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All Common File Types
I have created a simple, easy to follow tutorial on how to deal with certain file types, which you may come across when downloading various files, from common, to the more uncommon.
Rar,Ace and Tar Files
RAR files are now becoming more and more popular due to the very successful program WINRAR . They are an easy format to deal with providing you have the most upto-date version 'v3.2'. Some people may find corrupt archive files which in fact are fine, its just a case of simply updating your version of WINRAR to allow for more upto-date 'un-raring'. They should look something like this:
Once WINRAR is installed, simply right click the FIRST number in the series (eg: .r00) and select EXTRACT to a directory of your choice, WINRAR will then extract ALL the following extensions as well, leaving you with a BIN file normally. The ACE and TAR files follow the same suit pretty much aswell.
If you have files that have names within the RAR/ZIP file ending EXAMPLE.001, EXAMPLE.002 etc... Then you need to open the WINRAR program manually, and highlight the first file in the sequence, the same as before. Again, simply right click the file and EXTRACT to a destination of your choice....Simple! You may notice another file contained within the ZIP/RAR, with the extension .SFV. This just checks the integrity of the volume of files contained within it. A checker is available from here:SFV CHECKER
Cbr and Cbz
These are basically rar'd up comic book files, although you can use WinRar on them it is also worth using CD-DISPLAY as this allows you to view the pages the way they were intended.
Bin, Cue and Iso FilesBIN and ISO files are 'images' of a disk. The CUE file, is the instruction manual for the BIN if you like, telling it the peramiters needed to successfully burn the BIN. Unlike the BIN files, ISO's don't require a CUE file to be burn't, they can be added straight to a burning program for burning. Most people will use NERO BURNING ROM .
It couldn't be simpler, just cancel the wizard when it pops up, and select RECORDER at the top, and BURN IMAGE, at this point add either your .CUE file or the .ISO file. And select BURN icon.
Another way to use the BIN file is to 'mount' it on a virtual drive using a program called DAEMON TOOLS .
What this does, it tricks your machine into thinking you have added an additional Disk Drive. And tricks it also by making it think the BIN file is already burnt to a disk. Meaning, no more wasting CD's to play games and movies, just mount the phantom CD (The .BIN file) to the phantom disk drive (The one DAEMON tools creates).
Now simply click 'My Computer' and you will see the virtual drive before your very eyes, with all the information contained in the .BIN available for browsing!
.Nrg FilesSimular to ISO's, but they are a NERO image. You can normally only mount the image as before, on the same version of Nero it was created with.
Mdf and Mds Files
These are Media Descriptor Files, basically image files made by Alcohol 120% software, they have the same relation as bin & cue and can be mounted with DAEMON TOOLS or burn't with Alcohol 120%/appropriate software.
Bwt, Bwi and Bws Files
These are the same as above but made by software called Blindwrite, just mount the BWT file with Daemon or burn to disc with Blindwrite/appropriate software.
Ccd, Img and Sub Files
These are the same as above but made by software called CloneCD, just mount the Ccd file with Daemon or burn to disc with CloneCD/appropriate software.
Cdi Files
These are image files made by software called DiscJuggler, burn with DiscJuggler/appropriate software or mount with Daemon Tools.
Ogg Vorbis Files
Ogg Vorbis is a new audio compression format. It is roughly comparable to other formats used to store and play digital music, such as MP3, VQF, AAC, and other digital audio formats. It is different from these other formats because it is completely free, open, and unpatented. Most players will play this format as well as MP3.If you would like more information on vorbis, try here: VORBIS
MPEG Files
MPEG - Moving Picture Experts Group, is the name of family of standards used for coding audio-visual information (e.g., movies, video, music) in a digital compressed format.
The major advantage of MPEG compared to other video and audio coding formats is that MPEG files are much smaller for the same quality. This is because MPEG uses very sophisticated compression techniques.
They come in many forms:
MPEG-1
This is one of the most common compression formats for VCD, it is slowly being taken over by SVCD and KVCD formats but still gives very good quality results.
MPEG-2
MPEG-2 is the new compression standard, which allows the coding of studio qualtity video for digital TV, high-density CD-ROMs and TV-broadcasting. You will mostly come across this if you download a DVD or an SVCD.
MPEG-3
The standard format for virtually all music files that are shared on networks.
MPEG-4 / XVID
This is the next generation of MPEG, whilst audio and video are at the core of the MPEG-4 specification, MPEG-4 can also support 3D objects, sprites, text and other media types. So watch out for this in the future. Also known a XviD which is an un-official release of this form of compression.
