HTM vs HTML?

There really is no difference between HTM files and HTML files. The servers don’t really distinguish between the two. A problem can arise though if there are two files on the server with the same name. A web browser in such a case will load the file that gains precedence over the other. It is likely that the file that will load is the four letter .html . Most operating systems as well as search engines rcognze both.

.htm really is a throwback to the old days of 8.3 naming convenion implemented fo DOS and followed right upto until the launch of Windows 95. What it meant was that a file name should be 8 characters wide and the file extension should be 3 characters wide.

For the sake of convenience the popular file formats with 3 and 4 letter extensions are listed below. Please note, again, that the size of the extension in this day and age makes no difference and that the operating systems do not distinguish between files of the same format but different extensions:

• MIME and MIM
• HTML and HTM
• AIFF and AIF
• WAVE and WAV
• MIDI and MID
• MOOV and MOV
• TIFF and TIF
• JPEG and JPG
• PICT and PCT
• MPEG and MPG