Think file extension when we you hear Data File. In other words, the way in which a file is saved – which has an impact on how different software applications access and consume the data within it.
For example, Excel files are saved with the extension .xlsx. The .xlsx data file is Excel’s way of saving data in a particular structure, so the Excel program knows how to read and process the data stored in it. The most common Data Files are :
- CSV - Comma Separated Values, unformatted text or numbers delimited by commas
- TSV - Tab Separated Values, unformatted text or numbers delimited by tabs
- TXT - Standard text document that contains an unformatted text document
- DOCX - Microsoft Word specific extension for a formatted text document
- XLSX - Microsoft Excel specific extension for a formatted spreadsheet