What is the meaning of the prefix letters in the Nikon image file name?

What is the meaning of the prefix letters in the Nikon image file name?

Nikon identifies images taken by using 4 letters at the beginning of the file name and three at the end, with 4 numerical digits in-between, for example DSCN8756.jpg. The first four characters are the identifier, this indicates the type of image. The three characters at the end of  image name are the extension code used by the computer operating system to recognize the file type and open them in the correct program. The four digit number is assigned automatically by the camera in ascending order. Once these numbers reach 9999 a new folder will be created and the numbers will begin again from 0001.

Below is a table with the different identifier and extension codes used by Nikon.

File type IdentifierExtension
OriginalStill picture COOLPIXDSCNJPG
Still picture COOLPIXDSCNTIF
Still Picture COOLPIXDSCNNEF
MovieDSCNMOV
Time-lapse MovieINTNMOV
Dust Off reference DSLRDSC_NDF
Still picture DSLRDSC_JPG
Still picture DSLRDSC_TIF
Still Picture DSLRDSC_NEF
CopyCropped copyRSCNJPG
Retouched CopyFSCNJPG
Small CopySSCNJPG
Audio fileVoice Memo (appended to original still image)DSCNWAV
Voice Memo (appended to copy)/ D100+MB-D100 voice memoSND_WAV
Voice Recording (independent recording)DSCNWAV
Voice Memo  D2HDSC_WAV

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