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Computer Files

Computer files are organized collections of stored data that are identified by their name, extension, size, type and other attributes. File extensions indicate the type of file using a few letters after a dot in the filename. Common file formats include graphics formats like JPEG, PNG and GIF for images, WAV and MP3 for sound, AVI and MP4 for video, TXT for plain text, DOC for word documents, XLS for excel sheets, and HTML and XML for web pages. File formats determine how data is structured in a file and what application can open what file type.

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304 views

Computer Files

Computer files are organized collections of stored data that are identified by their name, extension, size, type and other attributes. File extensions indicate the type of file using a few letters after a dot in the filename. Common file formats include graphics formats like JPEG, PNG and GIF for images, WAV and MP3 for sound, AVI and MP4 for video, TXT for plain text, DOC for word documents, XLS for excel sheets, and HTML and XML for web pages. File formats determine how data is structured in a file and what application can open what file type.

Uploaded by

djakate kadja
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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COMPUTER FILES

Introduction
A computer file is a named collection of stored data. Computers use file extensions to help identify the
file types. Every computer file is characterized by its name, file extension, size, type, data modified and
structure. On windows computers, extensions consist of a dot at the end of the file name, followed by a
few letters to identify the type of file. An extension of .txt signifies a text file, .doc signifies a word
document. In a computer system, files are usually arranged in folders and directories. A folder can contain
numerous files and it can also contain folders called subfolders. The master folder with contains these files
and folders is called the root folder.

File formats and extensions


A file format is the manner in which data is organized or structured in a computer file. A file extension is
a string of characters that represent the second part of a computer filename and used to identify the file
type. The file format used determines the type of application that will be used to manipulate that file. The
type of file format used to store a file also determines the quality of the file. One of the reasons why file
formats differ is for compression purposes. Some file formats organize files in a more efficient way using
up less space. Another reason for the much diversity of file formats is due to the difference in nature of
computer files. Also different file formats have different techniques of representing files. Some examples
of file formats are:

a. Graphic file formats


 GIF (Graphic Interchange Format): This is a compressed image file format. This file format
helps to reduce the size of the image file and as such it can easily be transmitted over a
network. The file extension is .gif
 JPEG (Joint Photographic Expert Group): This file format can save images of all colours. So
it is preferable for images used in different platforms. The file extension is .jpeg or .jpg
 TIFF (Tag Image File Format): It is a flexible container format for digital still images. It is
commonly used in desktop publishing.
 BMP (Bitmap): This is a common file format for storing images. It stores colour data for
each pixel in the image without any compression. The file extension is .bmp
 PNG (Portable Network Graphics): It is a lossless bitmap image format that is popular on
the internet. It was largely developed to deal with some of the short comings of the GIF
format and allow storage of images with great quality.
b. Sound file formats
 WAV (Waveform sound format): It is also known as WAVE. It is a standard audio format for
windows operating system often used for storing high-quality uncompressed sounds. The
file extension is .wav
 MP3 (MPEG layer 3): It is a format for converting a large audio file into very small audio files
while still preserving the original level of sound quality. The file extension is .mp3
c. Video file format
 AVI (Audio/Video Interleaved): It is a multimedia file format introduced by Microsoft. AVI
allows synchronous audio – with – video playback. The file extension is .avi
 MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group): MPEG files maintain most of the original quality of
the uncompressed movie. The file extension is .mpg and .mpeg
 MP4 (MPEG layer 4): It is a standard technology and format for converting a large
multimedia file into a very small multimedia file while preserving the original level of sound
and image quality when it is played.
d. Document file format
 TXT: It is a file format for storing plain text. That is text that contains no formatting.
 PDF (Portable Document Format): It is a multi-platform file format developed by adobe
systems. A PDF file captures documents text, font, images and formatted documents from a
variety of applications. The file extension is .pdf
 DOC (Document file): It is a file format used by Microsoft word. It is also used with most
word processing software including open office. A doc file can contain formatted text,
images, tables, graphs, charts etc. the file extension is .doc
 XLS (excel spreadsheet): It is a file format for spreadsheets. It was created by Microsoft for
use with Microsoft excel.
e. Database file format
 DBF (Database file): It is a file format typically used for database files.
 MDB (Microsoft access database): It is a database file used by Microsoft access.
f. Hypermedia file format
 HTML (hypertext markup language): This is a text file format which is designed to be
viewed with a web browser.
 XML (extensible markup language): This is a file format used to create common information
format that are shared on the WWW.

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