.avi

Audio Video Interleave movie

.avi (Audio Video Interleave) format was developed by Microsoft Inc. and released in Windows version 3.1

It is a common format used for the encoding of files containing audio and video content. The format is widely used by Windows users, and the software is embedded with the Windows OS. AVI players are available for various platforms, a selection of these is provided below:

PC, Apple Macintosh and Sun Solaris: Windows Media Player - see www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/players.aspx

PC and Apple Macintosh: Real Player - see http://www.real.com

Unix: Mplayer - see mplayerhq.hu

Please follow the relevant download and installation instructions provided at the appropriate download sites above.

.csv

Comma Separated Value file

.csv files are usually spreadsheet-type data stored in a text format separated by commas. Those files can be loaded in e.g., Microsoft Excel, a popular spreadsheet program provided by Microsoft.

A number of software packages are able to read/write data in CSV format, a selection of these is provided below:

PC: Microsoft Excel - see http://www.microsoft.com/excel/

Apple Macintosh: Microsoft Excel - see http://www.microsoft.com/mac/excelx/

UNIX: ParseExcel - see aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Modules/dist_html?dist_id=9643

Please follow the relevant download and installation instructions provided at the appropriate download sites above.

.doc

Microsoft Word file

.doc files are Microsoft Word documents. Virtually all PC users have access to this software making it the most common word-processing file format.

A number of software packages are able to read/write data in Word format, a selection of these is provided below:

PC: Microsoft Word - see http://www.microsoft.com/word/

Apple Macintosh: Microsoft Excel - see http://www.microsoft.com/mac/wordx/

UNIX: AbiWord - see www.abisource.com/download/

Please follow the relevant download and installation instructions provided at the appropriate download sites above.

.docx

Microsoft Word 2007 file

.docx files are Microsoft Word 2007 documents. Virtually all PC users have access to this software making it the most common word processing file format.

A number of software packages are able to read/write data in Word format, a selection of these is provided below:

PC: Microsoft Word - see http://www.microsoft.com/word/

Apple Macintosh: Microsoft Excel - see http://www.microsoft.com/mac/wordx/

UNIX: AbiWord - see http://www.abisource.com/download/

Please follow the relevant download and installation instructions provided at the appropriate download sites above.

.eps

Encapsulated PostScript

.eps (Encapsulated PostScript) from Adobe Systems Inc. is a popular format for distribution of 'print-format' images and pages. Software such as GhostScript, Adobe Illustrator® and CorelDraw® are able to load and/or manipulate EPS figures.

.fig

MATLAB figure file

.fig files are MATLAB figure files, developed by The MathWorks, Inc.. MATLAB is a numerical computing environment, which can be used for data analysis and data visualization.

For more information and download instructions, please refer to the MathWorks MATLAB website.

.flv

Flash video file

.flv (Flash Video) format was developed by Macromedia Inc., which was acquired by Adobe Systems, Inc.

.gif

Graphics Interchange Format

.gif - Graphics Interchange File is a commonly accepted format used for image data in Web applications. GIF is typically used for application of images at a lower resolution, providing a reasonable quality with good compression schemes that filesize is relatively small. GIF files are directly viewable in all web browsers. GIF also supports animations.

A number of software packages are able to read/write GIF files, a selection of these is provided below:

PC: Paintshop Pro - see https://www.jasc.com/products/psp/

Apple Macintosh: Adobe Photoshop - see https://www.adobe.com/photoshop

UNIX: xv - see https://www.trilon.com/xv/downloads.html

Many other non-imaging applications, such as MS Word, support inclusion of GIF images into new or existing documents.

.jpg

JPEG image file

.jpg image is the most common image format used by digital cameras and other photographic image capture devices. Along with JPEG/JFIF, it is the most common format for storing and transmitting photographic images on the World Wide Web. JPEG file format was developed by Joint Photographic Experts Group.

.kml

Keyhole Markup Language file

.kml is an XML notation for expressing geographic annotation and visualization within Internet-based, two-dimensional maps and three-dimensional Earth browsers. KML files are often distributed in KMZ zip files. KML was developed for use with Google Earth, which was originally named Keyhole Earth Viewer. It was created by Keyhole, Inc, which was acquired by Google in 2004.

