What is it:
It's not always possible to see from a filename's extension what actual format is used. Sometimes the same extension is used for different formats, one extension can be used for different versions or often a file simply has a wrong extension.
The first bytes of a file may contain information of what format is used. WhatFormat is a file analyser (or file analyzer) that looks at these bytes for signatures (magic numbers) and makes a guess of the format this file may have.

Here's a list of the formats it knows.

What's it good for?!
Here are some usefull things that you can do with WhatFormat:
* It can be seen as a little util that may help you if you received a file from the Internet or wherever and you don't know what it is. By looking at magic numbers in the first bytes and at the filename extension, WhatFormat may tell something about this file, and if you're lucky it also suggests some possible viewers or converters.
* If WhatFormat recognizes the header of a file it often suggests some extensions this file may have. If you have problems opening this file with an application that should know this format, you can rename it with one of the other suggested extensions and try it again. I've tried to put the most commonly used extensions at the front. Of course it's (mostly) not a very smart idea to rename binaries (e.g. com, exe, bin, dll, vbx, etc.).
* Check if the 'header' description matches the 'extension' description. If it doesn't, this may explain why this file won't open in your favourite app. In such a case mostly the 'header' description is right, so renaming this file to a right extension would be the right thing to do.
* Check version numbers (if shown). E.g. if WhatFormat shows the 'Version needed' for a ZIP file as '2.xx' and the version of Pkunzip you use is '1.xx', there's a very good change it can't be extracted. In that case you should update Pkunzip.
* It may be interesting to use WhatFormat to try to examine these *.bak files or these *.chk or *._dd files made by respectively Chkdsk and Norton Disk Doctor.
* You can use WhatFormat for a quick preview of the most common Graphical formats.
* If WhatFormat doesn't recognize a file, there is still a good chance you can make your own conclusions by studying the 'First 128 bytes' tabs.
* It's not the main purpose of WhatFormat, but you can use it as a quick & simple picture viewer for some common graphical formats (bmp, cur, dib, emf, gif, ico, jpg, rle and wmf). If WF shows an image in the little preview window, just left-click this image, and it will be opened in another window, showing the original size. You can easily close this window by pressing 'Escape'.

What do you need for WhatFormat:
* At least a 486 PC.
* Windows 95/98/ME/NT4.0/2K or XP.
* msvbvm50.dll in your \windows\system directory.

I'm always curious how WhatFormat behaves on other platforms than the ones suggested, like e.g. Windows NT3.51 or maybe Windows-emulators on Unix or Macintosh. If you tried it, please mail me :-)

Downloading & installing:
* Download wfsetup.exe (412Kb).
* Be sure to have 'Msvbvm50.dll' in \windows\system. Note that just copying Msvbvm50.dll to this directory isn't enough, if you don't have this DLL you will have to download 'Msvbvm50.exe', which contains more files than just this DLL. You can download msvbvm50.exe over here (1.3Mb).
* Start 'Wfsetup.exe', and follow the instructions.
* When done, a shortcut to WhatFormat is made on your Desktop, in your Send-to menu and in your Programs folder under your Start menu.
* Start WhatFormat any way you prefer, also Dragging and Dropping a file on it is possible, or if you like, add it's folder to the path in your 'Autoexec.bat'.

How to use:
(Procedure without sending a file to it):
Start WhatFormat.
You will see a window that looks somewhat similar as the 'file open' dialog-boxes that you are used using Windows. Click at a filename and WhatFormat tries to identify the format that is used, by looking at the first bytes (header) of the file. If it recognizes it, it shows a description of the format together with a suggestion of the (some) extension(s) that the file should have. I've tried to put the most commonly used extensions at the front if it shows more than one. It also looks at the filename's extension and if it knows it, it tells something about that extension.
By comparing the results of the 'header-' and the 'extensions' section, you should be able to identify the format (filetype) of the file. Note that the results given in the header section is mostly more reliable. At the other hand WhatFormat knows more extensions, because not every format can be recognized by the first bytes.

Registration:
WhatFormat is 30 days trial shareware. If you like this program and decide to keep on using it after this 30 days trial period, then you must register. Registration motivates me to make newer versions of WhatFormat.
A single user license costs USD $20, which entitles you to run WhatFormat on one computer inside your organisation. You can pay by pressing 'Register' in the 'Help' menu. Registration is easy and there is a variety of payment options, including credit-cards and cheques. Your registration will be securily handled by the Kagi service.
After I've received your details from Kagi, which should happen immediately after your payment, I'll send you a registration code by email, within about 4 business days. Now you can register your (or more, depending for how many licenses you've registered) copy of WhatFormat through the [Register] item in the [Help] menu, by filling in your name, or the name of your organization, and the registration code you reveived from me.

