File Format Directory

Open-source archive format from Igor Pavlov with the highest compression ratios available. Created by 7-Zip, free to use without any licensing restrictions.

GNU Zip compression format using the Deflate algorithm. Used to compress single files on Unix/Linux systems and as the compression layer in .tar.gz archives.

Roshal Archive Compressed format with superior compression ratios to ZIP. Widely used for distributing large files online, supports multi-part archives and recovery records.

Unix archive format that bundles multiple files into a single file without compression. Almost always used with GZ or BZ2 compression as .tar.gz or .tar.bz2.

The universal archive format for compressing and bundling multiple files into one.

Advanced Audio Coding — the successor to MP3, delivering better sound quality at equivalent bitrates. Default audio format for Apple, YouTube, and most streaming services.

Apple's uncompressed audio format equivalent to WAV. Standard format for professional audio on macOS and used natively in GarageBand and Logic Pro.

Free Lossless Audio Codec — open-source format that compresses audio without any quality loss. The audiophile standard for digital music collections.

MPEG-4 audio container storing AAC-encoded audio. Used by Apple for iTunes downloads, Apple Music, and audio-only podcast exports.

The universal audio format — the most widely used standard for music, podcasts, and audio distribution.

Open-source audio container using Vorbis encoding. Royalty-free alternative to MP3 and AAC, widely used in games, Linux systems, and open-source software.

Uncompressed lossless audio format developed by Microsoft and IBM. The professional standard for recording, editing, and archiving audio.

AV1 Image File Format — next-generation image format with compression 50% better than JPG. Natively supported in Chrome, Firefox, and modern browsers.

Windows Bitmap — the original uncompressed raster image format. Stores pixel data directly with no compression, producing large files but perfect quality.

Legacy format supporting animation and indexed colour — largely superseded by WebP and APNG.

High Efficiency Image Container — Apple's modern iPhone photo format. Stores photos at half the file size of JPG with superior quality using HEVC compression.

Windows Icon format that stores multiple image sizes in a single file. Used for application icons, website favicons, and Windows desktop shortcuts.

The most widely used format for photographs — small file size with excellent visual quality.

Lossless image format with full transparency support — the standard for graphics, logos, and screenshots.

Adobe Photoshop's native document format. Preserves all layers, masks, adjustment layers, and smart objects for non-destructive editing workflows.

Unprocessed sensor data directly from a camera. Contains full dynamic range and colour information before any in-camera processing — the digital equivalent of a film negative.

Scalable Vector Graphics — the web standard for icons, logos, and illustrations that stay sharp at any size.

Tagged Image File Format — professional-grade image format for print, scanning, and archival. Supports lossless compression, multiple pages, and CMYK colour.

Modern image format from Google offering superior compression for both photos and graphics.

Comma-Separated Values — the simplest and most universal data exchange format. Stores tabular data as plain text rows, readable by every spreadsheet application and database.

Microsoft Word's legacy binary document format used from 1983 to 2007. Still widely circulated in older archives and legal documents before the DOCX transition.

Microsoft Word's Open XML format — the standard for editable document exchange.

OpenDocument Spreadsheet format from the LibreOffice ecosystem. ISO-standardised, vendor-neutral alternative to XLSX for spreadsheet data.

OpenDocument Text format from the LibreOffice/OpenOffice ecosystem. ISO-standardised, vendor-neutral alternative to DOCX for text documents.

Rich Text Format — a formatted document standard from 1987. Stores basic text formatting (bold, italic, fonts, colours) in a human-readable plain-text encoding understood by virtually every word processor.

Plain text format containing only unformatted characters. The most universal file format — readable by every program on every platform without any special software.

Microsoft Excel's legacy binary spreadsheet format used from 1987 to 2007. Contains formulas, charts, and multiple worksheets in a proprietary binary structure.

Microsoft Excel's Open XML spreadsheet format — the standard for numerical data, tables, and calculations.

Portable Document Format — the universal standard for shareable, print-ready documents.

Apple Keynote's native presentation format. Known for smooth animations and beautiful templates, used across Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

OpenDocument Presentation format from the LibreOffice/OpenOffice ecosystem. ISO-standardised, vendor-neutral alternative to PPTX.

Microsoft PowerPoint's legacy binary format used before Office 2007. Still common in older archives and shared presentations.

Microsoft PowerPoint's modern XML-based format. The universal standard for creating and sharing slide decks across every platform.

Microsoft's Audio Video Interleave container from 1992. A legacy video format still widely used for storing uncompressed and DivX/Xvid-encoded video files.

Matroska Video container — the most versatile open-source video format. Supports unlimited audio/subtitle tracks, chapters, and any codec. Preferred for HD movie storage.

Apple QuickTime Movie format. Native video container on macOS and iOS, used by iPhones, iMovie, and Final Cut Pro for high-quality video recording and editing.

The universal video format — used for streaming, downloading, and sharing video content across all devices.

Open-source web-optimised video format developed by Google. Uses VP8/VP9/AV1 video and Vorbis/Opus audio — royalty-free and natively supported by all modern browsers.

Windows Media Video — Microsoft's proprietary video format for Windows. Common in older Windows software and legacy corporate video archives.