Are you looking for samples of documents, music, images, and other common file types? These free sites have plenty of sample files in different sizes and formats.
Everyone knows that you need samples when you're in the "test" phase of any project. In tech, developers, designers, testers, and QA engineers often look for free samples that fit their needs. But it's not as simple as a Google search because you also have to keep in mind copyrights and fair use, especially when it comes to demos and presentations.
So first, try your luck at these free sites to download sample files that perfectly fit your needs. Some are all-in-one services that host several files, while others focus on more variety in a specific type of file or file format. Either way, you should find what you need.
1. File Examples (Web): Variety of File Formats in Different Sizes
File Examples is an all-in-one host of sample files for videos, audios, images, documents, and other files. You will only be browsing here as there is no search feature, but the assumption is that you already know what you want. Currently, the different file types it supports are:
- Video: AVI, MOV, MP4, OGG, WMV, WEBM
- Audio: MP3, WAV, OGG
- Documents: DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, PDF, ODT, ODS, ODP, RTF
- Images: JPG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, ICO, SVG, WEBP
- Other: CSV, JSON, XML, HTML, ZIP
Pick the file type you want to proceed to the next screen, where you pick the size or quality (for example, image resolution). And then download the file sample in one click; no signups or registration needed.
2. Sample Docs (Web): Customized Excel File Samples for Free
Sample Docs is another all-in-one tool to download file samples of popular file types like PDF, XLS / XLSX, DOC / DOCX, PPT / PPTX, JPG, PNG, GIF, MP3, MP4, AVI, and FLV. The file sizes vary greatly, and it's a good place to get large files for the above.
But its best feature is the Customized Sample Excel File. If you've hunted on the internet for a sample spreadsheet, you know how difficult it is to find something that fits what you need it for. Sample Docs solves this problem by letting you create a file with the kind of columns and data you need.
Here's how it works. First, you can add as many new columns as you want. Each column will be filled with dummy data for text, numbers, decimals, and dates. The text is always a person's name, that doesn't change. Once you set the columns as you want them, generate the file sample to get a spreadsheet of 100 rows filled with the columns you set.
3. Online Data Generator (Web): CSV Test Data Generator With Customizable Dummy Data
Developers have a love-hate relationship with the humble CSV file. It's the best format to store massive amounts of data, but the simplest error causes entire builds to crash. You need to test and test again with CSV files, and Online Data Generator is the best to make custom CSV files for all sorts of scenarios.
You can set as many columns and rows as you want. Set names of columns, and then choose the data in the field. There are various field categories, such as personal info, data and time, business, numbers, locations, financial, entertainment, education, etc. And each has its custom field formats.
For example, in "Person Info," you'll find options for First Name, Last Name, FirstName+LastName, Title, Gender, ID Number, Phone Number, Email, and Job Title. Similarly, Online Data Generator has several ways to input a wide variety of data in your fields once you go through all the options.
To make things easier, the web app shows a preview of five rows of what your generated CSV file will look like. Tweak it till you have what you want, and then download it to your drive. Of course, you can also download it as a JSON, Excel, XML, or SQLInsert. But CSV is best, especially when you know how to edit large CSVs for spreadsheets.
4. Slothman Generators (Web): Sample Files of Custom Sizes and Specifications
Slothman is a pack of tools for developers and QA engineers to quickly generate a dummy file as per custom specifications. It's made by testers for testers and promises to give you the perfect sample file in no time across various types.
Random file generator creates a TXT or DOC file filled with dummy data in any size you specify. Thus, you can create multiple files in one go.
Image generator creates a PNG, BMP, JPEG, or WebP with any background color, font color, width, height, border size, image text, and file name.
Data Generator is another spreadsheet filler, but with fewer options than Online Data Generator above. That said, since it's a part of Slothman's suite of tools, it'll be easier for you to remember it.
The suite of tools also includes a Pairwise generator, GUID generator, random text generator (for Lorem Ipsum text), case converter, and data comparer. All of these are free, easy to use and make life much easier for testers.
5. Lorem PDF (Web): Generate a Dummy PDF File Per Requirements
Lorem PDF is a free web app to make a PDF file where each page has custom dimensions as you set. The web app shows you a URL, which you copy-paste into a new tab. Before you click Enter, change the parameters of the width, height, and page numbers as you want. Lorem PDF will then generate a new PDF file with those settings.
Each page of the new file comes from images taken from Unsplash. Unfortunately, you can't set borders or ask to fill the pages with dummy text instead of images.
6. Signature Edits (Web): Free Sample RAW Images to Practice Photo Editing
Photographers often talk about the benefits of shooting in RAW for post-processing. If you're learning photo-editing software for beginners, you'll want to try these RAW files, but they're difficult to find online. Signature Edits offers a fantastic collection of RAW images for free.
Their picture collection boasts a range of profile shots and high-contrast photo shoots to landscapes, cityscapes, candids, and greyscale images. You don't need to sign up to download anything.
But do note that these are only for personal practice and not meant to be used in any content as they aren't copyright-free.
Use Google Tricks If Stuck
These six websites should help you find or create a sample file that works exactly for your needs. But in case you're looking for something more specific, you'll need to turn to Google. It's going to be much harder because it's like searching for a needle in a haystack, but if you know Google search operators and tricks, you might just luck out.
