Supported File Types

You can upload file attachments in your course, such as to an assignment. Users select a link to open a file that appears in the course.

After you upload a file, you may be able to edit the link name to the file. This link title appears to users instead of the name of the document. For example, type "My Introduction" as the link title instead of the file name "introduction.doc."

Accepted characters in file names

Blackboard Learn allows the use of all characters in file names. However, a user's operating system and the browser may limit the types of characters accepted. For example, some browsers don't accept characters that are wider. Some browsers may not have the languages installed to display the special alphabetic characters specific to them.


Recognized attachment file types

The system recognizes several file types by default. These files open directly in the browser or an associated application. If the system doesn't recognize the file type, users can download the attached file and open it on their computers.

Programs associated with file types
ExtensionFile TypePrograms Associated with the File Type
AAMMultimediaMacromedia® Authorware® plug-in

The AAM file is the starting point for a series of files that must be enclosed in a ZIP file.
AIFFAudioAIFF is an uncompressed audio format. AIFF files tend to be large.
ASFMultimediaMicrosoft® .NET™ Show

ASF files can contain audio, video, images, and text.
AUAudioReal Audio Player™
AVIVideoVideo player - Windows only
DOC, DOCXTextMicrosoft® Word - word processor
EXEExecutable

Executable files are applications. Some network security policies and firewalls might prohibit users from downloading executable files.

If your institution uses a newer version of Blackboard Learn, you may not be able to upload files of this type. Contact your administrator for help.

GIFImageGraphics program or web browser
HTML, HTMWeb pageHTML editor or web browser
JPG, JPEGImageGraphics program or web browser
JIFImageGraphics program or web browser
MP3AudioAudio program
MP4VideoVideo player
MPEAudio/VideoAudio program
MPG, MPEGVideoVideo player
MOOV, MOVIEMovieQuickTime® movie
MOVVideoMovie or media player
NUMBERSSpreadsheetApple Numbers®
PDFText

Adobe® Acrobat® Reader®

See note below table about SafeAssign.

PNGImageGraphics editor or web browser
PPT, PPTX, PPSSlideshowMicrosoft® PowerPoint®, PowerPoint Player®
QTMovieQuickTime®
RAAudioReal Audio Player™
RAMVideoReal Audio Movie™
RMAudioAudio program
RTFTextWord processor
SWFMultimediaMacromedia® Shockwave® plug-in
TIFF, TIFImageGraphics program or web browser
TXTTextText or HTML editor, word processor
WAVAudioAudio program
WMAAudioAudio program
WMFGraphicMicrosoft® Windows®
XLS, XLSXSpreadsheetMicrosoft® Excel®
ZIPCompressed packageWinZip®

SafeAssign can only process PDFs if the PDF contains machine-readable true text. If the PDF was prepared from "Print to PDF" or scanned from an imaging device without external optical character recognition (OCR), such as a scanner or cell phone app, then the PDF contains a bitmap or vector "picture" of text. This is not readable as text and SafeAssign currently does not perform OCR. If you can't select the text with your mouse or keyboard in a PDF reader, then there is no true text in the PDF. 

To prevent this issue: make sure to export the document from your word processor using the "Export to PDF" option and avoid the "PDF Printer" option from the print menu. Also, don't use the option to 'outline' fonts sometimes found in advanced applications because it replaces the text with vector graphics of the same shape which aren't machine-readable.