Currently, ConTeXt only recognizes the type of figure from the file extension. If a filename does not have an extension, \externalfigure fails. For example: $ cp `luatools hacker.jpg` something Then, \starttext \externalfigure[something] \stoptext fails. However, if I set \externalfigure[something][method=jpg] the figure loads correctly. But what is surprising is that if I set \externalfigure[something][method=pdf] then also the figure loads correctly! This means that context has the code to recognize the figure type (even without the extension), but that fails when method is not set. Setting a global \setupexternalfigures[method=pdf] does not work because method is reset to empty by \resetfiguresettings. Any ideas on how to load an external figure without a file extension and not specifying the figure type by hand? Aditya