How many file formats are there?

Here’s what I found.

Photo by recha oktaviani

Count

1635.

Entire list: https://github.com/aa-ag/counting_stuff/blob/main/formats.txt from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_file_formats

Definitions

A file format: A format for encoding information in a file. Each different type of file has a different file format. The file format specifies first whether the file is a binary or ASCII file, and second, how the information is organized.¹

Methodology

A little Python and a lot of curiosity can go a long way:

[1] https://www.webopedia.com/definitions/file-format/