.kmz

Keyhole Markup Language-Zip file

.kmz files are zipped KML files. KML is an XML notation for expressing geographic annotation and visualization within Internet-based, two-dimensional maps and three-dimensional Earth browsers. KML was developed for use with Google Earth, which was originally named Keyhole Earth Viewer. It was created by Keyhole, Inc, which was acquired by Google in 2004.

.m

MATLAB notebook file

.m is the file extension given to MATLAB notebook files.

MATLAB is a product of The MathWorks, Inc. See the MATLAB website for more information.

.mat

MATLAB data file

.mat is the file extension given to MATLAB data files.

MATLAB is a product of The MathWorks, Inc. See the MATLAB website for more information.

.mml

MathML file

.mml is the file extension given to MathML files, XML-based text files with mathematical expressions.

Several MathML-supporting programs are available:

Windows: MathPlayer - see https://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathplayer

Windows, Macintosh, Linux, UNIX: Mathematica - see http://www.wolfram.com/products/mathematica/index.html

Please follow the relevant download and installation instructions provided at the appropriate download sites above.

.mol

MDL file

.mol (also called MDL) is a file format created by MDL for holding information about the atoms, bonds, connectivity and coordinates of a molecule.

It is an ASCII file format. Files can be accessed via any text editor, e.g. Notepad, vim, TextEdit, etc. Also files can be imported in the freely available CanvasMol, which allows users to view 3D models in this format online.

.mol2

Tripos Mol2 file

.mol2 is a Tripos Mol2 file. It is a complete, portable representation of a SYBYL molecule. The complete format specification can be found at this site.

It is an ASCII file format, which contains all the information needed to reconstruct a SYBYL molecule. Files can be accessed via any text editor, e.g. Notepad, vim, TextEdit, etc.

.mov

Quicktime movie

.mov files are QuickTime movies, a popular format developed by Apple Inc., used for video and animation files. The format is widely used by Apple Macintosh users, and the software is embedded with the Mac OS. In addition, QuickTime player software is also available for the PC platform.

The Apple QuickTime player software can be downloaded from wwws.apple.com/quicktime/download/

.mp3,

.mp4

MPEG movie

.mpg (MPEG) format was developed by the Moving Pictures Expert Group.

It is a common format used for the encoding of files containing audio and video content. The format is widely used by Windows users, and the software is embedded with the Windows OS. MPEG players are available for various platforms, a selection of these is provided below:

PC, Apple Macintosh and Sun Solaris: Windows Media Player - see http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/players.aspx

PC and Apple Macintosh: Real Player - see http://www.real.com

Unix: Mplayer - see mplayerhq.hu

Please follow the relevant download and installation instructions provided at the appropriate download sites above.

.mtl

Material file

.mtl (Material File) is an auxiliary file containing definitions of materials that may be accessed by an .obj file. This is a plain text format. Files can be viewed using any text editor, e.g. Notepad, vim, TextEdit, etc.

.nb

Mathematica notebook file

.nb is the file extension given to Mathematica notebook files.

Mathematica is a product of Wolfram. See the Mathematica website for more information.

.nbp

Mathematica Player notebook file

.nbpis the file extension given to Mathematica Player notebook files.

Mathematica is a product of Wolfram. See the Mathematica website for more information.

.nii

Neuroimaging Informatics Technology Initiative

.nii is the single file version of the Neuroimaging Informatics Technology Initiative (NIfTI) format. NIfTI is a data format for saving volumetric (f)MRI data. It is a standard data format widely used in neuroimaging. The freely available software Mango (http://www.nitrc.org/projects/mango/) enables users to view files in this format.

.nwk

Phylogenetic Trees in Newick (new) format

.nwk files are phylogenetic tree data stored in the Newick format. The Newick format is used by many phylogenetics software packages, e.g. GARLI, MrBayes, PAUP*, PHYLIP and TREE-PUZZLE.

Software packages like PAUP* and FigTree also allow other tree file formats to be converted to Newick

.pdb

Protein Data Bank file

.pdb (Protein Data Bank) is a textual file format describing three dimensional structures of molecules held in the Protein Data Bank. The complete format specification can be found at this site.

The freely available software Paraview, enables users to view 3D models in this format. Also files can be imported in the freely available CanvasMol, which allows users to view 3D models in this format online.

.pdf

Portable Document Format file

.pdf (Portable Document Format) from Adobe Systems Inc. has become a popular format for distribution of 'print-format' documents via the internet. The freely available Acrobat Reader software, downloadable from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.htmlenables users on any platform to view PDF documents on the internet, normally from within the browser software itself.

