Data File Formats

Generic Data File Formats

• Hierarchical Data Format (HDF)
• Common Data Format (CDF)
• NetCDF
• BER ("Basic Encoding Rules", associated with ASN.1, X.409, and ISO8825)
• XDR (the eXternal Data Representation) is described in RFC 1014 and RFC 1832 (Even though RFC's never change, they seem to move around a lot; if those links don't work try RFC1014 and RFC1832)

Resources on Specific Data File Formats

• Wotsit
• James D. Murray's Graphics File Formats FAQ list (also published as the Encyclopedia of Graphics File Formats)
• The Audio File Formats FAQ (currently maintained by Chris Bagwell; originally by Guido van Rossum)
• .dbf files

Related Links

• Ilana Stern's old sci.data.formats FAQ list
  (this link is somewhat stale; if it doesn't work, try here or here or here or here)
• Jean-loup Gailly's compression FAQ
• Chapter 17 in my C Programming Notes is all about Data Files
• There is a little bit of information about data files in question 20.5 in the comp.lang.c FAQ list