File Types

A NEAD Help page

Throughout this site and especially in our Online Resources database, we link to a number of files for download that your usual browser may not be able to open. Some, such as PDF, Microsoft Word Doc files and others, require your system to have certain applications or components already installed before you can use them.

Your system may be already amply furnished with everything you need to use any files you’ve downloaded. But if you do experience problems, the suggested applications for each file type listed below might help (please review our disclaimer before downloading any files).

Whenever we link to a file for download on our site, be it a file on our own servers or one from an external website, an appropriate icon (from those shown below) accompanies that link, to help indicate the kind of file we’re linking to. However, some older or less capable browsers unfortunately are incapable of benefitting from this feature. Among those browsers is Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6 (which comes pre-installed with Windows XP). If you are an Internet Explorer 6 user, you will soon be able to upgrade to a newer version of Internet Explorer. In the meantime, other free but modern browsers are available.

File types, and suggested applications to use them
File Icon File type & extension Application(s) required to use file (suggested)
PDF file Portable Document Format (PDF)
Word Doc file Microsoft Word Document (DOC)
Compressed/Archive file Archive/Compressed
  • ZIP ·
  • SIT ·
  • RAR ·
  • TGZ ·
  • TAR.GZ ·
  • TAR
 7-Zip
Audio file Audio
  • (MP3 ·
  • MP4 ·
  • OGG Vorbis ·
  • WAV ·
  • AIFF ·
  • WMA ·
  • M3U ·
  • RA ·
  • PLS)
Video file Video
  • (MPEG ·
  • MPG ·
  • AVI ·
  • DIVX ·
  • ASF ·
  • ASX ·
  • MOV ·
  • WMV ·
  • RM)
RTF file Rich Text Format (RTF)
PDB (eReader) file eReader (PDB) eReader
LIT file Microsoft Reader (LIT) Microsoft Reader
PS file PostScript (PS) Ghostscript
Flash file Flash (SWF) Adobe/Macromedia Flash Player
Self-executable file Self-executable (EXE) Your OS (e.g. Windows XP) and possibly additional applications or components
MS Installer file Microsoft Installer file (MSI)
  • MSI 3.1 (required for Windows 2000 SP 3 & above/XP/2003)
  • MSI 2.0 (required for Windows 95/98/98 SE/ME/2000 SP 1 & SP 2)
  • MSI 2.0 (required for Windows NT4)
Excel file Excel (XLS) OpenOffice Open Source Office Suite
PowerPoint file PowerPoint Presentation
  • (PPT ·
  • PPS)
Apple Keynote file Apple Keynote Presentation (KEY) Keynote (part of Apple iWork)
Java file Java (e.g. J) Sun Java Runtime Environment software

Disclaimer

  1. The applications listed here are merely suggestions. We in no way endorse them, and have no prior agreement with their authors or distributors.
  2. Wherever possible, we have suggested applications that are free to download and use. Some may however require payment.
  3. NEAD is not responsible for the operation of the applications suggested here. In the event of a problem, please contact the application’s author, not NEAD.
  4. NEAD is not responsible for any changes made to your system as the result of the download and installation of any of the applications listed here.
  5. NEAD is not responsible for the content and policies of external websites.