Appendix B. Format Conversion Made Easy

The PSP, in all its multifunctional glory, recognizes only certain file formats. That's understandable, as virtually any devicefrom MP3 and video players to PDAscan do only so much. Firmware revisions have broadened the PSP's media-file-handling abilities, but even so, it has its limitations.

You can determine a media file's format by checking out the file's extension. The extension consists of the three letters following the last dot in the file's name. By default, Windows XP hides the extensions of file types it recognizes.

You can view file extensions in Windows XP through two methods. You can right-click any file in Windows Explorer and choose Properties from the context menu; the resulting dialog box will contain a field noting the file type. Sometimes, however, instead of an extension (such as "JPG file"), the file-type field will show the program that the file type is associated with (such as "Microsoft Office Document Imaging file"). You can force Windows Explorer to show all file extensions. To do that, open My Computer; choose Tools > Folder Options; click the View tab in the Folder Options dialog box; and in the Advanced Settings section, uncheck the checkbox titled Hide Extensions for Known File Types. Then click Apply and then OK.

The PSP recognizes the file formats shown in Table B.1.

Table B.1. File Formats the PSP Recognizes

Media Type	Recognized Formats
Video	MP4
Audio	WAV, MP3, WMA (unprotected), MP4
Image formats	JPG, GIF, TIF, PNG, BMP

In your travels about the Internet, you may encounter files that you want to copy to your PSP but that have formats different from the ones the PSP recognizes. Before you toss those files onto a Memory Stick Duo, you'll have to convert them to a PSP-friendly file format.

To do that, you'll have to use the right program on your computer. This appendix will help you convert files to a PSP format, and it suggests several programs that Windows users can employ to accomplish the task. Mac and Linux users certainly can convert files by using the proper programs for their operating systems; the procedures probably aren't much different from these.

You can find plenty of alternatives to the programs demonstrated in this appendix. I chose these based on their ease of use and/or affordability (in fact, all but one are free).