The file extension PTX is used for several different file formats. Most commonly, a PTX file is a texture file for PaintShop Pro or a text file for E-Transcript Manager. A PTX file may also be a Pentax image file, a Punch! Professional Home Design texture file or a Participant Termination Calculation System index file.
PaintShop Pro Texture File
- Corel PaintShop Pro, an image editing program, uses the file extension PTX for texture files. A texture file changes the look of an image by applying a texture. For example, you could make an image look more like a painting by applying a canvas texture. You can often find PaintShop Pro PTX files along with a file of the same name, but with a BMP extension. This BMP, or bitmap, file is a raster image, meaning it's made up of a grid of pixels. It also contains a header with information about the image.
E-Transcript File
- E-Transcript Manager is a program for court transcripts, used primarily by court reporters. PTX files for E-Transcript Manager are court transcripts that have been compressed to make them smaller, and therefore easier to send via email. E-Transcript files previously used the EXE extension, but this caused some problems: because EXE files frequently contain viruses, email programs often prevented the recipient from opening the E-Transcript file. You can view this type of PTX file in the free program E-Transcript Viewer.
Pentax RAW Image File
- Pentax cameras use the PTX extension for uncompressed image files. Image compression is the process of reducing an image's file size. Compressing an image beyond a certain point also reduces the image quality. PTX files from Pentax cameras display exactly what the camera saw, without compression. You can open this type of PTX file using the picture viewer that came with the Pentax camera, the image editing program Xara Photo & Graphic Designer or the free digital camera utility UFRaw.
Other File Types
- A PTX file could also be a programming file for CUDA; an index file for Datair Participant Termination Calculation System, a retirement plan program; a texture file for Punch! Professional Home Design; a file for the macro scripting program pop!site; or a file associated with the video game Rayman 2. You can usually figure out what type of PTX file you're dealing with based on the file name, where you found it and what programs you have that can open PTX files.
