.BMP
| Microsoft Paint will open this (Start -> All Programs -> Accessories).
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.CDA
| CD Audio File. These files are standard recordings onto CD, and are generally the file type of music files bought on CD. Most transcription recorders will not record CDA. If you are having a professional recording made of a conference or series of lectures, for example, you may well find yourself with CDA files. Most transcription software will not play back CDA format, although it is possible to convert the audio file to a .WAV file.
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.CGI
| Common Gateway Interface. Web based programs and scripts.
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.CSS
| Cascading Style Sheet - Creates a common color/font scheme to be used on different website elements.
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.DCT
| Encrypted dictation. Often used for medical transcription requiring confidentiality. The recording is encrypted at the recording end and needs to be decrypted on receipt. A wide variety of playback software will deal with these files.
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.DSS
| (Olympus Professional, Olympus Light) Digital Standard Speech. The .dss file format was developed by Olympus, who also provide playback software for this format via http://www.olympus-europa.com/consumer/2590_software.cfm.
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.EPS
| Encapsulated PostScript supported by most graphics programs. Vector Art, meaning it can be re-sized to any dimensions mathematically.
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.GIF
| Image Format - Graphics with transparency, variable background color. Best for sites with vivid background images.
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.HTM / .HTML
| Filename extension for a document with HTML coding (Go to View -> Source at the top of IE. or View -> Page Source in Firefox / Safari).
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.JPG / .JPEG
| Image, most common of the graphic file types, but not necessarily the most efficient. |
| .MP3 / .MPEG | Compressed WAV file often used in music. Many digital recorders will also record MP3 or allow you to record WAV and then compress to MP3. The compressed files will be around a twelfth of the size of the original WAV files with very minor difference in sound quality.
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.PDF
| Adobe Acrobat document.
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.PNG
| Image Format - Up and coming new-generation image file format, complete transparency without jagged edges and support by most image viewing applications.
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| .PS | Printer Language
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.PSD
| Adobe Photoshop Document
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.QXD
| QuarkXpress - Desktop publishing program.
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.SHTML
| HTML file with embedded server-side includes. Can interact with other files and grab content from within them to display.
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.TIF
| Image Format - Some cameras save in this format.
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.WAV
| Common file format and was one of the first audio file types developed for use with the PC. It is lossless, but generally very large in file size. Although they all end in .wav, depending on the recorder, the transcriptionist may need a special "codec" (encode/de-code the audio file that the device saved it in) to play it back. An example is the Sanyo recording system, which records specifically Sanyo .wav files. Can be converted to other popular audio formats such as MP3. Opens with Windows Media Player. |
| .WMA | Windows Media Audio was developed for Windows Media Player, which is bundled with all Windows-based PCs these days. It is even more compressed than an MP3 - to about one thirty-sixth the size of a .wav - and smaller to send than a .WAV file, there is a considerable loss of sound quality. |
| .XLS | Excel Spreadsheet - Microsoft Office |
| .ZIP | Compressed Archive - You must uncompress the file in some way (opening / extracting) before you can see the contents inside. If your Operating System does not support .zip files, you may download WinZip or WinRAR. |
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Frequently Asked Questions