MacVector now uses Uniform Type Identifiers (UTIs) to uniquely identify file formats that the application either reads or creates. See Apple's description of UTIs on their documentation pages:
The table below is a list of the file types MacVector will read and create. MacVector exports those UTIs that are unique to MacVector: matrix, bias, binary sequence files, etc. In addition MacVector imports a number of chemical MIME type or text sequence files. These UTIs are all registered with with Mac OS X and Launch Services uses the information to associate files with MacVector.
As the Apple documentation states the UTI brings together type identification from multiple methodologies. The files saved on Mac OS systems where OSType has been a common means of identifying files can now work with other system that might have used file extensions. When downloading files where MIME types are employed to identify data formats browsers and other tools can now locate appropriate applications that can handle the data. If the tables are complete then users should be able to open files whether created on a Macintosh or transferred from another system.
| Format | Description | Confirms to Standard | OSTypes | Extensions | MIME Types |
| public.abi | DNA Chromatogram File | public.plain-text | ABIF | abi | application/x-dna |
| public.bsml | BSML File | public.plain-text | bsml | ||
| public.emb | EMBL Nucleotide Format File | public.plain-text | emb embl | chemical/x-embl-dl-nucleotide | |
| public.fa | FASTA Formatted Sequence File | public.plain-text | fa fna fsa fasta mpfa | chemical/x-fasta chemical/seq-aa-fasta chemical/seq-na-fasta | |
| public.gb | GenBank Flat File | public.plain-text | gb gen | chemical/x-genbank chimical/seq-na-genbank | |
| public.gp | GenPept Flat File | public.plain-text | gp | chmical/seq-aa-genpept | |
| public.msf | Multiple Sequence Format File | public.plain-text | msf | ||
| public.nex | Nexus File | public.plain-text | nex nxs | ||
| public.phy | Phylip File | public.plain-text | phy | ||
| public.plain-text | Text Document | text txt | text/plain | ||
| public.rsf | Rich Sequence Format File | public.plain-text | rsf | ||
| public.scf | DNA Sequence Chromatogram File | public.plain-text | SCF3 | scf | |
| public.sqn | Sequin File | public.plain-text | sqn | ||
| public.tbl | Sequin File | public.plain-text | tbl | ||
| com.macvector.assembly | MacVector Assembly File | public.plain-text | AXML | axml | |
| com.macvector.bias | MacVector Codon Bias File | BIAS | bias | ||
| com.macvector.library | MacVector Library File | MVTF | |||
| com.macvector.msan | MacVector NA Alignment File | MSAN | msan | ||
| com.macvector.msap | MacVector AA Alignment File | MSAP | msap | ||
| com.macvector.nmat | MacVector NA Matrix File | NMAT | nmat | ||
| com.macvector.nsub | MacVector NA Subsequence File | NSUB | nsub | ||
| com.macvector.nucleotide | MacVector NA Sequence File | NUCL | nucl | ||
| com.macvector.penz | MacVector AA Enzyme File | PENZ | penz | ||
| com.macvector.pmat | MacVector AA Matrix File | PMAT | pmat | ||
| com.macvector.protein | MacVector AA Sequence File | PROT | prot | ||
| com.macvector.psub | MacVector AA Subsequence File | PSUB | psub | ||
| com.macvector.renz | MacVector NA Enzyme File | RENZ | renz |