http://fileformats.archiveteam.org/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=KevinAshley&feedformat=atomJust Solve the File Format Problem - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T23:30:18ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.19.2http://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/BruBru2012-11-02T18:40:34Z<p>KevinAshley: KevinAshley moved page Bru to BRU: Mixed-case original was accidental. Make links to this page work.</p>
<hr />
<div>#REDIRECT [[BRU]]</div>KevinAshleyhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/BRUBRU2012-11-02T18:40:34Z<p>KevinAshley: KevinAshley moved page Bru to BRU: Mixed-case original was accidental. Make links to this page work.</p>
<hr />
<div><br />
== Description ==<br />
<br />
BRU is one of a number of backup formats utilised by Digital's RSX-11M system (the name comes from 'Backup and Restore Utility', the application designed to read and write BRU containers.) BRU came later in the operating system's history than other formats such as FLX and DMP and is therefore somewhat more complex. BRU was used in environments where tape was the likely target, but you may also come across BRU format disk dumps of tapes.<br />
<br />
(Is this the same format as that produced by the Tolis Group's BRU product ? I don't know.)</div>KevinAshleyhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/ArchivingArchiving2012-11-02T18:38:50Z<p>KevinAshley: </p>
<hr />
<div>{|<br />
|[[File Formats]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Electronic File Formats]]<br />
| ><br />
|Compression<br />
|}<br />
<br />
(Lossless, for generic data + file archives)<br />
<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
<br />
== Compression + archiving ==<br />
(Multiple files => 1 file, makes it smaller)<br />
<br />
* [[7ZIP]] (.7z)<br />
* [[ARC]] (.arc) <br />
* [[ARC (Web Archiving)]] (.arc.gz)<br />
* [[Apple Disk Image]] (.dmg)<br />
* [[ARJ]] (.arj)<br />
* [[BRU]] (RSX-11M backup)<br />
* [[DWC]] (.dwc)<br />
* [[IMP]] (.imp)<br />
* [[LHAv]] (.lzh, .lha)<br />
* [[RAR]] (.rar)<br />
* [[Stuffit]] (.sit)<br />
* [[Stuffit X]] (.sitx)<br />
* [[WARC]] (.warc.gz)<br />
* [[ZIP]] (.zip)<br />
<br />
== Archiving only ==<br />
(many files => 1 file, no compression attempted)<br />
<br />
* [[BinHex]] (.hqx)<br />
* [[LBR]] (.lbr)<br />
* [[ISO-9660]] (.iso)<br />
* [[Tape Archive]] (.tar)<br />
<br />
== Compression only ==<br />
(1 file => 1 file, makes it smaller)<br />
<br />
* [[BZIP2]] (.bz2)<br />
* [[Crunch]] (.?Z?)<br />
* [[GZIP]] (.gz)<br />
* [[Error Code Modeler]] (.ecm)<br />
* [[LZMA]] (.lzma)<br />
* [[Squeeze/SQ]] (.?Q?)<br />
* [[XZ]] (.xz)<br />
<br />
<br />
== Unknown ==<br />
<br />
* [[7zX]] (.s7z)<br />
* [[9CDR]] (Amiga FileImploder Clone)<br />
* [[ACE]] (.ace)<br />
* [[AFA]] (.afa)<br />
* [[ALZip]] (.alz)<br />
* [[APX]] (.apx)<br />
* [[ARCFS]] (ArcFS ArchivePacker)<br />
* [[ArchiveLib]] (GreenLeaf)<br />
* [[BlakHole]] (.bh)<br />
* [[Cabinet]] (.cab)<br />
* [[Compact File Set]] (.cfs)<br />
* [[Compact Pro]] (.cpt)<br />
* [[CPIO]] (.cpio)<br />
* [[DGCA]] (.dgc)<br />
* [[Disk Archiver]] (.dar)<br />
* [[DiskDoubler]] (.dd)<br />
* [[DUPA]] (Amiga FileImploder Clone)<br />
* [[DVDisaster Error Correction File]] (.ecc)<br />
* [[FIMP]] (Amiga FileImploder)<br />
* [[Freeze/Melt]] (.F)<br />
* [[GCA]] (.gca)<br />
* [[HA]] (.ha)<br />
* [[Huffman Encoding]] (.z)<br />
* [[ICE]] (.ice)<br />
* [[IFHC]] (Amiga FileImploder Clone)<br />
* [[IMP]] (Amiga FileImploder)<br />
* [[Inflate]] (.infl)<br />
* [[Jar]] (.j) => this is just a renamed zip file with some mandatory files<br />
* [[KGB Archiver]] (.kgb)<br />
* [[KiriKiri]] (.xp3)<br />
* [[LZIP]] (.lz)<br />
* [[LZOP]] (.lzop)<br />
* [[LZW]] (.Z)<br />
* [[LZX]] (.lzx)<br />
* [[Mozilla Archive]] (.mar)<br />
* [[MS-DOS Compression]] (.??_)<br />
* [[PackIt]] (.pit)<br />
* [[PAK]] (.pak)<br />
* [[PAQ]] (.paq6, .paq7, .paq8)<br />
* [[Parchive File]] (.par, .par2)<br />
* [[PartImage]] (.partimg)<br />
* [[PeaZip]] (.pea)<br />
* [[PerfectCompress]] (.uca)<br />
* [[PIM]] (.pim)<br />
