There’s something wrong with this file. It won’t open!

Have you ever received a file from someone that you can’t open? Just because you can’t open it, doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with the file. Some file formats can be opened by many different programs, one of which you probably have on your computer. Other file types belong to specific programs and cannot be opened unless you have that program installed.
Here is a quick look at the most common types of files, and what programs you can use to open them:

Open formats

Several different programs can open the following types of files. They will more than likely open on your computer.

TIFF, PNG, GIF, BMP, JPEG/JPG files

You can open these files using any image viewing/editing program.

PDF files

You can open PDFs using Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader (which is available for free online), or Preview.

EPS files

You can open EPS files on a Mac, but it may not be possible to open them on your PC, depending on how the EPS was saved.

Proprietary formats

The following file types are associated with a specific program. In order to open them, you may need to own the program.

INDD/IDML files - Adobe InDesign

You must have the same version of InDesign to open an INDD file. An IDML file can be opened by other versions of InDesign.

PSD files - Adobe Photoshop

You must have Photoshop to edit the file, although you may be able to open it with Adobe Reader or Preview depending on how the file was saved.

AI files - Adobe Illustrator

You must have Illustrator to edit the file, although you may be able to open it with Adobe Reader, Adobe Photoshop or Preview depending on how the file was saved.

QXD/QXP files - QuarkXpress

You must have the program to open QXP files. QXD files can be edited by InDesign, but you may lose some of the formatting and features.

To find out more about what file types are appropriate for what uses, pop over to our blog “Why can’t you just use my JPEG?”