File-Sharing: An Ode to Our Favorite File Extensions

The Pirate Bay, everybody’s favorite free-download site, has just run afoul of the Swedish legal system. (And when it comes to the law, you do not want to cross the Swedes.) The site is still operational, or at least it was when we wrote this blog post, but the future of torrent-style downloads is at least a little bit imperiled. Which is a shame—.torrent is one of our favorite file extensions! 

For high-volume copyright infringement, Internet pirates have no better pal than a .torrent file. Sure, you might never actually take the time to listen to all eight gigs of that Noam Chomsky lecture collection, but it was free.

Herewith, some of our other favorite file extensions (plus a couple we can’t stand). 

File extension: .mp3

Why we love it: The venerable granddaddy of computer music files. Versatile and revolutionary, all while maintaining mass appeal.

Musical Corollary: Radiohead is the obvious choice here, but it’s also the right one for a band that rose to stardom thanks in large part to mp3-sharing on the Internet.

File extension: .rar

Why we love it: This file extension, which can theoretically be used to compress something besides an indie-rock album, also has onomatopoeic value. As in, “Raaaaaaar, I’m totally downloading the new Mastodon record!!!”

Musical corollary: Anything metal

File extensions: .mov, .avi and .mpeg

Why we love them: We’re not really sure what the difference is between these three extensions. But they all let us watch movies on our computers!

Musical corollary: Any emo band. You may struggle to tell them apart, but you can rest assured that they’re all special in their own ways. 

File extension: .pdf

Why we love it: The permanence is reassuring. You see a .pdf, and a document feels official. It’s what we’d use if we were drawing up a contract. If we had to trust our last will and testament to an electronic document, .pdf would probably be the way to go.

Musical corolary: U2. Maybe not the world’s hottest and most thrilling new band, but they do the job with class.

File extension: .7z

Why we love it: Oh, you haven’t heard of it?

Musical corollary: Yeah, it’s this pretty obscure little file extension, Jeff Mangum introduced me to it backstage at a Marnie Stern show.

File extension: ,gif

Why we love it: The animated .gif file is a gateway, beckoning to an enticing world of fantasy, magic and prairie dogs turning around dramatically.

Musical corollary: Gorillaz, a band whose animated persona is somehow more real than the actual musicians involved.

File extension: .docx

Why we hate it: This hateful little extension indicates that someone has sent us a newfangled Word document—or at least that’s what we think it indicates. We’ve never successfully opened one. Was something wrong with plain-old .doc? Hadn’t we all basically agreed that Word docs, while not necessarily glamorous, were functional and fine? This is an example of technology we do not need, and do not want.

Musical corollary: Nickelback, a band we neither need nor want.

File extension: .m4p

Why we hate it: Inscrutable, purposefully obtuse and doesn’t play well with others. A copy-protected music file that I can only play on this and five other computers? Apple, you really shouldn’t have.

Musical corollary: Kraftwerk, or more accurately their diehard fans. M4P is that guy at the party who won’t shut up about Sartre, his vinyl collection, and how he “doesn’t really watch TV any more.”