File format Wikipedia. A file format is a standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. It specifies how bits are used to encode information in a digital storage medium. File formats may be either proprietary or free and may be either unpublished or open. Some file formats are designed for very particular types of data PNG files, for example, store bitmappedimages using lossless data compression. Other file formats, however, are designed for storage of several different types of data the Ogg format can act as a container for different types of multimedia including any combination of audio and video, with or without text such as subtitles, and metadata. A text file can contain any stream of characters, including possible control characters, and is encoded in one of various character encoding schemes. Some file formats, such as HTML, scalable vector graphics, and the source code of computer software are text files with defined syntaxes that allow them to be used for specific purposes. SpecificationseditFile formats often have a published specification describing the encoding method and enabling testing of program intended functionality. Not all formats have freely available specification documents, partly because some developers view their specification documents as trade secrets, and partly because other developers never author a formal specification document, letting precedent set by other programs define the format. If the developer of a format doesnt publish free specifications, another developer looking to utilize that kind of file must either reverse engineer the file to find out how to read it or acquire the specification document from the formats developers for a fee and by signing a non disclosure agreement. The latter approach is possible only when a formal specification document exists. Both strategies require significant time, money, or both therefore, file formats with publicly available specifications tend to be supported by more programs. PatentseditPatent law, rather than copyright, is more often used to protect a file format. Although patents for file formats are not directly permitted under US law, some formats encode data using patented algorithms. Do you want to convert a NEF file to a JPG file Dont download software use Zamzar to convert it for free online. Click to convert your NEF file now. Do you want to convert a RAW file to a JPG file Dont download software use Zamzar to convert it for free online. Click to convert your RAW file now. The PC Pitstop File Extension Library can be used to find a program that can open your email attachement or another unkown file type. PC Pitstop offers free computer. Collection of Unix freeware. Some trivial, some massive. For example, using compression with the GIF file format requires the use of a patented algorithm, and though the patent owner did not initially enforce their patent, they later began collecting royalty fees. This has resulted in a significant decrease in the use of GIFs, and is partly responsible for the development of the alternative PNG format. The FastPictureViewer Codec Pack contains image decoders codecs that enables robust support for 45 image formats, including RAW formats from more than. There is a lot of confusion and debate which surrounds camera RAW formats. This is mostly due to whether or not you should shoot in RAW or some other type of format. Contenta-RAW-Converter_7.png' alt='Conversion Extension File Raw Software' title='Conversion Extension File Raw Software' />However, the patent expired in the US in mid 2. Identifying file typeeditDifferent operating systems have traditionally taken different approaches to determining a particular files format, with each approach having its own advantages and disadvantages. Most modern operating systems and individual applications need to use all of the following approaches to read foreign file formats, if not work with them completely. Filename extensioneditOne popular method used by many operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS X, CPM, DOS, VMS, and VMCMS, is to determine the format of a file based on the end of its namethe letters following the final period. This portion of the filename is known as the filename extension. For example, HTML documents are identified by names that end with. GIF images by. gif. In the original FATfilesystem, file names were limited to an eight character identifier and a three character extension, known as an 8. There are only so many three letter extensions, so, often any given extension might be linked to more than one program. Many formats still use three character extensions even though modern operating systems and application programs no longer have this limitation. Since there is no standard list of extensions, more than one format can use the same extension, which can confuse both the operating system and users. One artifact of this approach is that the system can easily be tricked into treating a file as a different format simply by renaming itan HTML file can, for instance, be easily treated as plain text by renaming it from filename. Although this strategy was useful to expert users who could easily understand and manipulate this information, it was often confusing to less technical users, who could accidentally make a file unusable or lose it by renaming it incorrectly. This led more recent operating system shells, such as Windows 9. Mac OS X, to hide the extension when listing files. This prevents the user from accidentally changing the file type, and allows expert users to turn this feature off and display the extensions. Hiding the extension, however, can create the appearance of two or more identical filenames in the same folder. For example, a company logo may be needed both in. Conversion Extension File Raw Software' title='Conversion Extension File Raw Software' />Iridient Digital, Inc. Mac OS X. This web site contains news and information regarding our company and products. With the extensions visible, these would appear as the unique filenames Company. Logo. eps and Company. W6Omp6bT8QY/0.jpg' alt='Conversion Extension File Raw Software' title='Conversion Extension File Raw Software' />Logo. On the other hand, hiding the extensions would make both appear as Company. Logo. Hiding extensions can also pose a security risk. For example, a malicious user could create an executable program with an innocent name such as Holiday photo. The. exe would be hidden and a user would see Holiday photo. JPEG image, unable to harm the machine save for bugs in the application used to view it. However, the operating system would still see the. The same is true with files with only one extension as it is not shown to the user, no information about the file can be deduced without explicitly investigating the file. Extensions can be spoofed. Some Word macro viruses create a Word file in template format and save it with a. DOC extension. Since Word generally ignores extensions and looks at the format of the file these would open as templates, execute, and spread the virus. To further trick users, it is possible to store an icon inside the program, in which case some operating systems icon assignment for the executable file. JPEG images, making the program look like an image. This issue requires users with extensions hidden to be vigilant and never let the operating system choose with what program to open a file not known to be trustworthy which contradicts the idea of making things easier for the user. This represents a practical problem for Windows systems where extension hiding is turned on by default. Internal metadataeditA second way to identify a file format is to use information regarding the format stored inside the file itself, either information meant for this purpose or binary strings that happen to always be in specific locations in files of some formats. Since the easiest place to locate them is at the beginning, such area is usually called a file header when it is greater than a few bytes, or a magic number if it is just a few bytes long. The metadata contained in a file header are usually stored at the start of the file, but might be present in other areas too, often including the end, depending on the file format or the type of data contained. Character based text files usually have character based headers, whereas binary formats usually have binary headers, although this is not a rule. Text based file headers usually take up more space, but being human readable, they can easily be examined by using simple software such as a text editor or a hexadecimal editor. Grand Theft Auto Iv Serial Entry Unlock Request Code For Gta.