* [[Quadruple D]] (.qda)<br />
* [[RK]] (.rk)<br />
* [[RZIP]] (.rzip)<br />
* [[SCIFER]] (.ba)<br />
* [[Scifer]] (.sen)<br />
* [[Self Dissolving ARChive]] (.sda)<br />
* [[Self-Extracting Archive]] (.sea)<br />
* [[Self-Extracting Archive]] (.sfx)<br />
* [[sfArk]] (.sfark)<br />
* [[Shell Archive]] (.shar)<br />
* [[SQX]] (.sqx)<br />
* [[UHarc]] (.uha)<br />
* [[UltraCompressor II]] (.uc, .uc0, .uc2, .ucn, .ur2, .ue2)<br />
* [[Unix Archiver]] (.ar)<br />
* [[Windows Image]] (.wim)<br />
* [[WinHKI]] (.hki)<br />
* [[WinRK]] (.rk)<br />
* [[XAR]] (.xar)<br />
* [[YZ1]] (.yz1)<br />
* [[ZOO]] (.zoo)<br />
* [[Zzip]] (.zz)</div>KevinAshleyhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/BRUBRU2012-11-02T18:37:35Z<p>KevinAshley: Created page with " == Description == BRU is one of a number of backup formats utilised by Digital's RSX-11M system (the name comes from 'Backup and Restore Utility', the application designed t..."</p>
<hr />
<div><br />
== Description ==<br />
<br />
BRU is one of a number of backup formats utilised by Digital's RSX-11M system (the name comes from 'Backup and Restore Utility', the application designed to read and write BRU containers.) BRU came later in the operating system's history than other formats such as FLX and DMP and is therefore somewhat more complex. BRU was used in environments where tape was the likely target, but you may also come across BRU format disk dumps of tapes.<br />
<br />
(Is this the same format as that produced by the Tolis Group's BRU product ? I don't know.)</div>KevinAshleyhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/FigFig2012-11-02T18:16:07Z<p>KevinAshley: Created page with " == Description == FIG is a file format for figures supported by the xfig drawing package (X Window System) and the transfig suite, which transforms .fig files into other for..."</p>
<hr />
<div><br />
== Description ==<br />
<br />
FIG is a file format for figures supported by the xfig drawing package (X Window System) and the transfig suite, which transforms .fig files into other formats suitable for printing or embedding in other objects (such as LaTeX documents.) Although primarily a vector graphics format it supports embedded raster images and embedded encapsulated postscript.<br />
<br />
== Examples ==<br />
<br />
<br />
== Links and code ==<br />
<br />
http://xfig.org/ Home site for the Xfig package<br />
<br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xfig Wikipedia page about Xfig and the fig format</div>KevinAshleyhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/Talk:Audio_and_MusicTalk:Audio and Music2012-11-01T04:24:53Z<p>KevinAshley: </p>
<hr />
<div>I'm not sure how formal this whole effort is in terms of rules / guidelines, but I figure I should take a minute to explain how I intend to organise this page. If anyone has a better system I'm happy to talk about implementing that instead.<br />
<br />
We're obviously going to have massive trouble with ambiguity, given the relatively small number of filenames and the vast number of different kinds of files (to pick just one example, a ".ps" file might be a PostScript document or an Amiga module created by Paul Shields).<br />
<br />
For the Audio section, as you can see, I've picked up from whoever started it and kept on with the format [[FILE EXTENSION]] (Brief Description). For the most part, I intend to create new pages simply at [[FILE EXTENSION]]. When ambiguity arises, I've been turning [[FILE EXTENSION]] into a disambiguation page and creating new pages using [[Brief Description]], then altering the links on the main page to "Brief Description|FILE EXTENSION" - see "PSF" for example.<br />
<br />
Anway, that was boring, but I thought I should explain my thinking.<br />
--[[User:Halftheisland|Halftheisland]] ([[User talk:Halftheisland|talk]]) 19:56, 28 October 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: I'm functioning as Final Editor on this project (unlike most Wikis), so there's a solid voice and less time spent bickering. Your system makes sense, and that's how we've been doing it for everything. The intent is to use Categories to help people coming in from sideways issues, like "I have a pile of cartridges, what is on these" or "I have a floppy disk, what kind of floppy disk could it possibly be".<br />
