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    Different Types of Files: A Beginner’s Guide

     

    Work
    with computers
    for any length of time and you’ll be shocked at the many
    different types of files that you come across. Take a look at the file
    extensions
    in your PC and you’ll see hundreds, if not thousands of
    different files that all work on your computer.

    While you don’t need to know what
    every one of these files is, having some idea as to what type of media they are
    can help you a lot. In this article, we’re going to look at some of the most
    common types of files and what they are. Let’s get started.

    1.
    Document Files

    First off, we have one of the most
    common types of files: document files. These are the files that you’ll save
    when you work with a word processor like Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, or
    OpenOffice. They contain every word you’ve typed along with data on the font of
    choice, font size, formatting, and more.

    The most common types of document
    files are .doc and .docx, which are used by Microsoft Word. Other popular forms
    of text files include .odt, .rtf, and .txt, though .txt is a much more basic
    file format.

    Another popular format is .pdf,
    which is a highly polished format. You can even make other formats like HTML
    into .pdf using Spire
    PDF
    .

    2.
    Media Files

    Next up we have media files. These
    are files that encode your music, podcasts, and videos. For audio files, the
    most common file type, by far, is .mp3.

    Pretty much any media player can
    play .mp3 files, while other files like .wma and .aac are much more
    specialized.

    For videos, there are a few
    different file types including .avi, .mp4, and .mkv. They all have different
    pros and cons but most media players will play them, regardless.

    3.
    Image Files

    Image files encode images and are
    responsible for how the image looks. A .jpg file will be the most common type
    you’ll encounter: these compress images without sacrificing too much quality,
    so are great for websites and emails.

    Other image types include .gif
    (which aren’t just animated), .png, and .tiff. In general, a larger file size
    will mean less compression and a better picture.

    There are also non-traditional image
    file types like .webm, which most image viewers will have problems opening but
    are used online a lot.

    4.
    Program Files

    When you’re dealing with programs
    themselves, there will be a lot of files involved but the one that starts and
    runs the program itself will be a .exe, which means executable. This means that
    your CPU runs the file, which then runs the program, so to speak.

    If you’re dealing with very old
    programs, you may also run into .bat files and the like, but .exe is the modern
    standard for Windows.

    Different
    Types of Files: Explained

    We hope that you feel more secure
    and understand the different types of files that you’re likely to encounter. If
    you’d like to read more informative articles like this, check out the rest of
    our blog!

     

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