The first three character extension indicates what type of data can be found in that file (ASCII documentation, source, samples, etc.). The other extensions indicate what format the files are in. The extensions ".tar" and ".sit" indicate types of archives, and the ".Z" and ".hqx" indicate compression and encoding schemes. (See below for instructions on extracting files that have been archived and/or compressed.) Following are a list of extensions and their meanings:
| .386 | Sun 386i executables |
| .ai | Adobe Illustrator |
| .aif | AIFF audio |
| .aiff | AIFF audio |
| .asc | ASCII text documentation |
| .au | ULAW audio |
| .avi | Microsoft video |
| .bin | Mac binary (stores Macintosh specific data in addition to those available only to other platforms) |
| .bmp | Windows BMP Image |
| .cdw | Macintosh ClarisDraw vector graphics file |
| .cdg | Cricket Draw graphics file |
| .cgd | Cricket Graph data file |
| .cgg | Cricket Graph graphics file |
| .cgi | a cgi (Common Gateway Interface) script to be run on a www-server |
| .cmx | Corel Draw Exchange |
| .cr2 | Cray 2 executables |
| .crY | CrayYMP executables |
| .cv2 | Convex 2 executables |
| .cv3 | Convex 3 executables |
| .d31 | DEC 3100 executables |
| .dct | DiskTracker file catalogue |
| .dgl | Silicon Graphics Iris using DGL executables |
| .doc | Microsoft Word Document |
| .enl | EndNote library |
| .eps | extended postscript documentation |
| .exe | IBM PC executables |
| .flc | FLC animations |
| .gif | Graphics format |
| .gz | encoded with IBM PC application, GZip |
| .hqx | encoded with Macintosh application, BinHex |
| .htm | Hyper Text Markup Language (IBM PC) |
| .html | Hyper Text Markup Language (Macintosh, Unix) |
| .jpe | JPEG Image |
| .jpeg | JPEG Image |
| .jpg | JPEG Image |
| .js | JAVA script |
| .kar | standard music MIDI file, typically handled by QuickTime or another browser plug-in |
| .ldif | LDIF file, common format for address lists |
| .m68 | Motorola 68k executables |
| .m88 | Motorola 88k executables |
| .mac | Macintosh executables |
| .macp | Macintosh MacPaint pixel graphics image |
| .man | formatted man page |
| .mcw | MacWrite document |
| .mdr | Macintosh MacDraw Pro vector graphics file |
| .mid | standard music MIDI file, typically handled by QuickTime or another browser plug-in |
| .midi | standard music MIDI file, typically handled by QuickTime or another browser plug-in |
| .mov | Video file, e.g. QuickTime |
| .mpeg | MPEG video |
| .mpg | MPEG video |
| .mpe | MPEG video |
| .msw | Microsoft Word document (e.g. Word 5 document) |
| .mw | MacWrite document |
| .pbm | PBM image |
| Adobe (Acrobat) Portable document format | |
| .pic | Macintosh picture (of type PICT) |
| .pict | Macintosh picture (of type PICT) |
| .png | PNG image |
| .pnm | PBM image |
| .pnt | Macintosh MacPaint pixel graphics image |
| .pntg | Macintosh MacPaint pixel graphics image |
| .ppt | PowerPoint document |
| .pps | PowerPoint Show |
| .ps | postscript documentation |
| .psd | Photoshop Image |
| .qt | Video file |
| .qtc | Video file |
| .ra | RealAudio (Realplayer) |
| .ram | RealAudio (Realplayer) |
| .rfm | Rich Music Format (Beatnik Player) |
| .rgb | RGB Image |
| .rm | RealAudio (Realplayer) |
| .rs6 | IBM RS6000 executables |
| .rpm | RealAudio (Realplayer) |
| .rtf | Rich Text Format |
| .sea | Self extracting Macintosh archive |
| .sgi | Silicon Graphics Iris executables or SGI Image |
| .shar | Bourne shell archive |
| .sit | archive created by Macintosh application, StuffIt |
| .smp | sample files |
| .sn3 | Sun 3 executables |
| .sn4 | Sun 4 executables |
| .src | source code |
| .snd | ULAW audio |
| .spnt | Macintosh SuperPaint graphics file (vector and/or pixel) |
| .swf | Shockwave Flash |
| .tar | archive created with UNIX tar command |
| .targa | Targa Truevision Image |
| .tga | Targa Truevision Image |
| .tif | TIFF image |
| .tiff | TIFF image |
| .txt | a plain text document, which may contain platform depenndent characters beyond (ORD(ch)>127) the ASCII set (see also .asc) |
| .war | Web archive file, e.g. generated when Internet Explorer saves a web page/site |
| .wav | IBM PC originating audio file |
| .wmf | Windows metafile |
| .ult | audio mod file (Beatnik Player) |
| .xls | Microsoft Excel Worksheet |
| .xpm | X Pixmap |
| .Z | compressed with UNIX compress command |
| .zip | compressed with GZip on IBM PC |
The files in the PC directory are the only exception to this naming convention. In order to conform with the DOS convention of eight character file names and one, three character extension, the names for PC files are slightly different. Whenever possible the scheme outlined above is used, but the names are usually abbreviated and all but one of the dots "." have been omitted.
List assembled by Andreas Fischlin from various sources encountered during daily work.
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