<br />
: --[[User:Jason Scott|Jason Scott]] ([[User talk:Jason Scott|talk]]) 22:46, 28 October 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: Sounds good. Any chance you could knock together some basic editing guidelines for us, Jason? I've been limiting myself to just basic scaffolding at this point, imitating what you had already put up. -- [[User:Rhetoric X|Rhetoric X]] ([[User talk:Rhetoric X|talk]]) 22:50, 28 October 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: I was wondering what the feeling is on pulling in extant documents and wikifying them? I've been linking to various file format specs, but I'm concerned that those links have an expiry date. It would be nice to take them and stick them in a sub-page (e.g. S3M/Specification) just so we've got a backup. --[[User:Halftheisland|Halftheisland]] ([[User talk:Halftheisland|talk]]) 02:16, 29 October 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Worth noting that there's a separate category for music files, and that many of these formats seem to be more like music files than audio files. [[MOD]] being one example but there are many more.</div>KevinAshleyhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/MusicMusic2012-11-01T04:20:58Z<p>KevinAshley: </p>
<hr />
<div>{|<br />
|[[File Formats]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Electronic File Formats]]<br />
| ><br />
|Music<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Electronic data formats designed to store musical notes or chords in some notation, or to control musical instruments.<br />
<br />
* [[ELECTONE]]<br />
* [[Guitar tabulatures]]<br />
* [[MIDI]] (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)<br />
* [[BOO]]<br />
* [[EVT]]<br />
* A bunch of 'demo' formats such as [[MOD]] - see the Open Cubic Player homepage for a longer list http://www.cubic.org/player/features.html (some of these are audio formats rather than music formats)<br />
* [[MDZ]] - strictly not itself a music format, but a metadata file for other music files used by Open Cubic Player. See http://www.cubic.org/player/doc/node72.htm<br />
<br />
<br />
See also [[Piano Rolls]] (which is under the [[Physical File Formats]]), and [[Audio]] for file formats capturing sound recordings.</div>KevinAshleyhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/MusicMusic2012-11-01T03:57:52Z<p>KevinAshley: </p>
<hr />
<div>{|<br />
|[[File Formats]]<br />
| ><br />
|[[Electronic File Formats]]<br />
| ><br />
|Music<br />
|}<br />
<br />
Electronic data formats designed to store musical notes or chords in some notation, or to control musical instruments.<br />
<br />
* [[ELECTONE]]<br />
* [[Guitar tabulatures]]<br />
* [[MIDI]] (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)<br />
* [[BOO]]<br />
* [[EVT]]<br />
* A bunch of 'demo' formats such as [[MOD]] - see the Open Cubic Player homepage for a longer list http://www.cubic.org/player/features.html (some of these are audio formats rather than music formats)<br />
<br />
<br />
See also [[Piano Rolls]] (which is under the [[Physical File Formats]]), and [[Audio]] for file formats capturing sound recordings.</div>KevinAshleyhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/CSVCSV2012-11-01T03:54:04Z<p>KevinAshley: </p>
<hr />
<div><br />
== CSV - description ==<br />
<br />
CSV - comma separated values - is a text-based format typically used for the storage or exchange of database-like records. In essence, CSV files consist of a series of '''records''' each of which contains zero or more '''fields'''. The fields are separated by a known delimiter - canonically a comma - and the records are typically separated by whatever constitutes a newline on the system which generated the CSV file. A quote character is used to surround fields which themselves contain the delimiter character or the quote character, and in some implementations is used to surround any field which contains non-alphanumeric characters. The quote character is typically " but is often '.<br />
