Note: This list is mainly intended for use on Macintosh computers and PC's running MS-Windows. This is only a partial list of what really is out there but for these common platforms, the majority of the file types encountered on-line can handled with the tools herein. For an additional collection of related information focused on PC users check out Multimedia File Formats on The Internet by Allison Zhang, and the Cross-Platform Page by Eric Bennett. For compression info for all platforms check the comp.compression FAQ (126Kb).
Where to get the Software packages