.PAM File Extension
PopCap Games Animation File
| Developer | PopCap Games |
| Popularity |
3.3 | 7 Votes |
What is a PAM file?
A PAM file is an animation used by a PopCap Games video game, such as Plants vs. Zombies 2. It contains binary data used to show an animation in a game. PAM files cannot be opened or edited.
More Information
Plants vs. Zombies 2's .OBB files contain a variety of game assets, including images, sounds, in-game text, and animations. The animations that Plants vs. Zombies 2's OBB files contain are saved as PAM files.
While Plants vs. Zombies 2 enthusiasts have developed tools that allow them to extract and edit a variety of the game's proprietary files (including .RTON, .RSB, and .PTX files), they have not yet developed any tools that can extract or edit PAM files. PAM files are also used in other PopCap Games games, such as Bookworm Adventures.
How to open a PAM file
There is currently no way to open or edit a PAM (PopCap Games Animation) file outside of Plants Vs. Zombies 2.
Programs that open or reference PAM files
Portable Arbitrary Map Image
| Developer | Bryan Henderson |
| Popularity |
4.0 | 3 Votes |
More Information
The PAM format is an extension of the Portable Any Map (PNM) format used by .PNM files. PAM files are primarily used in UNIX-based operating systems.
The image data in a PAM file is stored in binary format but begins with a header that consists of several lines of data in ASCII plain text. The header begins with the P7 attribute and includes several attributes:
- HEIGHT - Defines the height of the image.
- WIDTH - Defines the width of the image.
- DEPTH - Defines the number of channels in the image.
- TUPLETYPE - Defines the type of image, such as RGB or grayscale.
The header ends with ENDHDR.
How to open a PAM file
PAM image files are uncommon but you can still open PAM images with several programs, including XnViewMP in Windows. You can also convert PAM files to a more common format with FFmpeg.
Programs that open PAM files
PlayStation Advanced Movie
| Developer | Sony |
| Popularity |
1.5 | 2 Votes |
A PAM file may also be a video used by a PlayStation 3 video game. It may contain an in-game cinematic or an animated game icon. Various tools allow gamers to convert the video and audio PAM files contain to more common formats.
More Information
Games developed for Sony PlayStation consoles often include videos saved in a format specific to that console. For example, many PlayStation Portable (PSP) games contain .PMF videos, and many PlayStation 3 (PS3) games contain PAM videos.
Typically, PAM files are in-game cinematics shown to players as cutscenes or movies. However, some PAM files contain animated game icons, shown on the PS3's main menu. These files are typically named ICON1.PAM.
Common PAM Filenames
ICON1.PAM - Contains a PS3 game's animated game icon, shown on the PS3's main menu.
How to open a PAM file
No programs allow you to directly open and play a PAM file, but you can use various applications to convert the video and audio a PAM file contains to more common formats. For example, VGMToolbox (Windows) can convert the video and audio a PAM file contains. Then, you can play the converted files in a media player, such as VideoLAN VLC media player (multiplatform).