<br />
A simplistic and quite possibly syntactically invalid BNF definition for CSV is as follows:<br />
<br />
<CSVFile> ::= <Record>*<br />
<br />
<Record> ::= { <Field> (<Delimiter> <Field>)* } <EOL><br />
<br />
<Field> ::= <SimpleField> <QuotedField><br />
<br />
<SimpleField> :== AlphaNum* ; Any sequence of alpha-numeric characters<br />
<br />
<QuotedField> :== <QuoteChar> <Anychar>* <QuoteChar> ; See below for quite how flexible <anychar> is<br />
<br />
<QuoteChar> :== " | ' ;but note that they generally must match<br />
<br />
<Delimiter> :== ","<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Implementations vary in their interpretation and generation of CSV files. The best, as ever, are strict in what they generate but generous in what they accept. Known variants of what is acceptable include:<br />
<br />
* Whether quoted fields must be quoted with " or ' or whether either is acceptable<br />
<br />
* Whether <EOL> is ASCII NL, CR, CR NL, NL CR or any combination of these. (For instance, some implementations expecting a bare NL but seeing a record ending in CR NL will treat the CR as part of the final field; some will see it as a record delimiter on its own, making a blank record following; some will correctly recognise CR NL as a variant form of <EOL>)<br />
<br />
* Whether all records must contain the same number of fields or not<br />
<br />
* Whether special interpretation can be given to the first record, naming the fields in subsequent records (implementations that accept this will typically expect every record to contain the same number of fields as the first record)<br />
<br />
* Whether quotes only appear around fields which themselves contain either a quote character, a delimiter or a newline or whether quotes can be placed around any field<br />
<br />
* Whether quotes inside a field are doubled or escaped. E.g. if the quote character is '''"''' and a field's value is '''you"re''' should the field appear as "'''you\"re'''" or "'''you""re'''" ? (The second option is the most widely adopted, and that used by MS Excel)<br />
<br />
* Whether it is possible to place quotes or delimiters inside field values at all (Some simplistic CSV libraries simply split the input line at every occurrence of a delimiter, ignoring quoting.)<br />
<br />
* Whether quoting a field allows it to contain a newline or whether a newline always terminates a record regardless of where it appears.<br />
<br />
With the generic interpretation of CSV given above, it is possible to see Tab-Delimited-Values as a special case of CSV that frequently avoids many of these problems with quoting, since typical textual data is less likely to contain real tab characters than commas or quotes. Tab-delimited files rarely if ever need to use quote characters to surround fields and therefore can be handled simply by splitting lines at each tab character, as long as one does not need to support multi-line fields.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
== Examples ==<br />
<br />
<br />
== Other descriptions ==<br />
<br />
<br />
== Code ==<br />
<br />
The public release of the NDAD code contained a generic set of routines to read and write CSV files which supported arbitrary quoting and multi-line fields, as well as supporting files which contained different numbers of fields in each record. readcsv_v & writecsv are buried in this tarball:<br />
<br />
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ndad/files/ndad/<br />
<br />
There's also readcsv, a simpler implementation which expects the caller to know how many fields the input record will contain and returns an error if that isn't what it finds.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
--[[User:KevinAshley|KevinAshley]] ([[User talk:KevinAshley|talk]]) 03:28, 1 November 2012 (UTC)</div>KevinAshleyhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/CSVCSV2012-11-01T03:45:44Z<p>KevinAshley: </p>
<hr />
<div><br />
== CSV - description ==<br />
<br />
