File Formats
Every kind of file, explained: what it is, the software that opens it and how its bytes are laid out. Search by extension, name or program, or drop any file on any page of this site to look inside it.
Categories
Audio
Recordings, compressed music, MIDI and tracker modules, music projects, instruments and playlists.
71 formatsVideo
Containers, raw video streams, streaming manifests, subtitles and editing projects.
37 formatsImage
Photos and bitmaps, vector drawings, camera raw, layered projects, icons and retro formats.
71 formats3D & CAD
Meshes, scenes, modelling projects, engineering drawings, 3D printing and point clouds.
78 formatsDocument
Printable pages, word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, ebooks, text and fonts.
71 formatsData
Structured text, binary serialisation, databases, science and maps, AI models, compression and archives.
102 formatsCode
Source code, bytecode, programs and libraries, object files, firmware, shaders and packages.
165 formatsSystem
Disk and floppy images, keys and certificates, network captures, shortcuts, settings and logs.
58 formatsViewers
Fully supported: 14 formats · Partially supported: 222 formats
Drop one on any page and the explorer takes it apart and shows what it holds: the picture, the sound, the notes, the rows or the text.
Latest additions
| Format | Name | About | Viewer |
|---|---|---|---|
.MSA | Magic Shadow Archiver disk image | Atari ST floppy disk saved by Magic Shadow Archiver: a 10-byte header and the tracks, each run-length compressed. | partial |
.ST | Atari ST disk image | Atari ST floppy disk image: the 512-byte sectors in order, with a FAT12 file system and a boot sector. | partial |
.SHN | Shorten | Early lossless compression, once standard for trading live concert recordings. | partial |
.TOS | Atari ST executable | Atari ST, TT and Falcon programs (.PRG .TOS .TTP .APP .ACC): a header starting $601A, text and data, symbols and a relocation table. | partial |
.APE | Monkey’s Audio | High-ratio lossless compression from Monkey’s Audio, with APEv2 tags. | partial |
.JSON | npm package manifest (package.json) | A JavaScript package’s name, version, scripts and dependencies, in JSON. | partial |
.ALAC | Apple Lossless Audio Codec | Apple’s lossless codec, stored in an MPEG-4 .m4a file like AAC (or one named .alac). | partial |
.H5 | Hierarchical Data Format version 5 | Groups and large numeric datasets, organised like a file system. | partial |
.REL | GameCube and Wii relocatable module | Nintendo GameCube and Wii modules a game loads at run time: sections, an import table and relocation lists. | partial |
.JSON | Visual Studio Code settings | VS Code’s settings.json: dotted setting IDs in JSON with comments. | partial |
.DOL | GameCube and Wii executable | Nintendo GameCube and Wii programs: a 256-byte header listing up to 18 sections, then the sections. | partial |
.GPX | GPS Exchange Format | GPS waypoints, routes and recorded tracks, written in XML. | partial |
.SAFETENSORS | Safetensors | Model weights after a JSON header, safe to load with no code. | partial |
.PCE | PC Engine HuCard ROM image | PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16 HuCard ROM images: headerless 8 KB banks, five interrupt vectors at the end of the first bank, an optional 512-byte copier header. | partial |
.AVRO | Apache Avro object container file | Records in compact binary, with their JSON schema in the file header. | partial |
.GEOJSON | GeoJSON | Map points, lines and areas with properties, written as JSON. | partial |
.JSON5 | JSON5 | JSON with comments, trailing commas and unquoted keys, for hand editing. | partial |
.MSGPACK | MessagePack | JSON-like values in compact binary, each led by a type byte. | full |
.TOML | Tom’s Obvious Minimal Language | Configuration text: tables in brackets, then key = value lines. | partial |
.LZ | Lzip compressed file | One file compressed with LZMA in a simple container built for archiving. | partial |
Reference
Fully supported: 50 formats · Partially supported: 472 formats
A complete reference has a page for each part of the file, for every version.
Latest additions
| Format | Name | About | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
.MSA | Magic Shadow Archiver disk image | Atari ST floppy disk saved by Magic Shadow Archiver: a 10-byte header and the tracks, each run-length compressed. | partial |
.ST | Atari ST disk image | Atari ST floppy disk image: the 512-byte sectors in order, with a FAT12 file system and a boot sector. | partial |
.TOS | Atari ST executable | Atari ST, TT and Falcon programs (.PRG .TOS .TTP .APP .ACC): a header starting $601A, text and data, symbols and a relocation table. | partial |
.REL | GameCube and Wii relocatable module | Nintendo GameCube and Wii modules a game loads at run time: sections, an import table and relocation lists. | partial |
.DOL | GameCube and Wii executable | Nintendo GameCube and Wii programs: a 256-byte header listing up to 18 sections, then the sections. | partial |
.PCE | PC Engine HuCard ROM image | PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16 HuCard ROM images: headerless 8 KB banks, five interrupt vectors at the end of the first bank, an optional 512-byte copier header. | partial |
.BIN | Color Computer machine-language file | Tandy Color Computer and Dragon BIN files: segments with load addresses and an execution address, in 6809 code; found by structure, not by the name .bin. | partial |
.HUNK | Amiga HUNK file | Amiga programs, object files and link libraries: a list of hunks of code and data with relocations. | partial |
.CFG | Tyrian configuration | Tyrian's TYRIAN.CFG: 28 bytes of detail level, game speed, volumes, joystick buttons and keys. | partial |
.SAV | Tyrian saved games | Tyrian's TYRIAN.SAV: 22 save slots and the high scores in 2,502 scrambled bytes with four checksums, every field and item shown by name. | partial |
.SNA | ZX Spectrum snapshot | ZX Spectrum snapshot: 27 bytes of registers and the RAM, uncompressed. | partial |
.Z80 | ZX Spectrum snapshot | ZX Spectrum snapshot: CPU registers and RAM pages, compressed. | partial |
.SMS | Sega Master System ROM image | Sega Master System, Game Gear and SG-1000 cartridge ROMs, with an optional TMR SEGA header at 0x7FF0. | partial |
.BIN | Raw Cortex-M firmware image | Headerless firmware for ARM Cortex-M chips: the vector table at the start and nothing else; found by Identify, not by the name .bin. | partial |
.NDS | Nintendo DS ROM image | Nintendo DS cartridge ROMs: a 512-byte header, ARM9 and ARM7 programs, the NitroFS file system and a banner. | partial |
.PO | GNU gettext translation catalogues | Three gettext formats: the .po catalogue, the .pot template and the compiled .mo file. | partial |
.PS-X EXE | PlayStation executable | Sony PlayStation programs: a 2048-byte header, then the code. | partial |
.Z64 | Nintendo 64 ROM image | Nintendo 64 cartridge ROMs in three byte orders (.z64, .v64, .n64) with a 64-byte header. | partial |
.GBA | Game Boy Advance ROM image | Game Boy Advance cartridge ROMs, with a 192-byte header at the start. | partial |
.R00 | PC64 REL file | One Commodore 64 relative file with its name and record size in a 26-byte C64File header (PC64), .r00 to .r99. | partial |
Look inside any file
It opens in a hex viewer straight away. The file is read in your browser and never leaves your computer.