By default, powerpoint presentations are saved in the __________ file type.

So which file format is best for saving your slides? It depends on the situation, but it's almost never the default .pptx you're offered. I made a little graphic below to act as a decision tree for choosing how to save your PowerPoint - click on it to be taken to a larger CC-BY-SA version on Flickr.

What it comes down to is this. Saving your slides as a .ppsx file - a PowerPoint Show - is usually the best option, because it opens the PPT up in Presentation View right away. This looks SO much more professional than the default .pptx PowerPoint file, which opens in edit view, revealing your notes if you have them, and the first few slides. Your audience seeing behind the curtain in this way isn't the end of the world, but why do anything to reduce the impact of the presentation you spent ages creating?

A .ppsx file will keep any animations you have in your slides (and embedded video and audio) and unlike a PDF it won't compress your images, so they'll remain high quality. 

However, sometimes you need to use a PDF - mainly when you've used non-standard fonts. PowerPoint claims to be able to embed fonts that aren't included in the Office Suite (but which you download yourself) so they'll work on other PCs - I've found this to be lies, lies, and more lies... It simply won't work - either for presenting on another PC, or for uploading to Slideshare. So saving as a PDF sorts this out - it retains your exciting font choices, and keeps things the right size and shape (you may have to go into the Save Options and untick the ISO box if your PDF doesn't behave itself the first time you save it - for example if Transparency effects aren't correctly rendered).

I also use PDF if the PC I'm presenting on has a different version of PowerPoint to the one I made the slides on - or if I don't know ahead of time whether it will. The version of PowerPoint shouldn't matter but it does, and the other day I had to subtly reformat a whole slide-deck after checking it on the latest version of Office and finding it had mucked around with the font-size for no good reason.

PDFs are the safe option. They work on pretty much ANYTHING. Lots of people never present with PDFs because it simply never occurs to them, but trust me it works fine! I do it 99% of the time because 99% of the time I use non-standard fonts - just click View then Fullscreen Mode and it works exactly like a PowerPoint in Presentation View (including using a clicker to move the slides along).

(There have been a couple of occasions where I've forgotten to do this, and turned up with a regular PowerPoint file to present on a machine with none of my special fonts installed. This has resulted in frantic downloading and rediting and saving in a panic, and is not recommended...)

NB: Never ONLY save your slides as PDF or PowerPoint Show - you need the .pptx file to actually come back and edit them later.

So next time you're saving your file, check if you really need to use .pptx, or whether another format is more appropriate.

You’ll find details of my Presentation Skills or PowerPoint workshops here: you can book an all-day or half-day session for your organisation, online or in person.

Learn about various file types that can open and work in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows. This will help you work with more than just the default PowerPoint file formats.

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Author: Geetesh Bajaj

Product/Version: PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

OS: Windows XP and higher

Date Created: August 25, 2010
Last Updated: August 25, 2010

We already created a tutorial on the file types that PowerPoint 2010 can save to, but when you go and look at the file types that PowerPoint 2010 can open, you'll find that the list of file types is not exactly the same. Several file types may be common but there are some surprises that you should explore. When you access the Open dialog in PowerPoint 2010, you can choose the file type you want to open (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Open file type

Have you ever wondered what all those file types are? Should you even be concerned about them at all? We suggest you take a look for yourself:

1. All Files

Essentially any file you throw at PowerPoint, just in case you want to try your luck!

2. All PowerPoint Presentations

Since all these files are covered in later categories, we don't cover them here, please see subsequent category listings.

3. Presentations and Shows

These are default PowerPoint file formats:

PPTX (PowerPoint Presentation)

This file type is the default open option in PowerPoint 2007 and later. It is based on XML and can be distinctly identified as different from the older file formats for PowerPoint because it has four letters rather than three, for example PPTX rather than the older PPT format.

PPT (PowerPoint 97–2003 Presentation)

This file type was the default format for presentations created in PowerPoint versions 2003 and earlier. Most of the time, this is known as the PowerPoint 97 to 2003 format (or the PowerPoint 97 to 2004 format if you include Mac versions of PowerPoint).

PPTM (PowerPoint Macro-Enabled Presentation)

This is identical to the PPTX file format other than the fact that file type creates presentations with macros enabled.

