Since its invention in the 1830s by an English mathematician and inventor—Charles Babbage—who is considered as “Father of the Computer”, computers have gone through drastic changes over the years as more computer specialists keep on enhancing their abilities as they believe that it will become the next big thing in the future due to its promising capabilities. The rigorous efforts coming from different brilliant minds like Alan Turing, who is the “Father of Modern Computer”, have given birth to a new field of discipline called Computer Science. With the further advancement in computer technology, different software having great compatibility with various electronic devices such as computers, smartphones, and tablets were created to perform specific tasks for the sole purpose of alleviating the lives of its users.

The Importance of File Extensions

                These software programs generate file types that are saved according to their respective file format. The file type and file format are two different terms that are commonly interchanged by people. The file type refers to the compilation of data within the file whereas file format, also known as file extension or file suffix, is just a group of characters placed after the period in the file name. This file extension aids operating systems such as Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and browsers to determine which program works best with the file, and this relationship between the programs and the file types is called file associations. In addition, saving your file to another format does not guarantee that the file was converted to another file type because the file extension only serves as a guide.

Types of File Extensions

            Today, numerous file extensions are available in cyberspace with each corresponds to specific computer software which is perceived differently by various operating systems depending on its compatibility. For these file types to be successfully executed in the various operating systems, a different set of instructions is needed. Listed below are the categories to which the file extensions belong.

• 3D Image
• Audio
• Backup
• Computer-aided Design (CAD)
• Camera Raw
• Common file types
• Compressed
• Data
• Database
• Developer
• Disk Image
• eBook
• Encoded
• Executable
• Font
• Game
• Geographic Information System (GIS)
• Misc
• Page Layout
• Plugin
• Raster Image
• Settings
• Spreadsheet
• System
• Text
• Vector Image
• Video
• Web

For more information about these, just visit the file extension database of techshift wherein you can find a comprehensive step-by-step execution procedure of various file extensions made simple by computer technology experts.