File formats (2024)

Table of Contents

File formats Publish and preserve

File formats

Files are saved in different formats. File formats are standard ways to store data on a computer and define how bits are used to encode information in a digital storage medium. Files are usually named like this: [prefix].[suffix] or filename.type. The prefix is a name which is used to identify the file, and the suffix indicates the file type. In this way files of the type .txt are text encoded files and usually contain text and/or numbers. Images are often saved in .jpg or .bmp while audio can be saved in the .mp3 or .wav file format.

Some file formats are proprietary – like .nef or .wma which are owned by Nikon and Microsoft. Other file formats like .txt or .csv are non-proprietary and can be used with a variety of software. Different file formats have different characteristics and properties and thus determine how data can be used. The purpose of a file should help determine which file format to choose. Therefore, you may have to keep some data files in multiple formats. It is important to plan what file formats to use for each purpose: data collection/ processing/analysis, reuse, and preservation.

When it is necessary to save files in a proprietary format, consider including a readme.txt file in your directory that documents the name and version of the software used to generate the file, as well as the company that made the software. This could help you down the road, if you need to figure out how to open these files again.

Publish and preserve

You have to consider whether the file formats used for data collection, processing, and analysis are also appropriate formats for long-term preservation.