Thanks for considering to register :-)

What do you get when you register:

* A registration code, so you can register WhatFormat with your name, or the name of your company. This name will appear in the [About]-box in the [Help]-menu.
* The registration code will remove the nag-screen you seen on startup.
* Your registration is valid for any future version of WhatFormat.
* Peace of mind :)
* You will be automatically notified when a newer version of WhatFormat appears.

Interested in the source?
WhatFormat's source is also available. It's written in Visual Basic and it will cost $750.-. Interested? Please drop me a mail.

Disclaimer:
I'm not responsible for any damage caused by WhatFormat on your PC (don't see how it can, but it could), so use it at your own risk.

Future Updates:
If you want to be automatically notified for new updates of WhatFormat, click here, and your email client should pop up. Please don't change the Subject, and press the Send button. That's it.

PAD file:
If you are a webmaster you can download a PAD file by right-clicking and select the appropriate item.

The last freeware version of WhatFormat is still downloadable!
If you don't have a 32-bit Windows version, or if you prefer working with a version that is 100% freeware, than you can also download one of these last two freeware versions over here.
Btw, if you don't mind it's shareware, you better download the later shareware version (see the top of this page), since this one knows a lot more. But please consider to register :-)

What do you need for the 16-bit release of WhatFormat v1.4a:
* At least a 386 PC.
* Windows 3.1 or higher.
* vbrun300.dll in your \windows\system directory.
* Pkunzip or WinZip to unzip the program.

What do you need for the 32-bit release of WhatFormat v1.4a:
* At least a 486 PC.
* Windows 95/98/ME or NT4.0.
* msvbvm50.dll in your \windows\system directory.
* Pkunzip or WinZip to unzip the program.

Downloading & installing v1.4a:
* Download whatfmt.zip (46Kb, 16-bit) or
whtfmt32.zip (50Kb, 32-bit).
* Be sure to have 'vbrun300.dll' in \windows\system for the 16-bit version or 'msvbvm50.dll' for the 32-bit version.
Vbrun300.exe can be downloaded here (247 Kb)
You can download msvbvm50.exe over here (1.3Mb).
* It doesn't have a setup, just unzip 'whatfmt.zip' or 'whtfmt32.zip' to a directory of your choice. You can run wf.exe right from there, add it to your path, add a shortcut to the \Windows\SendTo dir, or whatever you like.

What's new in v2.3 (released: 01/07/2002):
* Made it 30 days trial
* Should now also recognize the signatures of DICOM/ACR image (dcm, acr?), Winamp Advanced Visualization Studio File (avs), BrainWave Generator File (bwg), Sound Effects Generator sound file (efc), Disk image used in SUSE Linux distribution (no extension), TeX DeVice Independent text document (dvi), SuSE Linux package (rpm), APIS32 Functions Library (fnl), Winamp Skin Zip (wsz)
* Added Winamp, Ms Word Viewer
* Shows 'Hidden' and 'System' files again
* Added an easy attribute changer. This can be really usefull if e.g. a virus made your jpg's, mp3's, etc. 'invisible', so you can make them accessible again... This code is partly made by my nephew Gjalt(16) (gbearda@dds.nl)
* As allways added some more extensions
What's new in v2.2 (released: 03/06/2001):
* Should now also recognize the signatures of QuickTime image (qtif, qti), Ms Scheduler Job object (job), America Online file (art), Nero - Burning Rom (CD-burner software) file (nri), AVP (virus scanner) antiviral database (avc), Ms Schedule export (sc2), StuffitEncoded encoded file archive (b64), Netscape Communicator addressbook (na2), Microsoft Mail note (dat), MPEG-2 movie (vob, mpg?), Bitmap image B&W binary (GROB Graphic Object) (grb), X Windows system PixMap (xpm), Quicktime for Windows install log datafile (qdat), Kodak Precition Color Management System (pt), Go!Zilla filelist (gzl), Microsoft Reader eBook (lit), Weaving information file (wif), PGPdisk Volume (pgd), PGP Public Keyring (pkr, pubkr), PGP Private Keyring (skr, prvkr), PhotoDeluxe PhotoLine Document (pld), Advanced Streaming Format File (wma, asf), Advanced Streaming Redirector File (asx), SHaPe file (ESRI GIS & Mapping software) (shp, shx), SHorteN compressed audio .WAV file (shn), Checksum file for .SHN audio (md5)
* Attempts to recognize Batch (bat), Basic source (bas), C source (c, y), Pascal source (pas)
* Better recognition of MPEG Layer 3 audio (mp3), Binair file belonging to Visual Basic .frm (frx), Internet Shortcut (url).
* Fixed the problem that WF didn't recognize the extension if the file has more than one point in the name.
* Added MPlayer2, Acrobat Reader, QuickTime MoviePlayer (a-c), QuickTime PictureViewer (a-c).
* Changed some interface colors.
* Added (and combined) Jouni's giant extensions database to mine, so the amount of extensions (and their descriptions, if an extension has more than one meaning) has grown for at least 3 times! :-). I won't count them anymore... I also added a link to Jouni's extensions-list under the 'help'-menu, and I've put WF's extensions-database in a seperate file called 'ext.dat' (in the previous versions this list was inside the program).

