Cabinet Office
Delivering online services requires standards and the information standards and specifications for information access browsers and viewers are detailed below. Refer to the latest version of the e-Government Interoperability Framework at http://www.govtalk.gov.uk.
http://www.govtalk.gov.uk [External link]
H.1 Text files
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
.htm
Those parts of HTML4 commonly rendered by web browsers such as MS Internet Explorer (v4/v5), Netscape Navigator (v4/v5/v6) and their associated extensions and plug-ins.
Portable Document Format
.pdf
Adobe Acrobat, a postscript, print ready file with free reader software to view. The minimum Viewer is version 3.
Rich Text Format
.rtf
Common format for allowing file produced in one word processor application to be viewed by any other.
ASCII
.txt
Plain/formatted text file format that is the simplest way of storing text. Similar to HTML with the file formatting.
H.2 Image files
Graphics Interchange Format
.gif
Most images on the web are saved in this format it allows the production of static and animated graphics. Benefits from a small file size.
Joint Photographic Experts Group
.jpg
This image format is usually reserved for photographic images. It permits the compression of a great deal of colour information into a small file.
Portable Network Graphic
.png
This is an open standard graphics format that is expected to be the long-term replacement for GIF images. A file size will generally be smaller than a corresponding GIF file.
Tag Image File Format
.tif
This is a common form for saving and transferring Raster graphics.
H.3 Spreadsheet formats
Microsoft Excel
.xls
Proprietary product.
Lotus 123
.wk1
Proprietary product.
Delimited (comma separated) file
.csv
This flat file format is a common standard within computers and should be understood by all.
H.4 Multimedia
Audio/visual streaming formats
.rm/.ram
Real Audio and Real Video are continuous or streaming sound/multimedia formats that have to be delivered by a Real server.
Shockwave
.swf
A visual (animation) system from Macromedia.
Quicktime
.mov
A visual playback system developed by Apple.
Waveform Audio File Format
.wav
A sound format from Microsoft that has now become the standard PC-based audio format.
Audio Interchange File Format
.aif
Most commonly used in the Macintosh operating system, it can be outputted via PCs.
Windows Media Format
.wmf
A multimedia format from Microsoft.
Moving Picture Experts Group
.mp3 - MPEG-1 audio Layer 3 is a standard compression file format for audio. This format is downloaded rather than streamed.
mpg - MPEG is also the format used for video presentations, eg, on CD-ROMs.
Webcasting
.smil
File format used in webcasting that permits a logo to be placed within the webcast image
H.5 General purpose
Microsoft Access
.mdb
Proprietary product that is downloadable rather than streamed.
Lotus Notes/Domino
.nsf
Proprietary product.
Microsoft Word
.doc
Proprietary word processing product.
WinZip
.zip
File compression (downloadable only).
Active Server Pages
.asp
A Microsoft format, which is an HTML file with, added scripting. This is processed by a Microsoft web server before being sent to the client.
Microsoft PowerPoint
.ppt
Proprietary product.