PPSX (PowerPoint Show)

This file type comprises presentations that have been saved as a slide show. In all respects this is the same as a PPTX file, but when double-clicked, this opens in Slide Show view rather than Normal view. If you use the Open dialog, it opens in Normal view. See our PPT vs. PPS (or PPTX vs. PPSX) article.

PPS (PowerPoint 97–2003 Show)

This file type comprises presentations that have been saved as a slide show in PowerPoint 97 to 2003, in all respects this is the same as a PPT file, but when double-clicked, this opens in Slide Show view rather than Normal view. If you use the Open dialog, it opens in Normal view. See our PPT vs. PPS (or PPTX vs. PPSX) article.

PPSM (PowerPoint Macro-Enabled Show)

This file type comprises presentations that have been saved as a slide show with macros enabled, and works in the same way as PPSX files.

4. PowerPoint XML Presentations

This signifies XML (PowerPoint XML Presentation) presentations saved in an XML format for use in an XML information storage system.

5. PowerPoint Templates

Typically these files open as editable templates when you use the Open dialog box. On the other hand, if you double click these files, they open as new presentations based on the template:

POTX (PowerPoint Template)

This file type is a template that you can use as a starter for future presentations. This file format works with PowerPoint 2007 and subsequent versions of PowerPoint.

POT (PowerPoint 97–2003 Template)

This file type is a template in PowerPoint 97 to 2003. You can still open and use these in newer versions of PowerPoint.

POTM (PowerPoint Macro-Enabled Template)

This file type is a template in the same way as POTX files, but with macros enabled.

6. All Web Pages

HTM/HTML (HyperText Markup Language)

These denote static web pages but for the most part, these were meant to be PowerPoint presentations that are saved as web pages by PowerPoint. When Microsoft released Office XP (that included PowerPoint 2002), they decided to make HTML output one of the main file formats for PowerPoint, and these files could be opened and edited like normal presentations in PowerPoint. They could also be opened in Internet Explorer and viewed like full screen presentations. Unfortunately, that was a half baked concept that did not work out, and HTML is no longer a file format that PowerPoint 2010 saves to, but for reasons of compatibility with older versions, the open option for HTML still works.

HTML output generally consisted of a single HTML file and a folder of the same name that contained all supporting files.

MHT/MHTML (Web Archive)

Same as HTML above, but this created a single MHT or MHTML file rather than a single HTML file with a folder containing supporting files.

7. Office Themes

These are THMX (Office Theme) files, choosing this option creates a new presentation based on the choosen Office Theme.

8. All Outlines

These are all outline formats that PowerPoint can import to create slides. All text in an outline is imported as text placeholders, see Text Boxes vs. Text Placeholders.

TXT

Text files, typically created by Notepad in Microsoft Windows (or TextEditin Mac OS X)

RTF (Outline/RTF)

Rich Text Format files

DOC

Word 97 to 2003 files

WPD

Corel WordPerfect files

WPS

Corel WordPerfect files

DOCX

Word 2007 and later versions create these files

DOCM

Same as DOCX above, but includes macros

9. PowerPoint Add-Ins

PPAM (PowerPoint Add-In)

This file type opens presentations as an add-in that includes custom commands or VBA code. Typically used in PowerPoint 2007 or later versions.

PPA (PowerPoint 97–2003 Add-In)

This opens presentations as an add-in that you can open in PowerPoint 97 to 2003. Typically used in PowerPoint 2003 or earlier versions.

10. Open Document Presentations

This opens ODP (OpenDocument Presentation) files, such as those created by Google Docs or OpenOffice.

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See Also:

File Types, File Menu, and Backstage View: File Types That Can be Opened in PowerPoint (Index Page)

File Types That Can be Opened in PowerPoint 365 for Windows
File Types That Can be Opened in PowerPoint 365 for Mac
File Types That Can be Opened in PowerPoint 2019 for Windows
File Types That Can be Opened in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows
File Types That Can be Opened in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac
File Types That Can be Opened in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
File Types That Can be Opened in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac

You May Also Like: Show Me! What Brain Research Says About Visuals in PowerPoint | Plaids PowerPoint Templates

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This is the original page. An AMP (Accelerated Mobile Page) version of this page is also available for those on mobile platforms, at File Types That Can be Opened in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

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