Chapter Twelve: Commonly Found Internet File Types

Table of Contents: Getting Started - Tips and Tricks Interlit Web Site Links to Textbook Chapter Resources Required Equipment, Software and Services Course Syllabus Course Assignments and Due Dates Part One: Understanding The Internet Chapter One: Definitions Chapter Two: How the Internet is Changing the World Part Two: Getting On The Internet Chapter Three: Getting Connected Chapter Four: Surfing the Net Part Three: Communicating Over The Internet Chapter Five: Internet Etiquette (Netiquette) Chapter Six: Electronic Mail Chapter Seven: Listserv Chapter Eight: Usenet Newsgroups Chapter Nine: Communicating in Real Time Chapter Ten: Telnet Part Four: Finding Things On The Internet Chapter Eleven: Searching for Information Chapter Twelve: Commonly Found Internet File Types Chapter Thirteen: Downloading From the Internet Chapter Fourteen: Bibliographic Style for Citing Internet Resources Part Five: Creating Web Pages Chapter Fifteen: Web Page Creation Strategies Chapter Sixteen: Web Page Design Chapter Seventeen: How HTML Works Chapter Eighteen: Creating Your Web Page Resume Chapter Nineteen: Putting Images on Web Pages Chapter Twenty: Using Tables for Advanced Web Page Layout Chapter Twenty-one: Making a Local Web and a Home Page Chapter Twenty-two: Publishing Files on the World Wide Web Part Six: Using Multimedia On The Internet Chapter Twenty-three: How Web Browsers Do Multimedia Chapter Twenty-four: Waveform Audio Recording Part Seven: Planning For The Future Of The Internet Chapter Twenty-five: Societal Issues Chapter Twenty-six: Emerging Technology Chapter Twenty-seven: How to Keep Up Send E-Mail: Pat Watson Jennifer Lagier John Ittelson Internet Literacy Home Page

After completing this chapter, you will be able to: Recognize the commonly found Internet file types. Explain why MIDI files occupy so much less space than waveform audio files. Understand the concept of a markup language. Know the difference between the GIF and JPEG graphics formats. Understand why the audio/video interleave (AVI) file format was designed to give audio the priority when a computer does not have enough processing time to show all of the frames of a movie. Explain the difference between lossy and lossless compression methods. Understand how animated GIFs can bring a Web page to life. Explain the concept of a JavaScript. Understand the purpose of Adobe's Portable Document Format. Visit virtual reality Web sites that use VRML files to present the user with exciting 3-D worlds to explore. Common Types of Files Web pages can contain text, images, video, audio and other types of information. These will either be part of the Web page, or there will be hyperlinks to information in a variety of formats. Although the information can appear as text, it may be stored in a compressed format to save space or some other form. The Web browser can display image or video files, or it can convert the file's contents to sound if it's an audio file and if your computer is equipped with a sound card and speakers or earphones. In some cases, you may need to obtain another piece of software so your computer can deal with the files. Text Files All browsers can display plain text files. ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) is the standard code used to represent characters in digital format in a computer. Files of this type usually have names that end with .txt, .asc, or .doc. PostScript file format was invented by Adobe Systems. These files contain text, but usually not in a readable form. They contain commands that a printer or display device interprets -- commands relating to formatting, fonts, font size, and images within the file. Adobe also invented PDF (Portable Document Format). These files contain instructions so they can be displayed with different fonts, colors, typefaces and images. You will need Adobe Acrobat software, available free from Adobe Acrobat Website, to view these files. Compressed Files Files are compressed to save space on a server and to transfer a file over the Internet more quickly. There are many types of compressed files; the most common are those ending with .zip. Image Files Graphic images are stored in files in a variety of formats. Most web browsers can display images stored in GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) or JPEG (Joint Photographic Expert Group) format. Files with images in these formats have names ending with .gif, .jpeg, .jpg. Audio Files These files contain information that's in an audio or sound format. Audio files often have one of the following three formats: Next/Sun format (file names end with .au) Waveform audio format (WAV), a standard format for computers using Microsoft Windows (file names end with .wav) RealAudio format (file names end with .ra) Multimedia Files With these types of files, you can view video and hear accompanying sound. Two popular formats are MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group) and QuickTime (created by Apple Computer). Netscape Navigator version 3 or later can display files in MPEG format. File names in this format end with .mpg or .mpeg. QuickTime file names end with .mov or .qt. Online Resources: OII - Audio Interchange Standards Classical MIDI Archives © 1998 Pierre R. Schwob MIDIWORLD OII - Video Interchange Standards Apple - Products - QuickTime OII - Multimedia/Hypermedia Interchange Standards MPEG . ORG - MPEG Pointers and Resources MPEG-Archive Go to: Chapter Eleven Chapter Thirteen

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