEFAULTSORT:File formats Lists of file formats, Computer file formats, *