File Types

Computer File Suffixes

Computer files (or documents) are given in two parts:

1) the file name

2) the suffix

Take for instance these files:

report.doc

report.docx

song.mid

movie.mp4

The suffixes inform the computer which program is used to view the file.

The "report files" have different suffixes. ".doc" is the suffix for MS Word 97 and 2000, and ".docx" is the suffix for the newer version of MS Word. The "song" has a ".mid" suffix, indicating that this is a MIDI file. If you open this file your computer will search for a program that plays MIDI (Such as Windows Media Player). The file named "movie" has an ".mp4" suffix indicating that it is a video file that can be played by RealPlayer, QuickTime, or other video programs.

Explanation of Other Program Files:

Aria Maestosa has its own native file suffix:

.aria is a project file for Aria Maestosa. Other programs will not be able to open this file. Please note that this is NOT a MIDI (.mid) file.

Audacity has native file suffix:

.aup is a project file for Audacity. This also is not a MIDI (.mid) file. This file can only be played with Audacity.

Sound and Video File suffixes

Please note that MIDI files (.mid) are not sound files! They contain instructions not recordings.

Sound files include uncompressed and compressed (lossy) files. The two most common uncompressed sound files are .wav (wave) and .aif. PCs primarily use the .wav files, and Mac most often uses .aif. Both file types, however, are played by most Digital Audio Workstations. Compressed files are smaller in size and consequently have data removed. Examples of compressed sound files include .mp3 and .ogg (open source). Audacity does not come with software to create .mp3 files, but you can add this to Audacity if you like. The needed software is LAME. The program to general .mp3 files is still under copyright.

There are several different types of video files, each with their own suffixes. Uncompressed videos have the .avi suffixes. It is very rare to find these placed on websites because of the large file size. Here are the various compressed formats:

Flash files occur in two formats: .swf (older) and .flv.

RealMedia has .ram and .rm suffixes,

iPod users make use of .mp4 and .mv4. These are native files types for QuickTime.

Windows Media Player uses .wmv

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File Types

Computer File Suffixes

Sound and Video File suffixes