File Types and Extensions

One of the most confusing things to a layman is the number of different file types and extensions that a document can have.

When I first began freelancing as a writer online a client of mine sent me a .pdf document and asked me to write articles based on the information it contained. And here I was not even able to open the file to access what it said.

Eventually I did manage to figure out that I needed different software and thank god for Google that I could find it easily. Since then I have handled far more file extensions and types and feel I can share some of this to make it easier for others who follow.

Given here is a set of extensions that you may come across and quick reference to the kind of file that you can expect it to be. Additionally there is the choice of software in which the file with that particular extension will open to be viewed.

Since I figure Mac users will know this stuff anyhow, I'm sticking to software on a PC. I have tried to group files of a similar type together so that it is easier to follow. Hope it makes life just a bit easier for you.

gif, jpg, jpeg = Image Files

The files with these extensions are essentially picture files or image files. These documents can usually viewed in Microsoft's Paint. This is usually loaded in all PC computers that operate on windows.

pdf = Document with words and images that cant be edited

A PDF file is usually read in Adobe Reader. It will generally have restrictions to editing the file. You can sometimes copy the data here into a regular Word Document and edit it there.

txt, doc,docx, ppt, pptx,xls,xlsx = Microsoft Office Files

The txt file can be opened in notepad, or wordpad. The doc and docx files can be opened in Word 2003 and Word 2007 respectively. The ppt and pptx files are power point documents that can be opened in Power Point 2003 and 2007 respectively. The xls and xlsx files are excel sheets that can be opened in Excel 2003 and 2007 respectively.

html, htm = Internet Files

The html and htm forms are files that can be opened in your internet browser. They need knowledge of coding to be edited. You can view these documents in Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Mozilla Fire Fox.

wav, mov, avi, wmv, mpeg, mpg, mpe, mp3, mp4 = Media Files

These are all multimedia files. They can be audio, video or animation. You can view most of them in VLC media player. This is a free software that you can download off the internet. It can play most media files with ease.

zip, rar = Compressed Files

The zip and rar files can be viewed in Winzip which can be downloaded from their website for a 14 day free trial period. These files can contain other documents with different file extensions. So you may need readers for these other files as well.