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Ask HN: What are some examples of well-designed binary file format specs?

3 pointsby luuuzetaabout 2 years ago
This is my first time working with binary data, binary specifications, etc., and I&#x27;ve started to mess around with the dBASE file format [0] after reading about it in <i>NodeJS in Practice</i> [1]. I know about the usual ones (e.g., PNG, JPEG, etc) at least by name and I&#x27;m now wondering about what&#x27;s out there, especially less well-known formats or niche ones.<p>0: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;.dbf<p>1: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.manning.com&#x2F;books&#x2F;node-js-in-practice

3 comments

compressedgasabout 2 years ago
Bento container format specification: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20120906101250&#x2F;http:&#x2F;&#x2F;info.wgbh.org&#x2F;upf&#x2F;pdfs&#x2F;BentoSpec1_0d5.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20120906101250&#x2F;http:&#x2F;&#x2F;info.wgbh....</a> or <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;citeseerx.ist.psu.edu&#x2F;document?repid=rep1&amp;type=pdf&amp;doi=a908c3abaad8b15022594a7cf4fe8dce8458ba01" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;citeseerx.ist.psu.edu&#x2F;document?repid=rep1&amp;type=pdf&amp;d...</a>
PaulHouleabout 2 years ago
ZIP file format: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pkware.cachefly.net&#x2F;webdocs&#x2F;casestudies&#x2F;APPNOTE.TXT" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pkware.cachefly.net&#x2F;webdocs&#x2F;casestudies&#x2F;APPNOTE.TXT</a>
rahimnathwaniabout 2 years ago
Maybe check out the descriptions of &#x27;packing&#x27; and &#x27;compression&#x27; here:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;capnproto.org&#x2F;encoding.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;capnproto.org&#x2F;encoding.html</a>