This document is a combination of several documents. Links are listed below. Some editing/rewriting was done for brevity and formatting. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/194907-atari-8-bit-file-extensions/ (http://fail.sourceforge.net FAIL project is now the RECOIL project.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://faqs.cs.uu.nl/na-dir/atari-8-bit/faq.html Subject: 7.3.6) What should I know about filenames and filename extensions? Atari disk operating systems generally support file specifications in the form of a filename of 1 to 8 characters, with an optional filename extension of zero to 3 characters. Valid characters for use in filenames/filename extensions: (varies somewhat by DOS version) - The letters 'A' to 'Z' - The digits '0' to '9' (many DOS versions do not permit filenames to start with a digit) - The underscore character ('_') (DOS XE,SpartaDOS,RealDOS) - The "at" symbol ('@') (DOS XE) Spaces and other characters are generally not permitted. Filenames and filename extensions are generally arbitrary, but file naming conventions can be helpful. The most common method is to reserve specific extensions for certain types of files. The following list contains some of the more commonly used extensions and their typical corresponding file types. Filenames reserved by Atari DOS, SpartaDOS, RealDOS, or XDOS are listed as well. File formats are binary unless described below as "text" where: - Binary format files are made up of a sequence of bytes of any value from 0-255. - Text format files (technically, a special-case of binary files) are limited to printable/displayable alpha-numeric characters and symbols, organized into lines. And some from ABBUC .ACT - Action! program source code .ALF - AlfCrunch archive file containing one or more compressed files .AMS - Atari Music System song file .AR? - (AR0 through AR9) An "autorun" file loaded by MyDOS during boot, renamed .ARC - Archive file containing one or more compressed files .ASC - ASCII text file .ASM - Assembler Editor program source code, LISTed. ATASCII text. .ATA - ATASCII text file .BAS - BASIC SAVEd program .BAT - Batch file of DOS commands (DOS XE,SpartaDOS,RealDOS). ATASCII text. .BIN - File transferred using CompuServe CIS 'A' Protocol. .BLU - ".blurb" file (description of another file or files) .BXL - BASIC XL SAVEd program .BXE - BASIC XE SAVEd program .C - "C" source code file. .CFG - A preferences (configuration) file used by some program .CMD - Batch file of DOS Commands (XDOS). ATASCII text. .COM - DOS external Command (DOS 2.5,DOS XE,SpartaDOS,RealDOS,XDOS) .CNF - A preferences (configuration) file used by some program .CTB - Compiled Turbo-BASIC XL program .DAT - Data file (typically created/used by another program) .DCM, .DC3, .DSK - Disk Communicator 3.2 disk image file. .DIG - "Parrot" digital audio file. .DOC - Documentation text file (perhaps ASCII or ATASCII) .DOS - DOS system file (SpartaDOS,RealDOS) .EXE - Executable ('Load and Go') machine language (object code) program .FTH - "Forth" source code file. .HLP - Help text file (perhaps ASCII or ATASCII) .LHA - "LHA" archive. A set of files compressed into one file. .LST - LISTed BASIC program. ATASCII text. Less common: .LIS .MBA - Microsoft BASIC SAVEd program. .M65 - MAC/65 SAVEd program source code .MIC - Micro-Painter picture file ("uncompressed"; 62 sectors under DOS 2.0S). .OBJ - Object code (machine language) file (not 'Load and Go') .OBX - Modern naming convention for an executable. Discourages modern computers from thinking that Atari .EXE files might be MS-DOS/MS-Win executable programs. .PIC - Micro Illustrator/KoalaPainter/AtariArtist "compressed" picture .PIL - Pilot SAVEd program. .PRF - A preferences file used by some program .PRN - Text file formatted for copying to Printer (perhaps ASCII) .QIK - "Quick" source code file. .SAV - MEM.SAV may be used by DOS to