For

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

OS/2 OS/2 is a Proprietary software, proprietary computer operating system for x86 and PowerPC based personal computers. It was created and initially developed jointly by IBM and Microsoft, under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci, ...

, and

DOS DOS (, ) is a family of disk-based operating systems for IBM PC compatible computers. The DOS family primarily consists of IBM PC DOS and a rebranded version, Microsoft's MS-DOS, both of which were introduced in 1981. Later compatible syste ...

, .exe is the

filename extension A filename extension, file name extension or file extension is a suffix to the name of a computer file (for example, .txt, .mp3, .exe) that indicates a characteristic of the file contents or its intended use. A filename extension is typically d ...

for a file that is runnable as a native

executable In computer science, executable code, an executable file, or an executable program, sometimes simply referred to as an executable or binary, causes a computer "to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instruction (computer science), in ...

computer program A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to Execution (computing), execute. It is one component of software, which also includes software documentation, documentation and other intangibl ...

. Such a file is sometimes referred to an EXE as one historical way to identify a file extension is without the dot prefix and capitalized.

File formats

Although the EXE

file format A file format is a Computer standard, standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. It specifies how bits are used to encode information in a digital storage medium. File formats may be either proprietary format, pr ...

has a common lineage across related operating system (OS) versions, the format was enhanced over time. Some amount of backward compatibility was supported in later versions but earlier versions cannot run an EXE formatted for a newer version. Formats include: ;DOS: The DOS format,

DOS MZ executable The DOS MZ executable format is the executable file format used for .EXE files in DOS. The file can be identified by the ASCII string "MZ" (hexadecimal: 4D 5A) at the beginning of the file (the " magic number"). "MZ" are the initials of Mark ...

, is 16-bit. ;New Executable: The

New Executable The New Executable (NE or NewEXE) is a 16-bit executable file format, a successor to the DOS MZ executable format. It was used in Windows 1.0–3.x, Windows 9x, multitasking MS-DOS 4.0, OS/2 1.x, and the OS/2 subset of Windows NT up to versio ...

(NE) format was introduced with the multitasking

MS-DOS 4.0 MS-DOS 4.0 was a multitasking release of MS-DOS developed by Microsoft based on MS-DOS 2.0. Lack of interest from OEMs, particularly IBM (who previously gave Microsoft multitasking code on IBM PC DOS included with TopView), led to it being rel ...

and also used by 16-bit

and Windows. This format is 16-bit. ;Linear Executable: The

Linear Executable The Linear Executable (LE) format is a file format for executables, object code, and DLLs designed for 32-bit protected mode operating systems. Originally used by the OS/2 operating system and adopted by various DOS extenders, it also served as the ...

(LE) format is mixed 16/32-bit and was introduced with OS/2 2.0.

VxD VxD is the device driver model used in Microsoft Windows/386 2.x, the 386 enhanced mode of Windows 3.x, Windows 9x, and to some extent also by the Novell DOS 7, OpenDOS 7.01, and DR-DOS 7.02 (and higher) multitasker (TASKMGR). VxDs have acce ...

drivers on Windows 3.x and

Windows 9x Windows 9x is a generic term referring to a line of discontinued Microsoft Windows operating systems released from 1995 to 2000 and supported until 2006, which were based on the kernel introduced in Windows 95 and modified in succeeding version ...

also use this format. A 32-bit only version identified as LX was also introduced with OS/2 2.0 and runs on OS/2 2.0 and higher. ;Portable Executable: Introduced with

Windows NT Windows NT is a Proprietary software, proprietary Graphical user interface, graphical operating system produced by Microsoft as part of its Windows product line, the first version of which, Windows NT 3.1, was released on July 27, 1993. Original ...

, the

Portable Executable The Portable Executable (PE) format is a file format for executables, object file, object code, Dynamic-link library, dynamic-link-libraries (DLLs), and binary files used on 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows, Windows operating systems, as well ...

(PE) format is a

fat binary A fat binary (or multiarchitecture binary) is a computer executable program or library which has been expanded (or "fattened") with code native to multiple instruction sets which can consequently be run on multiple processor types. This results ...

consisting of both a DOS and a Windows part. The DOS stub is runnable on a DOS system but is ignored by Windows. The Microsoft C++ linker, by default, adds a small DOS program that prints the message: "This program cannot be run in DOS mode" and exits Windows ignores the DOS stub and executes the 32-bit Windows-specific portion. With some linkers, it is possible to specify a custom DOS stub. Indeed, there are a few dual programs, such as regedit in

Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft and the first of its Windows 9x family of operating systems, released to manufacturing on July 14, 1995, and generally to retail on August 24, 1995. Windows 95 merged ...

and old versions of

WinZIP WinZip is a trialware file archiver and data compression, compressor for Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS and Android (operating system), Android. It is developed by WinZip Computing (formerly Nico Mak Computing), which is owned by Alludo. The p ...

self extractors. A 64-bit version, PE32+, was introduced with 64-bit versions of Windows. In most cases, code can be written to simply work as either a 32 or 64-bit PE file. This format also includes a DOS stub. ; Other: There are other EXE formats, including but not limited to ''W3'' (a collection of LE files, only used in WIN386.EXE), ''W4'' (a compressed collection of LE files, only used in VMM32.VXD), ''DL'', ''MP'', ''P2'', ''P3'' (last three used by

Phar Lap Phar Lap (4 October 1926 – 5 April 1932) was a New Zealand-born champion Australian Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse. Achieving great success during his distinguished career, his initial underdog status gave people hope during the ear ...

extenders).

References

External links

Dependency Walker

MZ EXE header format

PE Explorer
{{Executables DOS files DOS technology Executable file formats Filename extensions Windows administration

File formats

See also

References

Further reading

External links