File
Suffix
|
Format Description & Type
|
How to Use
|
|
.au
|
This is a common sound format on the World Wide Web.
|
Use QuickTime or Sound Player to play it.
|
|
.aiff
|
Uncompressed sound format.
|
Use QuickTime or Sound Player.
|
|
.bin
|
MacBinary II encoded file. Make sure to download as MacBinary or Binary.
|
Use Stuffit Expander to return to a usable Macintosh file (if it is not already).
|
|
.doc
|
DOS/Windows file.
|
Use MS-Word (or other text application).
|
|
.exe
|
DOS/Windows program or a DOS/Windows self-extracting archive.
|
Must be run on a PC (or a Macintosh with hardware- or software-based PC compatibility).
|
|
.gif
|
GIF (Graphical Interchange Format). A common graphics file format.
|
Use QuickTime, your web browser, Graphic Converter, Photoshop, GIFConverter, JPEGView.
|
|
.gz
|
.gz is the Gnu version of zip. Used on UNIX systems.
|
Use Stuffit Expander to extract archives, or macgzip to view and extract archives.
|
|
.html, .htm
|
HTML (HyperText Markup Language), the code that web pages are formed with. A plain text file.
|
Use your web browser or any text editor (like SimpleText).
|
|
.hqx
|
BinHex. Encodes a Macintosh file into 7-bit text so it can be transferred across the Internet.
|
Use Stuffit Expander to decode the file and return it to its original state.
|
|
.img
|
Macintosh Disk Image.
|
Use Disk Copy to mount the disk image on your Macintosh desktop. The mounted disk image will behave as a read-only disk.
|
|
.jpeg, .jpg, .jfif
|
JPEG/JFIF, a 24 bit graphic format.
|
Use QuickTime, your web browser, or a graphics viewer such as JPEGView.
|
|
.mpeg, .mpg
|
An MPEG movie.
|
Use QuickTime Player.
|
|
.mp2, .mp3
|
MPEG Layer II and Layer III compressed audio.
|
Use QuickTime Player or a third-party player.
|
|
.moov, .mov, .qt, .movie
|
QuickTime movie.
|
Use QuickTime Player.
|
|
.pdf
|
Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format. Download these files as binary.
|
Use Adobe Acrobat Reader.
|
|
.ra, .ram, .rm
|
RealNetworks audio or video
|
Use RealPlayer.
|
|
.ps
|
Postscript file. Plain text file.
|
Send to a PostScript printer with the LaserWriter Font Utility or view it onscreen using Ghostscript.
|
|
.scr
|
Disk Copy Script.
|
Use Apple's Disk Copy utility.
|
|
.sea
|
Macintosh self-extracting archive.
|
Download it and launch it.
|
|
.sit
|
Stuffit Archive - Binary.
|
Download as MacBinary, and use Stuffit Expander.
|
|
.smi
|
A self-mounting image, created by Disk Copy.
|
Similar to .img, but does not require the use of Disk Copy. Download the .smi file and open it. A disk image will appear on your desktop.
|
|
.tar
|
UNIX tar program takes separate files and turns them into a single file. Extensions such as .tar.Z, .tar.gz and .tgz (latter two are equivalent) require decompression first, then un-tar.
|
Extract with Stuffit Expander, or use Tar.
|
|
.tiff, .tif
|
image format.
|
Use QuickTime Player, JPEGView, or GraphicConverter.
|
|
.txt
|
A plain text file.
|
Use your web browser, or any text editor such as SimpleText.
|
|
.uu, .uue
|
A uuencoded file.
|
Use Stuffit Deluxe, UU Undo, or UUunencode to decode it.
|
|
.wav
|
Windows Wave format sound.
|
Use QuickTime Player.
|
|
.Z
|
UNIX Compressed File.
|
If you are downloading via ftp, most ftp servers will expand for you if you drop the ".Z". Otherwise, use Stuffit Expander with Expander Enhancer.
|
|
.zip
|
pkzip, a common DOS/Windows compression format.
|
Use ZipIt, Stuffit Expander with Expander Enhancer, or MacUnZip.
|