What are files? File Types

Computers now occupy a serious part of our lives. That is why, everyone now needs to know at least the most basic concepts and terms. One of the most basic concepts that every user should know is the file.

What are files? Any information stored on the computer is stored in the form of files. File - this is the smallest unit of information, roughly speaking, a digital "subject". Each time you save a picture, song, movie, text, you create a file. Each computer contains a huge number of files. Even on a new computer, where just put the operating system of their order of one hundred thousand.

How to understand such a large number of files? First, each file has an individual name, and, in addition, an extension. The extension indicates what kind of file this is , for what it is intended. Secondly, the files are not dumped in one heap, but are arranged in special places called folders. Each group of files, united by a common function, theme or something else, is in its folder. Thus, thanks to the individual name, extension and the fact that each file is in a strictly defined place, all the variety of files on your computer can be easily understood.

How to decrypt files? What does this or that extension mean? Conditionally, all files can be divided into several groups:

• Documents - files containing mainly textual information, these files are created by users themselves in specially created for this purpose programs;
• Library files - these files contain various algorithms that use programs;
• Executable files - files, the launch of which causes one or another program to work.

To understand immediately which of these groups belongs to a particular file, you need to know the most common extensions, file types. Then, at a glance at the file, its purpose becomes obvious. The extension is the three or four last letters in the file name, before the extension there is always a point. Unlike the file name, which can contain both Russian and English letters, the extension is always written only in Latin.

• Exe - in common parlance, these files are often called exshots. What are the files? They belong to the group of executable files. When you run them, the program starts working, for example, a game or a text editor.
• Com - these files are not used today, they can be found only in very old programs. In fact, this is an analog of the EXE file for the MS DOS operating system.
• Bat - files with this extension run several other files in the specified sequence at once. The most commonly used file of this type is autoexec.bat, which runs at boot time and starts all programs that are needed immediately after the download is finished.
• Cfg - these files contain the parameters of the specific program.
• Dll - library files.
• Hlp - files with this extension contain help to programs.
• Dat - files containing data about the operation of programs.

All of the following extensions are specific to executable files. They themselves are not part of a particular program, unlike the first three extensions, but they are tied to each program in which the opened files are launched. For example, when you open a text file, you automatically start the text editor, and the player starts with the audio or video file. Therefore, in order to run such files, you need to have the necessary programs on your computer.

• Txt, doc, docx are extensions of text files used by various text editors.
• Htm, html - documents with hyperlinks. What are files with hyperlinks? From the others they differ in that navigation through them is carried out by means of special cross-references.
• Mp3, mid, wav - common audio formats.
• Avi, mpeg4, dvix, mkv, mov - video extensions are hidden under such extensions.
• Jpg, bmp, png, gif - the most commonly used extensions for images, photos and other images.
• Rar, zip - archive files. What are archive files? Such files are created with the help of archiver programs. Archives files so that they take up less space on the hard drive.

The concept of a file is inextricably linked with one more concept - the file system. For a flash drive and hard disk, you must select the appropriate file system.