Opening an AD File

The AD file type is primarily associated with After Dark.

AD	File extension: AD
	File type:	screen saver

What is an AD file?

AD files mostly belong to After Dark by Infinisys & Berkeley Systems. An AD file contains encoded data saved in AppleDouble format. This file contains the data fork of a file which makes it possible to also open it in non-macOS UNIX-like environments. Another type of AD file is the default resource used by the X Window manager for Linux operating system. Visual Studio integrated development environment uses an AD file to save an application diagram. Unity game engines uses assets saved in AD files. Anno Designer, an application for creating and editing images to be used in Anno 2070 and Anno 1404 games saves a project in an AD file.

How to open an AD file

You need a suitable software like After Dark to open an AD file. Without proper software you will receive a Windows message "How do you want to open this file?" or "Windows cannot open this file" or a similar Mac/iPhone/Android alert. If you cannot open your AD file correctly, try to right-click or long-press the file. Then click "Open with" and choose an application. You can also display a AD file directly in the browser:. Just drag the file onto this browser window and drop it.

Online AD Text Viewer

Choose your .ad file to analyze

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Online File Viewer

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Programs that open and convert AD files:

After Dark by Infinisys & Berkeley Systems
See the previous paragraphs to learn more about the main application. AD files are often referred to as After Dark miscs because this type of file is primarily created or used by this software.
Anno Designer (game graphics project) by Ubisoft
Anno Designer is a Windows program used to create layouts for games in the Anno series published by Ubisoft. It saves a graphics project in an AD file. This file format is classified as Developer.
AxSys (script) by Genomic Solutions
AxSys is a discontinued scriptable program for performing move, prime, and dispense operations on compound handling workstations. An AxSys script is saved in an AD file. This file format is classified as Executable.
macOS (encoded data) by Apple
macOS is the operating system for MacBook computers manufactured by Apple. It uses an AD file to save encoded data in AppleDouble format. This file format is classified as Encoded.
Photoshop (image data) by Adobe
Photoshop is a professional photo editing application compatible with PCs and mobile devices. It uses some raster image data saved in an AD file. This file format is classified as Raster Image.
RADIUS (data) by Ascend
RADIUS (short for Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service) is a centralized authentication and authorization management protocol. Its password protocol uses some data saved in an AD file. This file format is classified as Misc.
Unity (asset) by Unity
Unity is a cross-platform video game development and rendering engine. It saves video game assets in a file with AD filename extension. This file format is classified as Game.
Windows (executable) by https://www.microsoft.com
Windows is a proprietary operating system for mobile, desktop, and server platforms. Desktop and server versions of Windows can run an AD file containing an executable (EXE). This file format is classified as Executable.
X Window (default resource) by X.Org Foundation
X Window (X11) is a window management system compatible with various UNIX-like operating systems. AD is the filename extension of a its default resource file. This file format is classified as Data.

AD file format details:

The file format, which is the arrangement and type of data in a file, determines which program can open the file. The first characters in a file identify the file format, for example, HTML files start with the bytes <html>. However, different programs can use the same file extension. Furthermore, a file extension can be renamed incorrectly and double-clicking on it will then display an error when it is opened. When there is a problem with a file, the first step to solving it is to determine the file format. Below you will find our evaluation of the AD files:

The AD file extension is rather rarely used and includes various formats for various programs. However, the following two file formats are common:

20% of all AD files belong to Mac AppleDouble encoded data. The files are using the common file format Mac2OSX. The Mac2OSX format is an AppleDouble format and originally used to store additional metadata on Unix systems. They consist of illegible, cryptic characters. The files are 170 bytes to 32 KB in size, with a median of 400 bytes. The file type was developed 10 years ago and is still in use today. Certain words are almost always found in the files, such as Mac OS X, ATTR, com.apple.quarantine and metadata. Files like these are sometimes connected to vitro.
15% of all AD files use the popular EXE file format. EXE is the abbreviation for executable and is the standard executable file format on Windows. The format can be identified by the letters "MZ" at the beginning. Executable files can also be used to distribute viruses and other types of malicious software (malware). The content consists of illegible binary data, which can only be read and interpreted by the associated programs. AD files are between 120 KB and 9 MB in size. Several words can almost always be found in the files, e.g. !This program cannot be run in DOS mode. The file name exoemul.ad is typical for these files.

The remaining 65% of all AD files are different files with different signatures, frequently e.g. JSON, UnityFS, JPG, canillo, NATIONAL and trace. Often described as savignythayneferepot, info, island, king, artery, build, objan, huge or mega. You can get all the details of your AD file by dragging it onto this page or by clicking the button "Choose your .ad file to analyze" above.

Technical Data for AD File Extension

File classification:

Misc

Related files:

aq, ad1, jsn, vypocty, ab, ad4, ad2, webloc, jpg, apple, ad%21, png, zip, pdf, exe, attr, txt, wav, mov, textclipping, dtb

Mime type:

text/x-asciidoc, text/plain, multipart/appledouble

The following listing is compiled from the database produced by the 'Associate This!' program, selected data from the main FILExt database and file extension information submitted by users.

ProgramID: Access.Shortcut.Module.1
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office10\MSACCESS.EXE /NOSTARTUP /SHELLSYSTEM [OpenModule %1]

ProgramID: Access.Shortcut.Module.1
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\MSACCESS.EXE /NOSTARTUP /SHELLSYSTEM [OpenModule %1]

ProgramID: Access.Shortcut.Module.1
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office\MSACCESS.EXE /NOSTARTUP /SHELLSYSTEM [OpenModule %1]

ProgramID: iadfile
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\BackWeb\BACKWE~1\610~1.170\Program\REGISTER.EXE %1

ProgramID: iadfile
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\BackWeb\BACKWE~1\623~1.66L\Program\REGISTER.EXE %1

ProgramID: iadfile
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Kodak\KODAKS~1\7288971\614~1.37-\Program\REGISTER.EXE %1

ProgramID: iadfile
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Kodak\KODAKS~1\7288971\632~1.62-\Program\REGISTER.EXE %1

ProgramID: iadfile
EXEFile: %SystemRoot%\system32\dllcache\register.exe %1

ProgramID: VisualStudio.ad.8.0
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe /dde %1

ProgramID: VisualStudio.ad.9.0
EXEFile: %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe

Show all 10 listings To Top

an ad screen saver is a special file format by Infinisys & Berkeley Systems and should only be edited and saved with the appropriate software.

How to solve problems with AD files

Associate the AD file extension with the correct application.
Update your software that should actually open screen savers. Because only the current version supports the latest AD file format. Search, therefore, e.g. on the Infinisys & Berkeley Systems manufacturer website after an available After Dark update.
To make sure that your AD file is not corrupted or virus-infected, get the file again and scan it with Google's virustotal.com.
Click here to open your .AD file online - secure, fast, and no downloads needed.