What's new in v2.1 (released: 12/30/1999):
* WhatFormat is now 100% shareware showing a nag-screen on startup. It's still fully functional and there's no trial period.
* Should now also recognize the signatures of WordStar 7.0 document (ws7), Ms Schedule+ 7.0 file (scd), JAR archive, new archiver from ARJ Software (j, jar), Java ARchive (jar), Outlook Express VCard file (vcf), LightWave Objects file (lwo), LightWave Scene file (lws), Autodesk 3D Studio 3D object (asc, 3ds), Caligari trueSpace 3D object (cob, coa), VideoScape 3D object (geo), 3D object, Imagine 1, 2 or Turbo Silver (iob), RealiMation 3D Object (rbs), Amiga Sculpt 3D/4D 3D object (scene), STereoLithography 3d object if saved as ASCII (stl), WaveFronT 3D object (wft), Hierarchical Data Format image (hdf), Multiple-image Network Graphics (mng), Quickdraw 3D file (3dm), OpenFlight file (flt), IGES 3D file (igs, iges), Compressed archive (ark, pak), Macintosh archive format (cpt), Lempel Ziv Huffman archive (ice), Saved email or newsgroup message, StuffIT Expander archive format (sea), Archive for Unix (taz, sqz, z), Portable aNyMap image (pnm), Adobe PostScript Interpreted (ps), X Windows system BitMap image (xbm, bm).
* Recognizes some MP2 and MP3 formats, namely "Version 1/Layer II/no CRC", "Version 2/Layer III/with CRC", "Version 2/Layer III/no CRC" and "Version 1/Layer III/no CRC". I know there are some more variations, but these are the ones I've found yet. If you like more variations to add to WhatFormat, please mail me.
* Added Ms Word, Ms Excel, Ms PowerPoint, Ms Schedule+, Ms Binder, Opera, Lister.
* It now shows the whole picture in a seperate window, if the user clicks on the previewed image.
* Knows about 978 filename extensions now.

What's new in v2.0a (released: 10/26/1999):
* Some minor changes.
* Again, WF (2.0) was thinking it was running on W3.x, so it showed Paintbrush and Write, instead of Paint and Wordpad, not anymore.
* If 'Search for Apps' met a dir that couldn't be opened, it stopped leaving a 'path not found' msg, now it will continue searching.
* Doesn't show 'unexpected error' msg's anymore if a file is 0 bytes.

What's new in v2.0 (released: 09/25/1999):
* It's now 'freeware for non-commercial users'. Also, I used to try to keep the 16- and 32-bit versions the same, and since I can do a lot more with 32-bit Visual Basic, it's hard to keep the two versions alike. Therefore there won't be a next 16-bit version anymore, only 32-bit. Off course I will keep the last 16- and 32-bit versions (version 1.4a) on my website for download. These versions are still 100% freeware.
* Should now also recognize the signatures of ShockWave Flash (swf), Uninstall scripts (isu), Sony PlayStation Bitmap image (tim), ZSoft PC Paintbrush Multi-Page PCX (dcx), GZIP File (gz), Casio digital camera (cam), Paint Shop Pro file (psp), RealMedia (rm, ram), RealAudio (ra), UUEncoded file (uue), Internet Shortcut (url), Fax cover page (cpe), TerraGen World (tgworld, tgw), TerraGen SuRFace MAP (srfmap, srf), TerraGen Terrain (terrain, ter), TerraGen CLouD LaYeR (cldlyr, cld), TerraGen ATMoSPHeRe (atmsphr, atm), Ms Windows Registry, System.ini, Graphic Workshop THumbNail (thn), Turbo Pascal Unit (tpu), Windows application log (lgc, lgd, lge, lgf), Amidraw vector image (sdw), Outlook InDeX file (idx), Outlook MailBoX file (mbx), Lotus SMartIcon (smi), Windows Full Text Search (fts), Lotus Approach dBASE index (adx), Ulead Image Pals ALbuM (abm).
* Added RealPlayer, PkZip.
* Removed a bug that some apps didn't open a file if the directory structure contained a space.
* Seperated the 'known applications' section from 'readme.txt' and made it a html file, for easy access to the application's homepages. This file is accessible through the 'Help' menu.
* It's now capable of renaming a file for if the extension is wrong.
* It is able to open a file with the associated application now. Also added a Windows 'Open with' dialog.
* Added a Tab Control for showing the 2nd header of a binary if it exists.
* This Tab Control is also used for a 'Preview' function for the most common graphical formats (bmp, cur, dib, emf, gif, ico, jpg, rle and wmf images).
* Removed the whole path-name in the Windows' titlebar, leaving just the analysed filename there.
* When launched with a file on the command-line now directly leads to the 'file open' interface.
* It also knows extensions with more than 3 characters now, so I could add quite a few...
* Added 'readme.txt', 'whatsnew.txt' and 'applicat.html' to the Help menu.
* WhatFormat now remembers the last 4 accessed directories. At startup it also jumps to the last accessed dir now.
* Knows about 680 filename extensions now.

