Supported file formats for InDesign CS5

What's covered

These tables list the file formats that Adobe InDesign supports for various functions.

For more information on settings and option when opening, importing, exporting, and saving files, see Adobe InDesign Online Help.

File > Open

Extension Filename Version Comments
indd InDesign document CC and earlier  
indl InDesign library CC and earlier  
indt InDesign template CC and earlier  
indb InDesign book CC and earlier  
inx InDesign interchange CS4 and earlier  
idml InDesign Markup Language CC and earlier  
pmd Adobe PageMaker 6.0 - 7.0  
xqx QuarkXPress Passport 4.1.x save newer versions in Quark to these accepted versions
xqx QuarkXPress 3.3 - 4.1.x save newer versions in Quark to these accepted versions

File > New

Extension Filename Version Comments
indd InDesign document CC  
indl InDesign Library CC  
indb InDesign Book CC  

File > Save As

Extension File name Version Comments
indd InDesign document CC  
indt InDesign template CC  

 

File > Export formats

Extension Filename Version Comments
pdf Portable Document Format PDF 1.3 - 1.7  
eps Encapsulated PostScript PS level 2 - 3  
fla Flash CS6 Professional CS6  
swf Shockwave Flash 10.x For Flash Player
idml InDesign Markup Language CC  
jpg JPEG    
xml Extensible Markup Language    
txt Adobe InDesign Tagged Text    
icml Adobe InCopy document CC  
rtf Rick Text Format    
txt Text only    

Note: For backwards compatibility to InDesign CS4 export to InDesign Markup Language (idml). For backwards compatibility to InDesign CS3, open the .IDML in CS4 and export as InDesign CS3 Interchange (inx).



File > Place formats (Import in graphics and text files)

Extension Filename Version Comments
tiff Tagged Image File Format    
gif Graphic Interchange Format    
jpg, jpeg Joint Photographic Experts Group    
bmp Bitmap    
eps Encapsulated PostScript    
dcs Desktop Color Separation    
pict Picture file format (Mac)    
wmf MS Windows Metafile    
emf MS Windows Enhanced Metafile    
pcx PC Paintbrush File format    
png Portable Network Graphic    
sct Scitec CT    
ai Adobe Illustrator    
psd Adobe Photoshop    
pdf Portable Document Format   since ID CS3 support of multipage PDF files
indd InDesign document    
txt Text documents    
doc, docx Microsoft Word document    
xls, xlsx Microsoft Excel documents    
rtf Rich Text Format    
swf Shockwave File    
flv, f4v Flash Video    
mp4 MPEG-4 Video   H.264 encoding
avi Audio Video Interface    
mov QuickTime Video   H.264 encoding
mp3 MPEG Audio Layer    


Save for InCopy

Edit> InCopy> Export, or options from Link or Assignment panels.

Extension Filename Version Comments
icma Assignment file CC is .inca in ID CS3
icml Content file, Exported file CC is .incx in ID CS3
icap Package for InCopy CC is .incp in ID CS3
idap Package for InDesign CC is .indp in ID CS3


Other

Extension Filename Version Comments
xml Extensible Markup Language   File > Import XML
N/A Buzzword Document   File > Place from Buzzword
epub Open Publication Structure eBook   File > Export for > EPUB
html Hypertext Markup Language   File > Export for > Dreamweaver
N/A Buzzword document   File > Export for > Buzzword