aol art files

win XP sp2 I would like to know which aol program files I need to keep to open aol art images. I have hundreds of images from service manual sites I would like to access. I can’t keep aol full program on my OS, it becomes too unstable, but it will open the art images. Thanks

Howdy - As far as I am aware the .art images that AOL creates are only viewable in the AOL browser, im unsure what components you can un-installed with AOL myself as I do not use it here and I have very little knowledge of AOL as it is pretty scarce where I am!!

More information on the AOL image format is available here -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ART_image_file_format

Another option you may want to persue it to use an art program which can handle batch processing and convert the .art files over to a more common format such as .jpg then you will not need AOL at all.

I know Corel Paint Shop Pro is capable of batch processing but im unsure on what formats it supports, you can always give Corel Paint shop pro a try on trial enabling you to process the images (if supported) then you can either pay and keep PSP or uninstall the program once the trial has ended. -> www.corel.com

Thanks for the reply, no free converters for aol art, found one for $45 that will batch convert to jpg. I may have to bite the bullet.

Hi, Before you bite the bullet try opening the .art file in Internet Explorer, if you can do this then save it as a .bmp and then any image manipulation or graphics programme will convert it to practically anything you want. Let us know how you get on Regards paws

Thanks for the reply, IE stopped opening art in 6-06, that when I lost the way to open without AOL. Not too many programs deal with aol art, all the ones I have found are for a fee. This all caught me by surprise, now I have the information but too late. slls

Hi, Yes. Microsoft patched IE6, (Windows Security update (July 7, 2006) to remedy the remote code execution vulnerability in the way AOL .art images were being handled. The AOL .art file filter was disabled, by this, so you will need to use IE 6 without these patches or a previous version. There are plenty of the earlier versions around. (Anything from IE4 or maybe 5 onwards will do, but please make sure you are not connected to the net first though as they all have lots of security vulnerabilities) I am told that both Avant and Maxthon will also open these AOL.art files but have no personal experience of this, but it would probably be worth a try. Regards paws

Thanks for the reply. I thought maybe IE 6 would interfere with my IE 7. You got my brain working and I downloaded CompuServe 7.0, owned by AOL. I can now save them in bmp and open them in windows viewer. Thanks slls

Glad to hear you manage to find a way around it