QGIS supports many GIS data formats. It makes use of the OGR library for vector data and the GDAL library for raster data.
To see the latest list of OGR vector formats, check out http://www.gdal.org/ogr_formats.html, and to see a list of GDAL raster formats, visit http://www.gdal.org/formats_list.html. If you can't find your format on the list, it is probably not supported in QGIS at this time.
Shapefiles are the most common form of vector data today, and QGIS supports this format. Similarly, GeoTIFF are probably the most common form of raster data, and QGIS also supports these. In this book, we will work with and use these formats, as well as the new GeoPackage format.