What Is a PPS File?
A file with the PPS file extension is a Microsoft PowerPoint 97-2003 slide show file. Newer versions of PowerPoint default to using PPSX instead. A PPS file can contain different pages called slides that can hold video, audio, text, animations, images, and other items. Apart from one exception, they’re identical to PowerPoint’s PPT files—the difference is that PPS files open directly to the presentation instead of to the editing mode.
How to Open a PPS File
Most PPS files you’ll find were probably created by PowerPoint and can, of course, be opened and edited with it. Another way to view and print (but not change) this kind of file without using PowerPoint is via Microsoft’s free PowerPoint Viewer. A number of free, non-Microsoft programs also work, including OpenOffice Impress, WPS Office Presentation, and probably other presentation programs and free MS Office alternatives.
How to Convert a PPS File
The easiest solution is to use PowerPoint. Open the file and then save it to some other format like PPT, PPSX, PPTX, etc., through the File > Save As menu. The other editors listed above can do the same. One example of a compatible online converter is Zamzar. It can save files in this format to PDF, JPG, PNG, RTF, SWF, GIF, DOCX, BMP, and several other formats. Online-Convert.com is another one that supports saving to video formats like MP4, WMV, MOV, 3GP, and others. PowerPoint can convert PPS to MP4 or WMV as well, through File > Export > Create a Video. To use the slideshow in Google Slides, you have to first upload the file to your account. Do this by selecting the file picker icon on the right side of that page, and then find the file through the Upload section. Once it exists in your Google account, converting into other formats like PPTX and PDF is possible through File > Download.
Still Can’t Open It?
Most PPS files are no doubt used with PowerPoint. If your file doesn’t open that way, there’s a good chance you’re misreading the file extension, confusing another format for this one because the extensions are so similar. Consider PSS as an example. At a glance, you could confuse it for a PPS file and try to open it with a slideshow program. In reality, it could be a video file used in a PlayStation 2 game, in which case you’d need a video player to watch it. PSP is another. These are usually PaintShop Pro image files. Again, PowerPoint would most likely display an error if you attempted to use it in this context.
