Comparison of executable file formats: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 07:28, 3 May 2024

Revision as of 10:48, 6 February 2025

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This is a comparison of binary [[executable]] [[file format]]s which, once loaded by a suitable executable [[Loader (computing)|loader]], can be directly executed by the CPU rather than being interpreted by software. In addition to the binary application code, the executables may contain headers and tables with relocation and fixup information as well as various kinds of meta data. Among those formats listed, the ones in most common use are [[Portable Executable|PE]] (on [[Microsoft Windows]]), [[Executable and Linkable Format|ELF]] (on [[Linux]] and most other versions of [[Unix]]), [[Mach-O]] (on [[macOS]] and [[iOS]]) and [[DOS MZ executable|MZ]] (on [[DOS]]).

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! scope="col" | Format name