File type refers to how picture information is formatted. The following is a list of file formats supported by QuarkXPress:

• Adobe Illustrator (AI): The native file format for Adobe Illustrator. Imported Adobe Illustrator 9 files are functionally equivalent to imported PDF files. If you import an Adobe Illustrator 8 file, any EPS data in the file is included. You cannot import Adobe Illustrator files saved in version 7 or earlier.
• BMP(Bitmap): A raster image file that is used mostly on the Microsoft Windows platform.
• DCS 2.0 (Desktop Color Separations): An EPS file saved as a single file that can include process plates (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) as well as spot plates and a master image. A DCS 2.0 file is preseparated, so it prints faster than a standard EPS. The master image is used for composite printing. A DCS 2.0 file can contain bitmap and object-oriented information. The DCS 2.0 format supports bitmap, spot, and CMYK color models. DCS 1.0 — also known as “five-file format” — contains five separate files: Cyan, magenta, yellow, and black plate files, as well as a master file.
• EPS (Encapsulated PostScript): A commonly used file format that supports both raster and vector information. Some EPS files don’t have a preview. After you import an EPS file that does not have a preview, “PostScript Picture” and the file’s name display in the picture box. However, if you send the picture to a PostScript output device, the image outputs. To make the preview visible, choose Generate from the Preview drop-down menu in the Preferences dialog box (Edit menu), and then reimport the image.
• GIF(Graphics Interchange Format): A bitmap file format that supports 8-bit indexed color, transparency, and animation.
• JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group): A lossy compressed format. Lossy compression is a method that can introduce data loss and possibly quality degradation. Lossy compression often produces smaller file sizes than lossless compression.
• PDF (Portable Document Format): A proprietary format developed by Adobe Systems, Inc. to facilitate file transfer. You can import PDF file versions up to 1.7 into QuarkXPress.
• PICT: A Mac OS format based on the original QuickDraw drawing routines. PICTs contain bitmap and object-oriented information.
• PNG (Portable Network Graphics): A bitmap file format that supports both indexed color and continuous tone color, with lossless or lossy compression.
• PSD (Photoshop Document): A proprietary file format developed by Adobe Systems, Inc. The .psd extension is the default extension for Adobe Photoshop files.
• SWF: A proprietary vector-graphics file format developed by Adobe Systems, Inc. that is used for animation.
• TIFF (Tagged Image File Format): A file format that allows lossless compression if the source application supports it. TIFFs can contain bitmap and object-oriented information and support bitmap, grayscale, RGB, CMYK, and indexed color models. This format allows inclusion of embedded paths and alpha channels, as well as inclusion of OPI comments.
• WMF (Windows Metafile): A Windows file format that can contain both bitmap and object-oriented information. When a Windows Metafile picture is imported into QuarkXPress on Mac OS, it is converted to a PICT.