Opening Downloaded Files

Here is a list of all the file extensions you will encounter on this site. If anything is unclear, please contact me.

JPG

A basic image format. Sometimes contains a little bit of "noise" if you zoom in real close. Does not allow for transparency.

Good for:

  • Photos, papers, layouts
  • Large images with lots of colors

Bad for:

  • Anything where you need hard edges, or transparency

PNG

Another basic image format. "Lossless" compression means no "noise" or "artifacts" in the image, but the file size will be larger (possibly much larger) than a JPG image because of that.

Good for:

  • Small images with few colors
  • Anything where you need hard edges, or transparency

Bad for:

  • Large images with lots of colors

PSD

A layered Photoshop file. Good for complex templates and such. Can be opened by Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro, and most other serious image editing software.

Usually I'll zip my PSD files to save time and space when transferring to/from the web. See below.

ZIP

A compressed folder that contains some number of files inside of it. Can easily be opened on almost any operating system without needing special software.

Usually I'll zip my PSD files to save time and space when transferring to/from the web.

7z

Similar to the "zip" format, but you might need to download special software to open it. I used to zip all my files with .7z compression, to help save money on bandwidth and also to speed up your downloading. I'm switching back to using the regular .zip format, but for now a lot of things are still zipped with .7z. You can use the following programs to open these files. If you have any problems, please let me know.

For Windows: 7-zip, AlZip

For Mac: Zipeg, Stuffit Expander

--Marisa