File
Also called: file or document
A file is a digital document that allows information to be stored and exchanged electronically. The English word for file is file. A file is identified by a self-selected file name. The file name is accompanied by an extension, from which the format of the file (or file type) can be recognized.
Files can be stored on storage media, such as a hard drive, DVD-ROM, USB flash drive and forms of online storage. With the advent of the Internet, with technologies such as e-mail and FTP, files can be exchanged without having to physically move storage media.
The standard in which the file is formatted determines which programs it can be opened with. Many file formats employ clever techniques to make the size of the file smaller, such as compression.
Some commonly used file formats:
Text documents
Images (such as photographs and illustrations)
Audio files
- WAVE (.wav)
- MPEG-1 Layer 3 (.mp3)
- Advanced Audio Coding (.aac)
- Audio Interchange File Format (.aiff)
Video files
- Moving Picture Experts Group (.mpeg)
- WebM (.webm)
Other known file formats