.ply

Polygon file

.ply files are a computer file format known as the Polygon File Format or the Stanford Triangle Format. This format was principally designed to store three dimensional data from 3D scanners. The complete format specification can be found at this site.

The freely available software Par aview, enables users to view 3D models in this format.

.png

Portable Network Graphics file

.png is a raster graphics file format that supports lossless data compression. A PNG file contains a single image in an extensible structure of "chunks", encoding the basic pixels and other information such as textual comments and integrity checks.

.PNG was developed by PNG Development Group (donated to W3C).

.ppt,

.pptx,

.pps,

.ppsx

Microsoft Powerpoint

.ppt, .pptx, .pps, .ppsx are Powerpoint formats developed by Microsoft Inc.. It is a common format used for presentation-type data stored in the Microsoft Powerpoint 2007 format. Powerpoint is available for Windows and Apple Macintosh platforms:

PC: Powerpoint - see https://www.microsoft.com/powerpoint

PC: Free Powerpoint Viewer - see Microsoft Office Download Center

Apple Macintosh: Powerpoint X - see http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/powerpointx/powerpointx.aspx

Please follow the relevant download and installation instructions provided at the appropriate download sites above.

.pse

PyMOL Session file

.pse (PyMOL Session file format) is a dictionary representation of a PyMOL session. A session is one particular conformation of a molecule (color scheme, camera, lighting effects, etc,). This format is very specific and requires the application PyMOL to be used.

Open Source PyMOL is freely available and can be downloaded from this site.

.r

R file

.R is the file extension used for notebooks in "R", a programming language for statistical computing, analysis, and visualization. R is a GNU project, and the source code for the R software environment is freely available under the GNU General Public License. For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_(programming_language)

.svg

Scalable Vector Graphics file

.svg is an XML-based vector image format for two-dimensional graphics with support for interactivity and animation. The SVG specification is an open standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) since 1999.

.tar

TAR file

.tar files are a popular format for archival and compression purposes. The freely available WinZip software, downloadable from http://www.winzip.com enables users to decompress and/or unpack zip files.

.tif,

.tiff

Tagged Image File Format

TIFF or TIF is a computer file format for storing raster graphics images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and photographers. TIFF specification is controlled by Adobe Systems, Inc.

.txt

Plain text file

.txt is the file extension normally given to plain, ASCII-based, text files. Most operating systems contain a default text editor that is able to read/write text-based files. Microsoft Windows has both Notepad and Wordpad, Macintosh systems have SimpleText and Unix/Linux have many that may include Emacs and xview.

.u3d

Universal 3D file format

.u3d is the Universal 3D File Format. U3D is primarily intended for 3D CAD and visualization purposes. U3D models can be embedded in PDF files and viewed using Adobe Reader (freely downloadable from https://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html).

.xls

Microsoft Excel file

.xls files are spreadsheet-type data stored in the Microsoft Excel format, a popular spreadsheet program provided by Microsoft.

A number of software packages are able to read/write data in Excel format, a selection of these is provided below:

PC: Microsoft Excel - see http://www.microsoft.com/excel/

Apple Macintosh: Microsoft Excel - see http://www.microsoft.com/mac/excelx/

UNIX: ParseExcel - see aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Modules/dist_html?dist_id=9643

Please follow the relevant download and installation instructions provided at the appropriate download sites above.

.xlsx

Microsoft Excel 2007 file

.xlsx files are spreadsheet-type data stored in the Microsoft Excel 2007 format, a popular spreadsheet program provided by Microsoft Corp..

A number of software packages are able to read/write data in Excel format, a selection of these is provided below:

PC: Microsoft Excel - see https://www.microsoft.com/excel/

Apple Macintosh: Microsoft Excel - see https://www.microsoft.com/mac/excelx/

UNIX: ParseExcel - see aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Modules/dist_html?dist_id=9643

Please follow the relevant download and installation instructions provided at the appropriate download sites above.

.xml

XML file

.xml files are Extensible Markup Language files and widely used to represent data structures. A popular free, open-source reader is XML Explorer (xmlexplorer.codeplex.com).

.zip

ZIP file

.zip files are a popular format for archival and compression purposes. The freely available WinZip software, downloadable from https://www.winzip.com enables users to decompress and/or unpack zip files.