What's new in v1.4a (released: 04/02/1999):
Just fixed two bugs here, no harmful ones though, just annoying:
* 1: The 32-bit version had a problem determening the Windows-version. This meaned that if you did a 'Search for Apps' in W95, it found 'Write' and 'PaintBrush' instead of 'Wordpad' and 'Paint'. The 16-bit version didn't have this problem...
* 2: Both versions didn't always save and open the file 'apps.dat' in WhatFormat's own path, sorry. This problem should also be fixed now...

What's new in v1.4 (released: 12/05/1998):
* Now suggests some viewers for formats that are found.
* Should now recognize the signatures of Stored search W95 (fnd), CeQuadrat CD ProJect file (cpj), Compiled HTML file (chm), Channel File (cdf), Java Class (class), Dynamic Link Library (tlb), VRML Worlds for WWW (wrl), Netscape Mail (no extension), CD Audio song (cda), Autodesk Animator Animation (fli), Amiga sound (mod, nst), Ms Compress archive (??_, ??$), DeluxePaint ANiMation (anm), Autodesk Animator Animation (flc, cel), StuffIT Expander archive format (sit), Paradox DataBase (db), Apple sound (afc), Audio Interchange File Format from Apple/SGI (aif), Amiga .8SVX, Audio Interchange File Format (iff), Sound Sun/NeXT/DEC (au), DiamondWare digitized sound (dwd), MATlab sound (mat), MIDI Sample sound (sds), SaMPleVision sound (smp), MIDI-sequention sound (rmi), IoCA ICon Archive (ica), Jasc Browser File (jbf), Lotus Freelance (pre, mas, sym), OS/2 METafile (met), Lotus Freelance Image (drw), Lotus Freelance PortFoLio file (pfl), MultiTracker Module music (mtm), Ms Schedule+ PRinT (prt), Internet Explorer command (scf), Lotus ScreenCam Movie (scm), SoftImage (pic, si), Vista image (vst), Vivid image (img), lzx and ace archives.
* Weak tests for CLaSs module (cls), Computer Graphics Metafile image (cgm), Macintosh QuickDraw PiCT image (pct), dBASE or FoxPro DataBase File (dbf), Raw/NeXT PCM sound (snd, raw?).
* More extensive description of Windows Icon Resource (ico, iko).
* Knows about 570 filename extensions now.

What's new in v1.3:
* It's now possible to add a filename if you run it from a command line.
* Should recognize the signatures of cab, mac (with header), mov (Apple QuickTime MOVie), pif, qfx, Quattro Pro spreadsheets (wb1, wb2, wq1).
* Weak tests for com, binaries (e.g. sys) and text files (PC, Mac and Unix formats, e.g. txt, asc, doc).
* The recognition of various WordPerfect formats is improved.
* Doesn't show 'Hidden' and 'System' files anymore.
* Better recognition of cur files.
* Some minor changes in header descriptions of ai, eps, jpg, lzh, tif and zip.
* Combined the two 'first 25 bytes 'in hex' and 'in ansi' labels' in some sort of hex-viewer. I hope you like it:-) It also shows the first 128 bytes now, instead of the previous 25.
* Changed the 'first bytes' label into a listbox, this is easier for adding extra info.
* More extensive description of gif, pcx, BMP format (bmp, dib, rle) and executables.
* Knows about 380 filename extensions now.

What's new in v1.2:
* Should know dwg, fcd, lzh, pdf, pma, rar, sys and uc2.
* Better recognition of HTML and Mid files.
* Added many extension descriptions.

If you have any comments, tips etc. please e-mail joz@jozy.nl.