Supported File Formats

File formats supported by IrfanView are:
 
AIF, ANI, AU, AVI, BMP, CAM, CLP, CPT, CUR,
DAT (Video CD), DCX, DIB, DLL, EMF, EPS, 
EXE, G3, GIF, ICL, ICO, IFF/LBM, JPG/JPEG,
LWF, MID, MOV, MPG/MPEG, PBM, PCX, PGM,
Photo-CD (Overview Photo CD support), PNG,
PPM, PSD, PSP, RAS/SUN, RLE, RMI, SND, TGA,
TIFF, WAV, WMF
 
 

AIF
Adobe Illustrator File, used by Postscript Enabled
printers; similar, but not the same as EPS.
 
ANI
Animated Cursor format for Microsoft Windows 95.
 
AU
Encoded Audio format used by Sun and NeXT machines.
 
AVI
Audio Video Interleaved: Microsoft's video format
for Windows.
 
BMP
Windows Bitmap: The image format Microsoft created
for use in Windows.
 
CAM
Casio digital camera file.
 
CLP
Windows clipboard format; used to store various
types of files for Windows cut/copy/paste operations.
 
CPT
CorelDraw Photopaint image; IrfanView can read only
older versions, Photopaint 6, 5 etc.
 
CUR
Cursor Resource file format for Microsoft Windows 95;
contains image data for cursors used by Windows
applications. (Files may contain multiple images,
plus a directory.)
 
DAT
Video CD format; there is also a dat format in
Windows, which holds information about programs.
 
DCX
3D multiple PCX files format.
 
DIB
Device Independent Bitmap: another form of BMP,
used widely with printers and display devices.
 
DLL
Dynamic Link Library: under Windows, a file
that can contain portions of a program, to
make the program more useful; it can also hold
information to make the main program do its
job better; many dll's hold icons that can be
opened in IrfanView.
 
EMF
Enhanced Metafile Format; Microsoft's device-
independent graphics format for Windows 95.
 
EPS
Encapsulated PostScript: mostly used for desktop
publishing; uses the Postscript page description
language; these can be used on both PCs and Macs.
 
EXE
Eexecutable file under DOS and Windows; many exe's
contain icons that can be opened in IrfanView.
 
G3
Group 3 Facsimile Apparatus format, used for
document transmission.
 
GIF
Graphics Interchange Format: The format created by
CompuServe for the faster exchange of graphics over
modem lines; widely used in Web publishing.
 
ICL
Icon Library format, used by many icon editing
programs; can contain one or many icons for use
in other programs.
 
ICO
Windows Icon: used by Windows to represent programs
and other files.
 
IFF/LBM
Interchange File Format: the image format standard
for Amiga computers.
 
JPG/JPEG
Joint Photographic Experts Group: 24-bit support and
fine compression make this format another standard
for publishing on the Web.
 
LWF
LuRaWave Format: wavelet compression image format
from LuRaTech GmbH, Germany. Format enhanced to
improve on JPG, with better quality and more control
options. IrfanView is the first viewer with LWF support.
 
MID
Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI): a file
created with a set of standard formats to instruct
electronic musical instruments how to play; with a
MIDI player (such as IrfanView,) you can play a basic
version of the song through the computer's speakers.
 
MOV
Quick Time Movie format; Apple Computer's format for
movie and other time-based data file storage.
 
MPG/MPEG
Moving Pictures Experts Group: a standard for full-
motion video; provides 352x240 resolution, 30 frames
per second, and CD-quality sound; also used to compress
audio without video.
 
PCX
PC Paintbrush format from ZSoft Corporation. These
images are used by many word-processing and desktop
publishing programs.
 
PGM
Portable Greymap File format; mostly used to convert
between various types of greymap images.
 
Photo CD
Overview Photo CD support; digital images from Kodak,
presented as "slides" on a CD-ROM.
 
PBM
Portable Bitmap File format; mostly used to convert
between various types of bitmap images.
 
PNG
Portable Network Graphics: A format that combines
the best qualities of gifs and jpgs; used for Web
publishing.
 
PPM
Portable Pixelmap format; mostly used to convert
between various types of color images.
 
PSD
PhotoShop Software Development file, used for
development with Adobe Photoshop and related software.
 
PSP
Paint Shop Pro File Format, from Jasc Software;
special graphics format that can describe a multi-
layered image in complete detail.
 
RAS/SUN
Sun Raster: The native bitmap file format for Sun
Microsystems workstations.
 
RLE
Run Length Encoded image format (Utah); device-
independent means of storing multi-level raster images.
 
RMI
MIDI file (MIDI sequence.) See also: MID.
 
SND
Sun-workstation sound file, similar to AU.
 
TGA
Truevision Advanced Raster Graphics Adapter (TARGA):
Format by Truevision, Inc, used to support image
capturing; used with a series of high-resolution
graphics adaptors released under the TARGA name.
 
TIFF/TIF
Tagged Image File Format: a widely used raster format,
jointly supported by Microsoft and Aldus; used mostly
in desktop publishing; can be viewed on both Macs and
PCs; this is the format used by most fax machines.
 
WAV
Windows audio file; they take up a lot of space, but
can serve as a go-between for converting between some
of the other sound formats.
 
WMF
Windows MetaFile format; Microsoft graphics file, more
compact and portable than bmp images.

 
 
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