File formats

PSD

Image file created by Adobe Photoshop, the most commonly used professional image-editing program; may include image layers, adjustment layers, layer masks, annotation notes, file information, keywords, and other Photoshop-specific elements.

AI
Vector image file created by Adobe Illustrator; composed of paths, or lines connected by points, instead of bitmap data; may include objects, color, and text; often referred to as a Illustrator drawing.

INDDProfessional page layout project created with Adobe InDesign; includes page formatting information, page content, linked files, styles, and swatches; used for creating and formatting books, magazines, newspapers, flyers, brochures, etc.

PPT
Editable slide show created with Microsoft PowerPoint; often used for presentations or slideshows; may include formatted text, bullet points, images, movies, sound effects, and music; often built from one of many templates included with the PowerPoint software, but may also be created from scratch.


MOVCommon multimedia format often used for saving movies and other video files; uses a proprietary compression algorithm developed by Apple Computer; compatible with both Macintosh and Windows platforms.

DOC
Word processing document created by Microsoft Word, the most popular word processor, which included with all versions of Microsoft Office; may contain formatted text, images, tables, graphs, charts, page formatting, and print settings.

PNG, GIF, JPEGPNG: Image format that uses indexed colors and lossless compression (like a .GIF file), but without copyright limitations; cannot be animated like a GIF image, though the related .MNG format can.
GIF: File Description Image file that may contain up to 256 indexed colors; color palette may be a predefined set of colors or may be adapted to the colors in the image; lossless format, meaning the clarity of the image is not compromised with GIF compression.
JPEG: Compressed graphic format standardized by the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG); supports up to 24-bit color, which makes JPEG a good format for storing digital photos; compressed using lossy compression, which may noticeably reduce the image quality if high amounts of compression are used.

PDF
PDF files may contain text, images, forms, annotations, outlines, and other data; they preserve fonts and formatting electronically across multiple platforms and appear the same on the screen as they will when printed on paper; Google and other search engines now index PDF documents, which can be viewed in a Web browser using the free Adobe Reader plug-in.

MP3 Compressed audio format developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group; uses "Layer 3" audio compression; commonly used to store music files and audiobooks on a hard drive; may provide near-CD quality sound (stereo, 16-bit) in a file roughly 1/10 the size of a .WAV or .AIF file.