What is a .XYZ file?
The .XYZ file extension is used for a Molecule Specification File. This type of file is commonly utilized by various chemistry-related software programs to store detailed information about molecules. The content of an .XYZ file includes essential data such as the total number of atoms in the molecule, the type of each atom represented by its chemical symbol, and the three-dimensional coordinates (X, Y, and Z) that specify the position of each atom within the molecule. These files are saved in a simple, plain text format, making them easy to view and edit with basic text editors as well as specialized software.
Programs that can open .XYZ files include Avogadro and Jmol, which are both available for multiple operating systems and are widely used in the field of chemistry for molecule visualization and analysis. Other programs that previously supported this file format, such as Agile Molecule's Abalone and Ascalaph, have been discontinued.
It's important to note that while there is no strict standardization for the structure of .XYZ files, they generally follow a similar format in terms of the data they contain. Additionally, the ".xyz" extension might sometimes be used generically in examples or when the actual file extension is not known, indicating its versatility in different contexts.
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