California Department of Transportation

Division of TSI File Help

Information About Different File Formats

(and how to download software to read them).

Some Available File Formats.

HTML FormatHTML File Format
HTML is the standard file format for most web pages. A standard web browser will read and display the page. HTML is the best file choice for quickly viewing a file online. HTML generally loads more quickly than PDF and WORD, and no additional software is needed. HTML files are not usually the best choice to print content being viewed on the screen; however, you may copy and paste from most HTML pages, and you may do a screen copy of any full page (shift/Print Screen/paste). To print a particular document, look for a PDF or WORD version.

Microsoft Word LogoMicrosoft WORD File Format
Microsoft Word Document format (.doc) is the file format for many documents and reports on our site written in Microsoft Word.
Microsoft Word LogoAdobe Acrobat PDF File Format
The PDF file format is a good choice for printing reports and other documents, viewing graphically intensive documents, and keeping documents in their original format. You must have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your PC to view PDF documents. PDF is a very common format for viewing documents on the Internet, so installing the Acrobat Reader will be useful on other websites as well. To download the Acrobat Reader or to find out more about the product, click on the Adobe icon above. PDF files can be viewed and printed on a variety of platforms.
Microsoft Excel LogoMicrosoft Excel Spreadsheet Files
Excel Spreadsheet format (.xls, .xlt, or xlw) Microsoft Excel Viewer is a small, freely distributable program that allows users to view and print Excel for Windows (versions 2.0 and greater) and Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh (versions 2.2a and greater) spreadsheet files. The viewer is called "Excel 2003" viewer, but you are not limited to viewing only Excel 2003 spreadsheets. To download the free viewer, click here: Get Excel 2003 Viewer.
** PLEASE DESCRIBE THIS IMAGE **Zipped Files
Files archived in a Zip file are compressed to save space. We use this format throughout our website for very large files so they may be downloaded more quickly. Many files on the Net are in a compressed format. Typically, these files will have a .zip extension. Zipped files must be unzipped (or decompressed) before viewing. Besides the popular ZIP format, there are many other compression formats, such as Stuffit (.sit) files (for Mac users) and uuencoded (.uue), BinHex (.hqx), ARC (.arc), Arj (.arj), and gzip (.gz) formats, etc. One of the most popular and well-known compression utilities is WinZip. The link we are providing is to get the trial version. You are expected to pay for it if you use it and like it. To get WinZip, click on: Get Winzip .
The following site has several freeware zip programs that are very good programs. To see the free software, click on: Free Zip Software.
** PLEASE DESCRIBE THIS IMAGE **Microsoft PowerPoint
PowerPoint is a presentation software that we use on our websites to post complete slide shows. Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 Viewer lets you view full-featured presentations created in PowerPoint 97 and later versions, without owning the software. The PowerPoint 2003 Viewer also supports opening password-protected Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. You can view and print presentations, but you will need a complete PowerPoint version of the software to do any editing. To download the free viewer, click on: Get PowerPoint 2003 Viewer.
Flash LogoAdobe Flash Format (fla., .swf)
Get Flash Player 7.0 The Macromedia Flash Player displays content created with Macromedia Flash such as web application front-ends, website user interfaces, interactive online forms, and animation. To get Flash Player, click on: Get Flash Player.
OTHER FILE FORMATS: TIFF, GIF, JPG (or JPEG), are all graphic file formats (or pictures). When one of these formats is downloaded, you will have a picture that is not editable.

TWO of the most popular browsers are listed below.

The latest browsers make it easier to open many WWW pages, files, and pictures.
Microsoft logo spelling out the word Microsoft. Internet Explorer 7.0 Browser Firefox Browser LogoMozilla Firefox Browser

Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional Please note that links on this page are here to help you view more files. A link to one of these pages does not mean that Caltrans supports them or what they say. Visiting these sites is the sole responsibility of you, the user.