These websites are outside of the control of Library and Archives Canada and are listed solely for the convenience of our users. Library and Archives Canada (LAC) does not endorse any of the software found on these sites and is unable to provide technical assistance to users who install this software on their computers.
Documents and alternative formats
Information throughout the LAC website is provided in XHTML as the primary format. In some cases, other software formats are provided as alternatives. To open these alternate formats, you may need to download and install one or more of the following on your computer.
- Portable Document Format
- To view a Portable Document Format (.pdf) document, you must have a PDF reader installed. If you do not already have such a reader, you can download one of a range of PDF readers on the Internet. Some are free, while others have a cost.
- Word processing and text formats
- You can view documents created in word processing software (MS Word, WordPerfect) by using Microsoft Word Viewer software. You can also view Rich Text Format (.rtf) files or plain text files (.txt) in most word processing software.
- Excel Viewer
- To access (.xls) files you will need Microsoft Excel Viewer.
- PowerPoint Viewer
- You can view documents in PowerPoint format (.ppt) by using Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer.
Multimedia
Media Players — To access audio and video files on this site, you must have a media player installed. If you do not already have a media player, there are numerous media players available for free download or for purchase on the Internet.
- Flash Player
- To view Flash animations, you must download and install the free software Macromedia Flash Player.
- Windows Media Player
- To listen to audio files (.wma) or to view video files (.wmv), you must download and install Windows Media Player.
- QuickTime
- Video files with a (.mp4) or (.mov) extension can be viewed with the QuickTime media player.
- RealPlayer
- You can access files with audio (.ram) and video content by using RealPlayer.
- Shockwave
- You can access interactive multimedia content by using Shockwave software, which is available for free from Adobe.
- iTunes
- Subscribe to iTunes to automatically receive new podcast episodes. See our Podcast page.
Videoconferencing
- Skype
- Skype is an internet-based software available for free that allows live videoconferencing.
Other fonts
- Hebrew font
- To view Web content with Hebrew text, download and install the Hebrew Unicode font
