The Following Excellent Guide was originally posted by Duffcase who will hopefully repost it himself when he reregisters.


COMPRESSION FILES

.rar .zip .ace .r01 .001
These extensions are quite common and mean that your file[s] is compressed into an "archive" this is just a way of making the files more compact and easier to download. To open any of those archives listed above you can use WinRAR or PowerArchizer.

If those progams aren't working for you and you have a .zip file you can try WinZip (Trial Version) .

If the two first mentioned programs aren't working for you and you have a .ace or .001 file you can try Winace (Trial Version).

.cbr .cbz
These are usually comic books in an archive format. a .cbr file is actually the same thing as a .rar file and a .cbz file is the same as a .zip file. However, often when opening them with WinRAR or WinZip it will disorderr your pages. To display these archives properly it's often best to use CDisplay.

.sit
These is a compression format used by StuffIt. It is similar to the PC's .zip format, but .sit is used more for the Mac.

.sitx
Like .sit, but with more abilities and new with StuffIt 8. It can be compressed to a greater degree and the maximum file size can be above 2GB.


MULTIMEDIA FILES

.avi .mpg. .mpeg .divx .xvid .wmv
These files are usually movies or TVshows, or a host of other types of media. They can be viewed using various media players, but I suggest using Zoomplayer or Window's MediaPlayer . Also, you'll need to make sure you have the right codecs to play each individual file. Codecs are a tricky business sometimes so to help you out with your file and what exact codecs it needs try using Gspot . It tells you what codecs you need. Then just look on the net to find them.

.mov
These are QuickTime files .

.ra .rm .ram
These are RealPlayer files. RealPlayer IMO is the devils work. It installs lord knows what on your system and never really goes away when you want to uninstall it. Still if you insists you can get the player here .

vcd/svcd
These can be a pain on some peoples setups, but more so, on your stand-alone DVD player. For all your vcd needs check out videohelp.com . These guys know their stuff, and can help you with all kinds of media related questions. If they can't help you, then post in the support forum for more help from our illustrious members.

.mp3 .mp2
Usually music files. Play them with winamp .

.ogm .ogg
Ogg Vorbis media files. You can find out more about them and download applications here . This filetype is another music file format, but can be used for various media.

.m4a
The extension used for the MPEG-4 audio format called AAC. This format can achieve higher compression than an mp3 without any quality loss. iTunes is the most popular application that creates this file type.


DISC IMAGE FILES

.bin and .cue
These are your standard image files, and are used quite alot these days. To open them you have a couple options. You can burn them using Nero (Trial Version) or Alcohol 120% (trial version), but this proves to be soooooooo problematic for a lot of people. That's why I suggest using Daemon Tools. Daemon tools, lets you mount the image to a "virtual cd-rom", so basically it tricks your computer into thinking that you have another cd-rom and that you're putting a cd with your image file on it into this virtual cd-rom, it's great cuz you'll never make a bad cd again, Alcohol 120% also sports a virtual cd-rom feature. Finally, if you're still struggling to access the files contained within any given image file you can use CDMage to extract the files and then burn them, or just access them from your hard drive.

.iso
Another type of image file that follows similar rules as .bin and .cue, only you extract or create them using WinISO or ISOBuster . Sometimes converting a problematic .bin and .cue file to an .iso can help you burn it to a cd.

.ccd .img .sub
All these files go together and are in the CloneCD format. CloneCD is like most other CD Burning programs, see the .bin and .cue section if you're having problems with these files.

.dmg
A "disc image" created by Disk Utility or Disk Copy. This can be mounted (which means to open the contents) by double clicking, and ejected like any other disc or drive by dragging to the trash.

.toast
These are essentially .dmg files, but made in Roxio's Toast. Read above entry.



OTHERS

.txt .doc
These are text files. .txt files can be opened with notepad or watever you default text editor happens to be, and .doc are opened with Microsoft Word.


.nfo
These are info files, wich are usually included in most torrents. To view them correctly, get a .nfo viewer like DAMN nfo viewer. They can also be opened and viewed with any text editor.

.pdf
Opened with Adobe Acrobat Reader.

.jpg .gif .tga .psd .png
Basic image files. These files generally contain pictures, and can be opened with Adobe Photoshop or whatever your default image viewer is. Internet Explorer can open most of these as well.

.sfv
Checks to make sure that your multi-volume archives are complete. This just lets you know if you've downloaded something completely or not. You can open these files with SFVChecker (Trial Version) .

.par
This is a parity file, and is often used when downloading from newsgroups. These files can fill in gaps when you're downloading a multi-volume archive and get corrupted or missing parts. Open them with QuickPar .

.rtf
The "Rich Text Format" is used by the Mac world as a more advanced text format than .txt. Text can vary in size, color, font, and other forms of editing. Usually created using TextEdit.

.torrent
This is the extension of a torrent file which includes all the necessary data for accessing the tracker which can connect a system to other peers that have the desired file. Double-click and select the download directory.

Fregging workaround having to copy/paste all them links, instead of being able to open the post for editing LOL
Proves being admin HAS advantages
Going to post it my own, under full credits of course, thankz

Please Credit Duffcase if you do :ssmile:

I'll pm you a copy of this, if you chose reply you should be able to do the copy and paste thing and keep the links intact.

Hi. long time...

I'm not the original author of this document, I just updated it, added a few things and fixed broken links.

The original author wass Hussdiesel over at filesoup. The original guide can be found there.


Just thought I'd mention it. Credit where credit due!

cheers!

Thanks for letting us know and welcome back Duffcase

Ummm....I downloaded a game, fatal frame 2 and it has only two files...one called .mds and one called .mdf...what are they and how do I use them? Im kinda new to the burning of games but have searched and figured out all the other files Ive gotten for games but Im hitting a dead end with these files...please help if anyone can...Id so kindly appreciate any help what so ever!!! and a HUGE thanks in advance!!!

Forget realplayer. Use Real Alternative, available here: C|net - Real Alternative

Very helpful, thanx

thanks mate

A site I've found invaluable is FILExt. It lists just about every file extension there is, with explanations as to their function and in many cases links to the source. You can find it here.