File Types Google Indexes
Google can index content from various text-based files and some encoded document formats. The most common file types indexed by Google include:
- Adobe Portable Document Format (.pdf)
- Adobe PostScript (.ps)
- Comma-Separated Values (.csv)
- Electronic Publication (.epub)
- Google Earth (.kml, .kmz)
- GPS eXchange Format (.gpx)
- Hancom Hanword (.hwp)
- HTML (.htm, .html, and other file extensions)
- Microsoft Excel (.xls, .xlsx)
- Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx)
- Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx)
- OpenOffice presentation (.odp)
- OpenOffice spreadsheet (.ods)
- OpenOffice text (.odt)
- Rich Text Format (.rtf)
- Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg)
- TeX/LaTeX (.tex)
- Plain text (.txt, .text, and other file extensions), including source code in popular programming languages, such as:
Basic source code (.bas)
C/C++ source code (.c, .cc, .cpp, .cxx, .h, .hpp)
C# source code (.cs)
Java source code (.java)
Perl source code (.pl)
Python source code (.py) - Wireless Markup Language (.wml, .wap)
- XML (.xml)
Google also supports the following media formats:
- Image formats: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG, and AVIF
- Video formats: 3GP, 3G2, ASF, AVI, DivX, M2V, M3U, M3U8, M4V, MKV, MOV, MP4, MPEG, OGV, QVT, RAM, RM, VOB, WebM, WMV, and XAP
What was checked, and why this list still holds for 2026: the most recent change in Google’s official documentation was adding AVIF to the list of supported image formats — that’s already reflected in the list above. The rest of the list — including Wireless Markup Language (.wml, .wap), which looks like a relic at first glance — remains unchanged in Google’s official documentation.
Searching by File Type
You can use the “filetype:” operator in a search to restrict results to a specific file type or file extension. For example, filetype:rtf galway will search for RTF files and URLs ending in .rtf whose content contains the term “galway.”
The full, continuously updated list is available on Google Search Central’s official page.
“The details are not the details. They make the design.”
– Charles Eames, designer
