Data Conversion is converting a information from one format to another. For example, Information conversions may as simple as the conversion of a text file from character encoding method to another or more complex, such as the conversion of office file formats or the conversion of picture and audio file formats. There are plenty of ways in which information can be converted within the computer surroundings. Alternatively, the conversion may need processing by the use of a special conversion program or it may involve a complex method of going through intermediary stages or involving complex "exporting" and "importing" procedures, which may converting to and from a tab-delimited or comma-separated text file.
Data conversion can occur directly from format to another, but lots of applications that convert between multiple formats use a pivotal encoding by way of which any source format is converted to its target. Put basically, data conversion involves changing data from physical surroundings format to another. Around the globe and in the business world data is shared from computer to another. However, the hardware & program platforms that host this knowledge are not always the same and as such, pieces of knowledge from physical surroundings would not necessarily be compatible with the new surroundings. When this happens, knowledge conversion is necessary.
Successful data conversion requires thorough knowledge of the workings of both source and target formats. In the case where the specification of a format is unknown, reverse engineering will be needed to carry out conversion. Reverse engineering can achieve close approximation of the original specifications, but errors and missing features can still result. The binary format of Microsoft Office documents (DOC, XLS, PPT and the rest) is undocumented and anyone who seeks interoperability with those formats needs to reverse-engineer them.
Basic Data Conversion :
The most basic data conversion example would involve converting a text file from one type of character encoding to the next. This example is simple because the characters are directly interchangeable; once the computer “cracks” the code, it’s simply a case of making the translation. Computers can be easily programmed to achieve this task.
The most basic data conversion example would involve converting a text file from type of character encoding to the next. This example is simple because the characters are directly interchangeable.
Little More Complex Conversion :
There are more complex conversions as well, such as those involving image, audio and video file conversion. These types of file conversions require the consideration of the different software applications that might play the files and there can be a much higher level of variation in such software.
Need Human Involvement :
Sometimes, however, data conversion is impossible without human judgement and involvement . Here is the case in situations where knowledge needs to be added, otherwise known as "upsampling". The most basic example of this can be seen when a colour picture is converted to grayscale. While this is simple because the conversion basically involves taking knowledge away, converting the file from grayscale back to colour cannot be completed without human intervention to select where the colours are supposed to go.
Data Conversion Types : -
- Archive (Such as RAR to ZIP, or 7Z to TAR)
- Document (Such as DOCX to Doc, or TXT to RTF)
- Presentation (Such as PPTX to PPT, or ODP to SWF)
- E-Book (Such as MOBI to TXT, or PRC to EPUB)
- Image (Such as BMP to GIF, or PNG to JPG)
- Audio (Such as MP3 to M4A, or AAC to WAV)
- Video (Such as AVI to MP4, or MPEG to 3GP)
- Database (Such as NSF to PST)
- Other (Such as EPS to GIF, or PSD to JPG)
