FormatZ Blog

Technology and useful advice

AI, computers, phones and everyday technology — clear answers without hype.

How ChatGPT and Language Models Actually Work

How ChatGPT works, explained simply: what a language model is, tokens and next-word prediction, why the transformer matters, plus RLHF and temperat…

How to convert music without losing quality: the golden rule about lossy, why to keep a lossless master, which bitrate to pick, and how to keep you…

How to create an ebook in EPUB or FB2 from a Word document: preparing styles, Calibre, Sigil and Pandoc, the cover, table of contents and metadata.…

How to open a 3D model — OBJ, FBX or STL: free viewers and apps for Windows, Mac, Android and the browser. Windows 3D Viewer, Blender and online vi…

How to open DOCX, ODT and RTF without Microsoft Word: free LibreOffice, Google Docs, WPS and online viewing. We explain how the three formats diffe…

How to open MKV, MOV and AVI on Windows and Mac and convert them to MP4. We cover why the file won't play, what VLC can do, and when it's easier to…

How to write AI prompts: a beginner guide. The anatomy of a great prompt — specifics, context, role, few-shot examples, constraints and iteration.…

ID3 tags in MP3: what they are, how ID3v1 differs from ID3v2, how APIC cover art is stored, Vorbis comments in FLAC, how to edit metadata, and why…

Which formats does Kindle read: why MOBI is dead, what AZW3 and KFX are, and how to send an EPUB through Send to Kindle. A clear guide to Amazon Ki…

Lossless compression in plain English: how ZIP finds repeats, what entropy and the compression limit are, and why compressed JPG, MP4 and MP3 barel…

Lossless vs lossy audio: can you really hear the difference? How perceptual coding works, what ABX blind tests show, and when FLAC actually matters…

MP4 vs MKV vs MOV — what's the difference and which video format to choose. Containers in plain English: compatibility, tracks, subtitles, ProRes a…