The file format problem is that the file defines the format. Obsession with file name extensions defining format soon crumble; the .001, .002, ... being a clear case of “You know not the f- of which you speak.”
To “solve” file format, you may need a lot of data beyond the file provided. Does the file come from a floppy disk labeled VisiCalc? Did you read the magnetic media correctly? Let’s say you did. You look at a file and then try, the best you can, to determine what it is, maybe given a lot of information about how the computer that read the file interpreted it.
Sure, if you’re talking about more modern files, maybe the filename’s extension is a good hint.
Some files contain metadata headers or footers. They maybe have multiple layers of them. That metadata may have evolved. Perhaps it wasn’t versioned.
Files were stored on cassette which could be listened to as audio or interpreted as containing file definitions.
What if the cassette were warped in the heat? You could still recover the file partially or fully if you knew that you could speed up portions of the recovered audio, perhaps with additional pitch-bending and error-correction. Could you do that without any background information? Maybe, but it may take much more effort.
To “solve” file format, you may need a lot of data beyond the file provided. Does the file come from a floppy disk labeled VisiCalc? Did you read the magnetic media correctly? Let’s say you did. You look at a file and then try, the best you can, to determine what it is, maybe given a lot of information about how the computer that read the file interpreted it.
Sure, if you’re talking about more modern files, maybe the filename’s extension is a good hint.
Some files contain metadata headers or footers. They maybe have multiple layers of them. That metadata may have evolved. Perhaps it wasn’t versioned.
Files were stored on cassette which could be listened to as audio or interpreted as containing file definitions.
What if the cassette were warped in the heat? You could still recover the file partially or fully if you knew that you could speed up portions of the recovered audio, perhaps with additional pitch-bending and error-correction. Could you do that without any background information? Maybe, but it may take much more effort.