preserve the contents of memory to disk. .SCP - SpartaDOS SCOPY disk image file. .SFX - Self-Extracting archive file. Created with the CTH SFX program. .SYS - DOS System file or driver (Can be loaded on startup) .TBS, .TUR - Turbo-BASIC XL SAVEd program. .TXT - Text file (perhaps ATASCII or ASCII) .UTL - A DOS external utility program (DOS 3) .UUE - "UUencoded" binary file (converted to text-only format.) .XEX - Modern naming convention for an executable. Discourages modern computers from thinking that Atari .EXE files might be MS-DOS/MS-Win executable programs. .XMO - Binary file, uploaded/download using XMODEM file transfer protocol .ZIP - "ZIP" archive. A set of files compressed into one file. Subject: 9.2) What file formats for entire disks/tapes/cartridges are there? It is now common, especially when working on Windows PCs or Macs, to work with Atari software as files or "images" containing the data from an entire disk, data cassette, or cartridge as duplicated from the native media for the Atari. .ATR - Image format invented by Nick Kennedy, for his SIO2PC project. .ATX - Image format invented by Jorge Cwik, for VAPI project. .BIN - Same as .ROM, see below. .CAR - Cartridge ROM image file. Format includes info about cartridge type. .CAS - Cassette image format .DCM - Image format Disk Communicator 3.2 utility. .DD - Early extension used with DD disk images for use w/Xformer emulators. .DI - Image format for 800XL DJ 1050/XF551 disk drive emulator for the AtariST .IPF - Interchangeable Preservation Format .PRO - Proprietary image format invented by Steven Tucker, for APE ProSystem .ROM - ROM dump file, raw. .SCP - Image format for SpartaDOS. .SD - Early extension used with SD disk images for use w/Xformer emulators. .XFD - "Xformer Floppy Disk" image format See also: Atari Disk Image FAQ http://www.atarimax.com/ape/docs/DiskImageFAQ/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another Slight Atari Player http://asap.sourceforge.net/ And some from ABBUC .CMC - (Chaos Music Composer) - Atari music editor from early 1990s. .CM3 - (CMC "3/4") - CMC with modified pattern length. .CMR - (CMC "Rzog") - CMC with modified bass sounds. .CMS - (Stereo Double CMC) - Stereo CMC. .DMC - (DoublePlay CMC) - CMC with 6502 routine executed at double rate of the original CMC. .DLT - (Delta Music Composer) - Atari music editor from 1990s. .FC - (Future Composer) - Atari music editor from 1990s. .MPT - (Music ProTracker) - Atari music editor from 1990s. .MPD - (MPT DoublePlay) - MPT with 6502 routine executed at double rate of the original MPT. .RMT - (Raster Music Tracker) - Modern Atari music editor running on Windows. .SND - Mac System 7 or NeXT digital audio file. .TMC, .TM8 - (Theta Music Composer 1.x) - Atari music editor from late 1990s. .TM2 - (Theta Music Composer 2.x) - Modern Atari music editor. .STIL - (SAP Tune Information List) - .WAV - "WAVE" digital audio file. Text file that contains cover information and comments for many music files. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some from RECOIL - Retro Computer Image Library http://recoil.sourceforge.net/ And some from ABBUC Atari 8-bit .256, .AP2 - 80x96, 256 colors. .4MI - "AtariTools-800" 4 mono missiles 2x240 each. .4PL - "AtariTools-800" 4 mono players 8x240 each. .4PM - "AtariTools-800" 4 mono players 8x240 each plus 4 mono missiles 2x240 .A4R - "Anime 4ever", 80x256, 16-level grayscale, compressed. .ACS - "AtariTools-800" 4x8 font, 4 colors. .AGP - "AtariTools-800" graphic. .ALL - "Graph", 160x192, 5 colors. .AP3, .APV, .DGI, .DGP, .ILC - "Digi Paint", 80x192, 256 colors, 2 frames. .APC, .PLM - "Any Point, Any Color" / "Plama 256", 80x96, 256 colors. .APL - "Atari Player Editor", up to 16 16x48 frames, 4 colors. .APP - 80x192, 256 colors, 2 frames, compressed. .ART - "Ascii-Art Editor", up to 64x24 characters, mono. .ART - "Artist" by David Eaton, 160x80, 4 