CSV - comma separated values - is a text-based format typically used for the storage or exchange of database-like records. In essence, CSV files consist of a series of '''records''' each of which contains zero or more '''fields'''. The fields are separated by a known delimiter - canonically a comma - and the records are typically separated by whatever constitutes a newline on the system which generated the CSV file. A quote character is used to surround fields which themselves contain the delimiter character or the quote character, and in some implementations is used to surround any field which contains non-alphanumeric characters. The quote character is typically " but is often '.<br />
<br />
A simplistic and quite possibly syntactically invalid BNF definition for CSV is as follows:<br />
<br />
<CSVFile> ::= <Record>*<br />
<br />
<Record> ::= { <Field> (<Delimiter> <Field>)* } <EOL><br />
<br />
<Field> ::= <SimpleField> <QuotedField><br />
<br />
<SimpleField> :== AlphaNum* ; Any sequence of alpha-numeric characters<br />
<br />
<QuotedField> :== <QuoteChar> <Anychar>* <QuoteChar> ; See below for quite how flexible <anychar> is<br />
<br />
<QuoteChar> :== " | ' ;but note that they generally must match<br />
<br />
<Delimiter> :== ","<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Implementations vary in their interpretation and generation of CSV files. The best, as ever, are strict in what they generate but generous in what they accept. Known variants of what is acceptable include:<br />
<br />
* Whether quoted fields must be quoted with " or ' or whether either is acceptable<br />
<br />
* Whether <EOL> is ASCII NL, CR, CR NL, NL CR or any combination of these. (For instance, some implementations expecting a bare NL but seeing a record ending in CR NL will treat the CR as part of the final field; some will see it as a record delimiter on its own, making a blank record following; some will correctly recognise CR NL as a variant form of <EOL>)<br />
<br />
* Whether all records must contain the same number of fields or not<br />
<br />
* Whether special interpretation can be given to the first record, naming the fields in subsequent records (implementations that accept this will typically expect every record to contain the same number of fields as the first record)<br />
<br />
* Whether quotes only appear around fields which themselves contain either a quote character, a delimiter or a newline or whether quotes can be placed around any field<br />
<br />
* Whether quotes inside a field are doubled or escaped. E.g. if the quote character is '''"''' and a field's value is '''you"re''' should the field appear as "'''you\"re'''" or "'''you""re'''" ? (The second option is the most widely adopted, and that used by MS Excel)<br />
<br />
* Whether it is possible to place quotes or delimiters inside field values at all (Some simplistic CSV libraries simply split the input line at every occurrence of a delimiter, ignoring quoting.)<br />
<br />
* Whether quoting a field allows it to contain a newline or whether a newline always terminates a record regardless of where it appears.<br />
<br />
With the generic interpretation of CSV given above, it is possible to see Tab-Delimited-Values as a special case of CSV that frequently avoids many of these problems with quoting, since typical textual data is less likely to contain real tab characters than commas or quotes. Tab-delimited files rarely if ever need to use quote characters to surround fields and therefore can be handled simply by splitting lines at each tab character, as long as one does not need to support multi-line fields.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
== Examples ==<br />
<br />
<br />
== Other descriptions ==<br />
<br />
<br />
== Code ==<br />
<br />
The public release of the NDAD code contained a generic set of routines to read and write CSV files which supported arbitrary quoting and multi-line fields, as well as supporting files which contained different numbers of fields in each record.<br />
<br />
<br />
