File Format Guide
This page provides a handy guide to all the file extensions you can find on this site, as well as what you need to open or run them. Please note that it is not meant to be an exhaustive technical support page -- please read our comprehensive FAQ for general help, and visit the HOTU Tech Help page for game-specific help.
| Extension | What is it? |
What do I need to open it? |
|
| *.001, *.002 etc. | ARJ compressed files | WinRAR (use it on *.001 file; it will auto-extract the rest) | |
| *.ACE, *.C01 etc. | ACE compressed files | WinACE | |
| *.ARJ, *.A01 etc. | ARJ compressed files | WinRAR | |
| *.BZ2, *.TAR.BZ2 | bzip2 compressed file | PowerArchiver | |
| *.RAR, *.R00 etc. | RAR compressed file | WinRAR | |
| *.ZIP | ZIP compressed file | WinZIP or WinRAR | |
| Extension | What is it? |
What do I need to run it? | |
| *.ACD | ALAN game file | ALAN interpreter (see "Runtime only" section) | |
| *.BIN (small size) | Odyssey² game ROM | O2EM emulator | |
| *.BIN (large size) | SEGA Genesis/SEGA CD/Sony Playstation game file | GENS or ePSXe emulator | |
| *.BLB | Glulx game | Glulx interpreters | |
| *.C64, *.D64 | Commodore 64 game ROM | CCS64 emulator (among others) | |
| *.DCR | Shockwave game | Shockwave player (if you already have the plug-in, just open the DCR file with your browser) | |
| *.DO | Apple II game ROM | AppleWin (Apple II emulator) | |
| *.DSK | Apple II or Macintosh game ROM | AppleWin (Apple II emulator) or Basilisk II (Mac emulator) | |
| *.FIG | Super Nintendo game file | SNES emulator - we recommend ZSNES | |
| *.GAM | TADS game file | Windows TADS 2+3 Player Kit Installer | |
| *.GG | SEGA Game Gear game file | MEKA emulator | |
| *.HEX | HUGO game file | HUGO interpreter | |
| *.HQX | Macintosh compressed file | A real Mac ;) or Basilisk II emulator | |
| *.IMG | Self-booter disk image | Flopper program | |
| *.ISO (non-PC title) | SEGA CD/Sony Playstation game file | GENS or ePSXe emulator | |
| *.ISO (PC title) | Exact copy ("ISO") of a PC CD-ROM disc | Daemon Tools - allows mounting *.ISO on a virtual CD-ROM drive | |
| *.JAR | Java Runtime file | Java Runtime Library | |
| *.MSA | Atari ST disk image | Steem Engine emulator | |
| *.MSI | Windows Installer database | Windows Installer update (for Win 95/98 users only) | |
| *.NES | Nintendo game file | NES emulator - we recommend NESticle | |
| *.NIB | Apple II game ROM | AppleWin (Apple II emulator) | |
| *.NRG | Exact copy ("ISO") of a PC CD-ROM disc | Daemon Tools - allows mounting *.NRG on a virtual CD-ROM drive | |
| *.PRG | Atari ST game ROM | Steem Engine emulator | |
| *.SFC | Super Famicom (SNES outside Asia) game file | SNES emulator - we recommend ZSNES | |
| *.SIT | Macintosh StuffIt file | A real Mac ;) or Basilisk II emulator | |
| *.SMC | Super Nintendo game file | SNES emulator - we recommend ZSNES | |
| *.SMD | SEGA 32X game file | GENS emulator | *.SWF | Flash game | Shockwave Flash (if you already have the plug-in, just open the SWF file with your browser) |
| *.ST | Atari ST game ROM | Steem Engine emulator | |
| *.T3 | TADS 3 game file | Windows TADS 2+3 Player Kit Installer | |
| *.TAF | ADRIFT game file | ADRIFT Runner | |
| *.ULX | Glulx game | Glulx interpreters | |
| *.Z5, *.Z6, *.Z8 | Inform game file | Windows Frotz 2002 | |
| Extension | What is it? |
What do I need to listen to it? |
|
| *.D00, *.HSC, *.RAW, *.SA2 | AdLib format file | AdPlug, a plug-in module for WinAmp | |
| *.MID, *.MIDI | MIDI file | Windows media player (pre-installed with Windows) | |
| *.MOD, *.ITZ, *.S3Z | Amiga music file | ModPlug (to listen directly) or DeliPlayer | |
| *.OGG | Ogg Vorbis music | Ogg player - dbPowerAMP is recommended | |
| *.SID | Commodore 64 music file | SidPlay for Windows or SidPlay for Mac | |
| *.ZIP | Compressed music file for DeliPlayer | DeliPlayer (no need to use WinZIP) |
