From: Bruce Grubb <[email protected]>
Subject: format-chart152.txt

category: information, help, text

This is the latest version this report and should replace the previous version
of format-chart1151.txt

I am providing the format decoding/encoding chart from the Mac-FTP-list as
an aid for those who only want to know 'Which program will unmangle/uncompress
this format?'  Unlike the Mac-FTP-list this will be updated only as needed.

All the text in the this document must be in a monospaced font such as
Monaco 9pt, Courier 10pt, or PC equivalent so that the columns line up
correctly.  Since to be readable on-line this file is in ASCII it
is recommended that something like TexEdit+ or a web browser be used to
view the file.

Permission is given for this file to be included on the Info-Mac CD-ROM.

--------------------blurb ends, report commences---------------------------

Format-Chart Version 1.5.2
From the Mac-FTP-list (Jan 1, 2002)

I am providing the format decoding/encoding chart from the Mac-FTP-list as
an aid for those who only want to know 'Which program will unmangle/uncompress
this format?'  Unlike the Mac-FTP-list this will be updated only as needed.

All the text in the this document must be in a monospaced font such as
Monaco 9pt, Courier 10pt, or PC equivalent so that the columns line up
correctly.  Since to be readable on-line this file is in ASCII it
is recommended that something like TexEdit+ or a web browser be used to
view the file.

Here's a handy chart to keep track which programs unmangle which formats:

                                              unix  gzip  .uu/ .b64/
Macintosh            .sit .hqx .bin .zip .tar  .Z  .gz/.z .uue .mime*
Stuffit Expander**     D    D    D    D    D    D     D     D    D
DropStuff**            C    C
DropTar**                                  C    C     C     C
DropZip**                        I    C                     C
StuffIt Deluxe***      X    X    X    X    X    X     X     X    D
MacCompress                                     X
MacGzip                                         D     X
MPack 1.5.1                 D                               D    X
Rosetta                     D    D                          D    D
SunTar 2.2.3                X    X         X                X    D
ZipIt                       D    D    X

Other                                         unix  gzip  .uu/ .b64/
computers            .sit .hqx .bin .zip .tar  .Z  .gz/.z .uue .mime*
Aladdin Expander 6     D    D    D    D               D     D
Aladdin DropStuff      C              C
Aladdin DropZip        C              C
StuffIt (Win)***       X    D    D    X    X          X     X    X
Expander (Linux)       D    D    D    D    D    D     D     D    D
StuffIt (Linux)***     C    C    C    C         C     C     C
binhex-pc-13                X
MPack                       D                               D    X
PKZIP                                 X
xferp110 (win)              X                               X    X

D = Decode/decompress only
C = Create/compress only
I = MacBinary format is supported internally only
X = Create and decode

sit refers to all versions of the Stuffit format.  A '/' denotes the
inability to handle certain formats as outlined in the legend above.

hqx = BinHex4; .bin = BinHex5, MacBinary I, II, and III
Note: Almost every Mac communications program can decode .bin files.
*   .b64/.mime (Base 64) refers to the encoding format used by the
    Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension.  For more information consult
    the MIME FAQ.
<http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/mail/mime-faq/top.html>.
**  Stuffit Expander (free) along with DropStuff, DropTar, and DropZip
    (shareware) are combined into StuffIt Lite.
    Current public versions are 6.5.0
*** Current versions as of this writing are 6.5.0 (Mac), 5.5 (Win)
    and 5.2 (Linux and Solaris)
    Aladdin has a more detailed format chart at their site
    <http://www.aladdinsys.com/support/techsupport/fileformats.html>