--[[User:KevinAshley|KevinAshley]] ([[User talk:KevinAshley|talk]]) 03:28, 1 November 2012 (UTC)</div>KevinAshleyhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/CSVCSV2012-11-01T03:28:08Z<p>KevinAshley: Created page with " == CSV - description == CSV - comma separated values - is a text-based format typically used for the storage or exchange of database-like records. In essence, CSV files cons..."</p>
<hr />
<div><br />
== CSV - description ==<br />
<br />
CSV - comma separated values - is a text-based format typically used for the storage or exchange of database-like records. In essence, CSV files consist of a series of '''records''' each of which contains a number of '''fields'''. The fields are separated by a known delimiter - canonically a comma - and the records are typically separated by whatever constitutes a newline on the system which generated the CSV file. A quote character is used to surround fields which themselves contain the delimiter character or the quote character, and in some implementations is used to surround any field which contains non-alphanumeric characters. The quote character is typically " but is often '.<br />
<br />
A simplistic and quite possibly syntactically invalid BNF definition for CSV is as follows:<br />
<br />
<CSVFile> ::= <Record>*<br />
<br />
<Record> ::= { <Field> (<Delimiter> <Field>)* } <EOL><br />
<br />
<Field> ::= <SimpleField> <QuotedField><br />
<br />
<SimpleField> :== AlphaNum* ; Any sequence of alpha-numeric characters<br />
<br />
<QuotedField> :== <QuoteChar> <Anychar>* <QuoteChar> ; See below for quite how flexible <anychar> is<br />
<br />
<Delimiter> :== " | ' ;but note that they generally must match<br />
<br />
Implementations vary in their interpretation and generation of CSV files. The best, as ever, are strict in what they generate but generous in what they accept. Known variants of what is acceptable include:<br />
<br />
Whether quoted fields must be quoted with " or ' or whether either is acceptable<br />
<br />
Whether <EOL> is ASCII NL, CR, CR NL, NL CR or any combination of these. (For instance, some implementations expecting a bare NL but seeing a record ending in CR NL will treat the CR as part of the final field; some will see it as a record delimiter on its own, making a blank record following; some will correctly recognise CR NL as a variant form of <EOL>)<br />
<br />
Whether all records must contain the same number of fields or not<br />
<br />
Whether special interpretation can be given to the first record, naming the fields in subsequent records (implementations that accept this will typically expect every record to contain the same number of fields as the first record)<br />
<br />
Whether quotes only appear around fields which themselves contain either a quote character, a delimiter or a newline or whether quotes can be placed around any field<br />
<br />
Whether quotes inside a field are doubled or escaped. E.g. if the quote character is ''''''' and a field's value is '''you're''' should the field appear as '''you\'re''' or '''you''re''' ?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
== Examples ==<br />
<br />
<br />
== Other descriptions ==<br />
<br />
<br />
== Code ==<br />
<br />
<br />
--[[User:KevinAshley|KevinAshley]] ([[User talk:KevinAshley|talk]]) 03:28, 1 November 2012 (UTC)</div>KevinAshleyhttp://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/Talk:ArchivingTalk:Archiving2012-11-01T02:39:32Z<p>KevinAshley: Container formats should be in their own category</p>
<hr />
<div>I was about to create a separate category for 'container' formats, but thought I would check here just in case someone had lumped them under compression. Which is what has happened. Having a 'non-compressed' category under the 'compression' category demonstrates the folly of this approach, I think!<br />
<br />
I realise that zip and related formats conflate the two notions, but there are many, many container formats which aren't compressed. And there are some compression formats (LZW for example) that aren't container formats. I vote for splitting them but with appropriate cross-linking,</div>KevinAshley