colors. .BG9, .G09 - 160x192, 16-level grayscale. .BGP - "Bugbiter APAC239i", 80x239, 256 colors, 2 frames. .BKG - "Movie Maker" background, 160x96, 4 colors. .CCI - "Champions' Interlace", 160x192, 2 frames, compressed. .CHR - "Blazing Paddles" font, mono. .CIN - "Champions' Interlace", 160x192 or 160x200, 2 frames. .CPR - "Trzmiel", 320x192, mono, compressed. .DGS - "Degas" image. (??x??x??). .DIN - 320x192, 10 colors, 2 frames. .DLM - "Dir Logo Maker", 11x16 characters, mono. .DRG - "Atari CAD", 320x160, mono. .ESC - "EscalPaint", 80x192, 256 colors, 2 frames. .FNT - 8x8 font, mono. .FON - Atari screen font file. .FRM - "Frame" animation file. .FWA - "Fun with Art", 160x192, 128 colors. .G10 - "Graphics 10", up to 80x240, 9 colors. .G11 - "Graphics 11", up to 80x240, 16 colors. .GHG - "Gephard Hires Graphics", up to 320x200, mono. .GIF - A "GIF"(tm) graphics file. (??x??x2-256 compressed). .GRA - "APAC" image. (80x96x256 noncompressed). .GR7 - "Graphics 7", up to 160x120, 4 colors. .GR8 - "Graphics 8", up to 320x240, mono. .GR9 - "Graphics 9", up to 80x240, 16-level grayscale. .G15 - "Graphics 15" image. (160x192x4 noncompressed). .HIP - "Hard Interlace Picture", 160x200, grayscale, 2 frames. .HPM - "Grass' Slideshow", 160x192, 4 colors, compressed. .HR - 256x239, 3 colors, 2 frames. .HR2 - 320x200, 5 colors, 2 frames. .ICE - "Interlace Character Editor" font, 2 frames. .ICN - "ICE CIN", 160x192, 80 colors, 2 frames. .IGE - "Interlace Graphics Editor", 128x96, 16 colors, 2 frames. .ILC - "APAC Interlaced" image. (80x192x256 noncompressed). .IMN - "ICE MIN", 160x192, 80 colors, 2 frames. .ING - "ING 15", 160x200, 7 colors, 2 frames. .INP - 160x200, 7 colors, 2 frames. .INT - "INT95a", up to 160x239, 16 colors, 2 frames. .IP2 - "ICE PCIN+", 160x192, 45 colors, 2 frames. .IPC - "ICE PCIN", 160x192, 35 colors, 2 frames. .IR2 - "Super IRG 2", 160x192, 25 colors, 2 frames. .IRG - "Super IRG", 160x192, 15 colors, 2 frames. .IST - "Interlace Studio", 160x200, 2 frames. .JGP - "Jet Graphics Planner", 8x16 tiles, 4 colors. .LEO - "Larka Edytor Obiektów trybu $4+", 8x16 tiles, 5 colors. .LUM - "Technicolor Dream" luminance, 80x96, 16-level grayscale. .MAX - "XL-Paint MAX", 160x192, 2 frames, compressed. .MBG - "Mad Designer", 512x256, mono. .MCH - "Graph2Font", up to 176x240, 128 colors. .MCP - "McPainter", 160x200, 16 colors, 2 frames. .MCS - 160x192, 9 colors. .MGP - "Magic Painter", 160x96, 4 colors with optional rainbow effect. .MIC - "Micro Illustrator" / "Graphics 15" , up to 160x240, 4 colors. .MIC - "AtariGraphics", 160x192, 4 colors. .MIS - "AtariTools-800" missile, 2x240, mono. .NLQ - "Daisy-Dot" 19x16 font, mono. .PIC - "Koala MicroIllustrator", 160x192, 4 colors, compressed. .PLA - "AtariTools-800" player, 8x240, mono. .PMD - "PMG Designer" by Henryk Karpowicz. .PZM - "Pryzm Artist", 80x192, 256 colors, 2 frames. .RAW - "XL-Paint MAX", 160x192, 16 colors, 2 frames. .RGB - "ColorViewSquash", up to 160x192, 3 frames. .RIP - "Rocky Interlace Picture", up to 320x239, 1 or 2 frames. .RLE - "Run-Length-Encoded" image. (??x??x?? compressed). .RM0 - "Rambrandt", 160x96, 99 colors. .RM1 - "Rambrandt", 80x192, 256 colors. .RM2 - "Rambrandt", 80x192, 104 colors. .RM3 - "Rambrandt", 80x192, 128 colors. .RM4 - "Rambrandt", 160x192, 99 colors. .SGE - "Semi-Graphic logos Editor", 40x24 characters, mono. .SHC - "SAMAR Hi-res Interlace with Map of Colours", 320x192, 2 frames. .SHP - "Blazing Paddles" shape table, mono. .SHP - "Movie Maker" shapes, 160x96, 4 colors. .SIF - "Super-IRG" 4x8 font, 4 colors, 2 frames. .SPC - "The Graphics Magician Picture Painter", 160x192, 128 colors. .SXS - 16x16 font, mono. .TIP - "Taquart Interlace Picture", up to 160x119, 2 frames. .VZI - "VertiZontal Interlacing", 160x200, grayscale, 2 frames. .WND - "Blazing Paddles" window, up to 160x192, 4 colors. .XLP - "XL-Paint", 160x192 or 160x200, 7 colors, 2 frames, compressed.