Difference between PPT and PPTX Files?

[qquito]

Dear Everyone:

I am using the Power Pointer (Version 12.1.1) that came along with my
new Mac OS X (Version 10.5.4). And I just noticed that it
automatically saved my newly edited presentation as an PPTX file
instead of the more familiar PPT file. One surprise was that the file
size is much larger than I had expected. Later, I also noticed that it
also automatically saved a PPT copy with a different slide background
which I previously used.

So what is the difference between PPT and PPTX? Why the PPTX? What are
the advantages and new features of an PPTX file?

Thank you for reading and replying!

--Roland

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Roland,

The "X" in the "PPTX" file extension stands for XML, or rather Open XML, the
standard which Office 2008 for Mac (and also Office 2007 for Windows) now
uses. It's not compatible with earlier versions of Office. As I understand
it, the advantages are supposed to be smaller file sizes and more reliable
storage of data.

You can still save your files in the old PPT format if you like. The only
catch is that PowerPoint 2004 and earlier may not be able to use some of the
features you might have used in your PowerPoint 2008 file. If you're not
going to be sharing files with anyone, it's probably best just to stick with
the PPTX format. But if you find that the PPTX format isn't your cup of tea,
go to PowerPoint - Preferences - Save, and change the default file format
for saving PowerPoint files.

Jeff

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi,

To pile onto what Jeff wrote -

the pptX files are zipped text files and associated media files. This
format was introduced to compete against other open (humans can read the
code and it is not proprietary) standards. Certainly text is a crappy
way to make small files compared to the old binary, but it is open -
which is what certain market segments were demanding.

Use the compatibility checker button on the formatting palette before
saving to a previous version.

-Jim

Roland,

The "X" in the "PPTX" file extension stands for XML, or rather Open XML, the
standard which Office 2008 for Mac (and also Office 2007 for Windows) now
uses. It's not compatible with earlier versions of Office. As I understand
it, the advantages are supposed to be smaller file sizes and more reliable
storage of data.

You can still save your files in the old PPT format if you like. The only
catch is that PowerPoint 2004 and earlier may not be able to use some of the
features you might have used in your PowerPoint 2008 file. If you're not
going to be sharing files with anyone, it's probably best just to stick with
the PPTX format. But if you find that the PPTX format isn't your cup of tea,
go to PowerPoint - Preferences - Save, and change the default file format
for saving PowerPoint files.

Jeff

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP


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