Other formats
arc
     old (c1990) MS-DOS compresion format, replaced by .zip.
     Decompressed by Stuffit Engine, StuffIt Deluxe,
     MacArc (can also compress), and Aladdin Expander.
arj
     PC format common to European sites. Decompressed by unArjMac,
     DeArj, and Stuffit 5,5 (Windows).
cpt
     Mac compression format created by Compact programs (last
     updated April 1995).  Decompressed by Stuffit Expander,
     StuffIt Deluxe, Compact Pro, and macunpack.
dd
     Disk Doubler (Mac) format. Decompressed by DDExpand, DiskDoubler
     and Stuffit Expander 5.5.
exe
     DOS/Windows executable file (program); also used to create
     self-extracting archives. An .exe file used as a self-extracting
     archive can usually be decompressed with Stuffit Expander w/ DSEE.
     Use of this format of an archive is strongly discouraged as it
     can cause problems crossplatform.
html (.htm)
     WWW document. Used by WWW browsers such as Netscape and lynx.
image/.img/.ima/ (related format - .smi, .dmg)
     These are all disk image extensions.  They represent Mac disk image
     (.image/.img), Microsoft Disk Image Utility (.img), and Winimage
     (.ima) formats.  Most can be mounted via StuffIt Expander 6.5 or
     ShrinkWrap 3.5.1
<http://www.aladdinsys.com/developers/shrinkwrap/index.html>.
     To eliminate the need for a mounter program there now exists a
     self mounting disk image format called .smi.
     .dmg is a new disk image format designed for MacOS X.
     Note that .img is also used as an graphic file extension and
     needs GraphicConverter to view.
lzh (related formats - .lha and .lzs)
     old PC/Amiga format that is still quite popular in Japan and
     with Aminet Amiga site <http://us.aminet.net/~aminet>, largely
     replaced by .arc and .zip elsewhere; decompressed via the
     Stuffit Engine 4.5+ and StuffIt Deluxe 4.5+, LHA Expander 1.0.3,
     French KISS 2.2.0 and MacLHA 2.2.1 (which also allows compression).
rar
     A DOS compression format.  Handled by MacRAR <http://macrar.free.fr/>
     and StuffIt Expander 6.0.1.
sea
     A special version of a Mac compression format that decompresses
     itself when opened.  The most common .sea files are Stuffit,
     Compact Pro, and Disk Doubler.  Use of this format is strongly
     discouraged as it can cause problems crossplatform.
shar
     Unix shell archive. Decoded by Unshar.
taz
     another name for .tar.Z
tgz
     another name for .tar.z and .tar.gz (do not confuse with .tar.Z).
txt (.abs, .doc)
     ASCII text file. There is a slight differance between ASCII text
     files of Mac, PCs, and UNIX systems which can cause problems when
     trying to read them. Mac ASCII uses carrage returns, UNIX uses
     line feeds, and PC uses both.
z
     Suffix used by both Unix pack and early (c1993) Gzip files.
     Due to confusion between these compression methods and Unix
     'compress' suffix (.Z) it was abandoned in favor of
     the .gz suffix.  Unix pack itself has been effectively
     replaced by both Unix compress and Gzip.
zoo
     old (c1989) PC/Amiga format, replaced by .arc which in turn was
     largely replaced by .zip. Decompressed by MacZoo and MacBooz.

CAUTION: While Gzip is aimed at replacing the .Z format, they are _different_
unix compression formats, and the suffixes are NOT inchangable.  Many sites
now support on-the-fly translation of these formats; just type in the file
name minus the .Z or .gz suffix.

WARNING: .hqx, .uu, .b64, and .txt files are the ONLY files that can be
downloaded in ASCII mode; all others must be downloaded in BINARY {IMAGE}
mode for the file to decompress properly.  This is especially true of
".bin" and "unstuffed" files.  Otherwise you will get errors like
"unreadable file" or "file is corrupt" when you try to decompress them.

If you need further information please check out the comp.compression FAQ
<http://www.faqs.org/faqs/by-newsgroup/comp/comp.compression.html> or David
Lemson's compression chart <ftp://ftp.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/doc/pcnet/>.

My Mac-FTP-list also contains information on how to use certain files
<http://members.aol.com/BruceG6069/mac-ftp-list.html#using-files>

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