Computing Fundamentals File Types
.swf
A file produced by Adobe Flash, and it stands for Small Web Format. It can contain text, audio, and video, as well as vector or raster graphics. It can also be interactive with the user.
.tif
A high-quality graphic format which is also frequently used for storing images with various colors, like digital photographs.
.wav
A standard file used for digital audio. It allows audio recordings to be saved with a special sampling of rates and bitrates.
A universal file type; accessible across multiple programs and platforms. It can be generated by Adobe Acrobat or in most programs through a plug-in.
.zip
An extension which indicates that a file or folder has been compressed; may contain more than one compressed file in a single folder.
.mp3
a compressed audio layout created by the Moving Picture Experts Group; uses Layer 3 audio compression and is frequently used to store music files and audio books on hard drives.
.mp4
a movie or video extension that uses compression, a standard created by the Moving Picture Experts Group; commonly used to distribute video via the Internet.
.txt
a plain text file, which is means it uses a rudimentary character set and does not contain any objects or formatting of any kind.
.avi
a video file extension produced by Microsoft; are less compressed than their counterparts which results in a much larger file size.
.doc or .docx
file extensions for documents created by Microsoft Word to keep formatting styles, objects, and other document settings in place. The main difference between the two file types is that the one is an open-source file.
.xls or .xlxs
similar to the .doc/.docx files, except these files come from Microsoft Excel, which is a program that works with spreadsheets. One extension is the open-source file.
.jpg
stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, which is really a compressed image; a very common format for storing digital photographs because the format supports up to 4-bit color.
.exe
the extension for an executable program file generated for the Windows or DOS operating systems; a unique file type, in that it is a self-extracting archive, which means it can extract its files and save them to another specific location.
