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File format guide

What each format is, how to open it, and how to convert it — grouped by category.

3D models

FBX is a proprietary 3D file format developed by Autodesk for seamless 3D content exchange across various software applications.

Learn about the GLB 3D format, its pros and cons, supported software, and how to convert files using ConvertX.

GLTF (GL Transmission Format) is an open standard file format designed for the efficient transmission and loading of 3D scenes and models.

The OBJ format is a standard 3D image file format used to store geometric data and surface properties.

PLY is a polygon file format primarily used to store three-dimensional data from 3D scanners.

STL is a file format widely used for 3D printing and computer-aided design, representing surface geometry using a mesh of triangles.

Archives

7Z Compressed Archive

7Z is a compressed archive file format that provides high compression ratios using LZMA and LZMA2 compression algorithms.

GZ is a single-file compression format based on the DEFLATE algorithm, widely used in Unix-like operating systems for compressing individual files.

RAR is a proprietary archive file format supporting data compression, error recovery, and file spanning.

TAR is a standard Unix archive format used to bundle multiple files and directories into a single file without compression.

ZIP is a widely used archive file format that supports lossless data compression. It allows multiple files and folders to be bundled together and reduced in size for easier storage and transfer.

Audio

AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is a lossy digital audio compression format known for offering better sound quality and efficiency than MP3 at similar bitrates. It's widely adopted for streaming and mobile devices.

FLAC Audio File

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is a popular audio format that compresses digital audio without any loss of quality. It's ideal for audiophiles and archiving high-fidelity sound.

M4A is an audio-only format developed by Apple, widely used for high-quality music storage and distribution. It serves as the standard container for uncompressed or compressed audio data within the MPEG-4 multimedia standard.

A widely used digital audio format known for its efficient compression and broad compatibility. It allows for smaller file sizes with good sound quality.

OGG is a free, open-source container format primarily used for streaming and storing digital audio. It often uses the Vorbis audio compression codec, offering good quality at efficient file sizes.

Opus Audio File

Opus is a versatile, open-source audio codec optimized for interactive speech and music over the internet, offering high quality at low bitrates and latency.

A WAV file is an uncompressed audio format developed by Microsoft and IBM, known for its high fidelity. It is widely used for professional audio editing and high-quality sound storage.

WMA (Windows Media Audio) is a proprietary audio format developed by Microsoft, known for its good compression and quality.

Documents

A DOC file is a legacy word processing document format primarily used by Microsoft Word before 2007. It stores text, images, tables, and formatting in a proprietary binary structure.

DOCX is a standard file format for text documents created by Microsoft Word. It is based on the Open XML standard and uses XML to store document content, styles, and formatting.

EPUB is a widely adopted open standard for digital books, offering reflowable content that adapts to various screen sizes. It's the most common format for e-readers, excluding Amazon Kindle.

HyperText Markup Language file

HTML is the standard markup language used to structure and display content on the World Wide Web. It defines the layout and elements of a webpage, such as headings, paragraphs, images, and links.

Markdown is a lightweight markup language used for creating formatted text using a plain-text editor. It is widely favored for its simplicity and readability.

MOBI is an e-book file format primarily used for reading digital books on mobile devices. It offers reflowable text and support for images, suitable for various screen sizes.

ODT is an open standard text document format used primarily by word processors like LibreOffice Writer and Apache OpenOffice.

The Portable Document Format (PDF) is a universal file format designed for presenting documents independently of application software, hardware, and operating systems, ensuring consistent display across platforms.

PowerPoint Presentation (PPTX)

A PPTX file is a Microsoft PowerPoint Open XML (PPTX) presentation file used for slideshows. It contains slides with text, images, audio, video, charts, and other elements.

Rich Text Format

Rich Text Format (RTF) is a universal document file format developed by Microsoft for cross-platform document interchange. It allows for text styling and formatting that remains consistent across various word processors.

TXT Plain Text File

The TXT format is a universal plain text file, containing unformatted text characters. It is highly compatible across all operating systems and devices.

XLSX Spreadsheet

XLSX is the primary file format for Microsoft Excel since version 2007, used for storing and organizing tabular data. It's an Open XML-based spreadsheet format.

Images

AVIF is a modern, open-source image file format offering superior compression and quality compared to older formats. It supports HDR, wide color gamut, and transparency.

BMP (Bitmap) is an uncompressed raster image format developed by Microsoft, known for its high quality and large file sizes. It's widely supported across various operating systems and image editing software.

A bitmap image format supporting animation and lossless compression, widely used for web graphics. Ideal for short, looping clips and animated icons.

HEIC is an image format primarily used by Apple devices, offering superior compression and advanced features compared to JPEG. It stores high-quality photos in smaller file sizes.

An ICO file is an image format used to store icons for Microsoft Windows. It can contain multiple images of different sizes and color depths, including transparency.

A widely used image format for digital photography and web graphics. It uses lossy compression to reduce file size.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is a widely used image format known for its efficient lossy compression, making it ideal for photographs and complex images. It offers a good balance between file size and image quality.

PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is a widely used raster image format known for its lossless compression and support for transparency. It's ideal for web graphics, logos, and images where quality and transparency are crucial.

SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is an XML-based vector image format for two-dimensional graphics with support for interactivity and animation. It's ideal for web graphics that need to scale without losing quality.

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is a high-quality, lossless image format widely used for professional photography, desktop publishing, and archival storage. It preserves image integrity without data loss.

WebP is a modern image format developed by Google, designed to provide superior lossless and lossy compression for images on the web. It aims to create smaller, richer images that make the web faster.

Video

AVI (Audio Video Interleave) is a multimedia container format developed by Microsoft, widely used for storing video and audio data. It's known for its broad compatibility with various video players and operating systems.

Flash Video file

FLV is a container file format used to deliver video over the internet using Adobe Flash Player. It was widely adopted for streaming video content on platforms like YouTube in its early days.

Matroska Video (MKV)

MKV is a versatile container format designed to hold an unlimited number of video, audio, picture, or subtitle tracks in a single file. It is the gold standard for high-quality media storage.

MOV is a multimedia container file format developed by Apple, primarily used for storing video, audio, and text. It's often associated with Apple's QuickTime framework.

An MP4 file is a widely used digital multimedia container format primarily for storing video and audio. It's known for its efficient compression and broad compatibility across devices and platforms.

WebM is an open-source media file format designed for the web, providing high-quality video compression with efficient playback.

WMV (Windows Media Video) is a video compression format developed by Microsoft. It is commonly used for streaming and storing video on Windows-based systems.