PPT97: PowerPoint 97 Clip Art Shipped as Windows Metafiles

The PowerPoint clip art which ships with PowerPoint 97 and Office 97 is a collection of Windows Metafiles (.wmf files.) This is new to PowerPoint 97; previous versions of PowerPoint clip art are in the PictureStore (.pcs) format.

PictureStore files can contain a whole series of images. However, to insert an image from a .pcs file, you have to use a program (such as Microsoft ClipArt Gallery, version 1.1 or later) to extract it. By shipping clip art as Windows Metafiles, PowerPoint makes it easier to use its clip art in programs outside of PowerPoint.

Other Office programs, such as Microsoft Word, have historically shipped clip art as Windows Metafiles.