Comparison of executable file formats

This is a comparison of binary executable file formats which, once loaded by a suitable executable 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 PE (on Microsoft Windows), ELF (on Linux and most other versions of Unix), Mach-O (on macOS and iOS) and MZ (on DOS).

Format name Operating system Filename extension Explicit processor declarations Arbitrary sections Metadata[lower-alpha 1] Digital signature String table Symbol table 64-bit Fat binaries Can contain icon
ELF Unix-like, OpenVMS, BeOS from R4 onwards, Haiku, SerenityOS none (though .elf is sometimes used unofficially) Yes by file Yes Yes Extension[1] Yes Yes[2] Yes Extension[3] Extension[4]
PE Windows, ReactOS, HX DOS Extender, BeOS (R3 only) .EXE Yes by file Yes Yes Yes[5] Yes Yes No Only MZ (DOS)[6] Yes
PE32+ Windows (64-bit editions only) .EXE Yes by file Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes "Compiled Hybrid Portable Executable" Yes
Mach-O[7] NeXTSTEP, macOS, iOS, watchOS, tvOS none Yes by section Some (limited to max. 256 sections) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
OS/360 OS/360 and successors, and VS/9, mainframe operating systems none No No No No No Yes Yes No No
GOFF IBM MVS and z/OS mainframe operating systems none No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No
a.out Unix-like none No No No No Yes[8] Yes[8] Extension No No
COFF Unix-like none Yes by file Yes No No Yes Yes Extension No No
ECOFF Ultrix, Tru64 UNIX, IRIX none Yes by file Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No No
XCOFF IBM AIX, BeOS, "classic" Mac OS none Yes by file Yes No No Yes Yes[9] Yes No No
SOM HP-UX, MPE/ix ? Un­known Un­known No No Un­known Yes No Un­known No
Amiga Hunk AmigaOS none No Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes No
PEF[10] "classic" Mac OS, BeOS (PPC only) none Yes by file No No No Yes Yes No No No
CMD CP/M-86, MP/M-86, Concurrent CP/M-86, Personal CP/M-86, S5-DOS, Concurrent DOS, Concurrent DOS 286, FlexOS, S5-DOS/ST, S5-DOS/MT, Concurrent DOS 386, Multiuser DOS, System Manager, REAL/32, DOS Plus .CMD No (x86 only) Yes No No Extension Extension No No No
FlexOS 186 FlexOS 186, FlexOS 286, S5-DOS/ST, S5-DOS/MT, 4680 OS, FlexOS 386, 4690 OS .186 No (186/188 and higher only) Yes No No Extension Extension No No No
FlexOS 286 FlexOS 286, S5-DOS/ST, S5-DOS/MT, 4680 OS, FlexOS 386, 4690 OS .286 No (286 and higher only) Yes No No Extension Extension No No No
CP/M-68K CP/M-68K, Concurrent DOS 68K, FlexOS 68K .68K No (68000 and higher only) Yes No No Un­known Un­known No No No
COM (CP/M) CP/M, MP/M, Concurrent CP/M, Personal CP/M .COM No (8080/Z80 only) Extension (BDOS 3 and higher only) No No No No No Extension No
COM (DOS) DOS, OS/2, Windows (except for 64-bit editions), Concurrent CP/M-86 (BDOS 3.1 only), Concurrent DOS, Concurrent DOS 286, FlexOS, Concurrent DOS 386, Multiuser DOS, System Manager, REAL/32, DOS Plus .COM No (x86 only) No Extension (Novell/Caldera VERSION etc.) No No No Extension Extension No
MZ (DOS) DOS, OS/2, Windows (except for 64-bit editions), Concurrent DOS 286, FlexOS, Concurrent DOS 386, Multiuser DOS, System Manager, REAL/32, DOS Plus .EXE No (x86 only) Yes Extension (Novell/Caldera VERSION etc.) No Extension Extension Extension No No
MZ (GEM) GEM, ViewMAX .APP/.ACC No (x86 only) Yes No No Un­known Un­known No No Un­known
NE MS-DOS 4.0 (multitasking), OS/2, Windows, HX DOS Extender .EXE Un­known Un­known Un­known No Un­known Un­known No Only MZ (DOS)[11] Yes
LE, (W3, W4) OS/2 (2.0 and higher only), some DOS extenders .EXE Yes by file (286 and higher only) Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes
LX OS/2 (2.0 and higher only), some 32-bit DOS extenders .EXE Yes by file Yes Yes No Yes Yes[12] No No Yes
PIM/XIP PalmDOS (MINIMAX applications only) .PIM/.XIP No (x86 only) Yes No No No No No No No
DL MS-DOS System Manager applications (HP LX series only) .EXM No (186/188 and higher only) Yes No No No No No No No
MP Phar Lap DOS extenders .EXP Un­known (286 and higher only) Yes No No Un­known Un­known No No No
P2 Phar Lap 16-bit DOS extenders .EXP Un­known (286 and higher only) Yes No No Un­known Un­known No No No
P3 Phar Lap 32-bit DOS extenders .EXP Un­known (386 and higher only) Yes No No Un­known Un­known No No No
GEOS PC/GEOS, Geoworks Ensemble, NewDeal Office, Breadbox Ensemble .GEO Un­known (x86 only) Un­known Un­known No Un­known Un­known No No Un­known

Notes
  1. Metadata is casually used to describe the controlling data used in software architectures that are more abstract or configurable. Most executable file formats include what may be termed "metadata" that specifies certain, usually configurable, behavioral runtime characteristics. However, it is difficult if not impossible to precisely distinguish program "metadata" from general aspects of stored-program computing architecture; if the machine reads it and acts upon it, it is a computational instruction, and the prefix "meta" has little significance.
    In Java, the class file format contains metadata used by the Java compiler and the Java virtual machine to dynamically link classes and to support reflection. The Java Platform, Standard Edition since J2SE 5.0 has included a metadata facility to allow additional annotations that are used by development tools.
    In MS-DOS, the COM file format does not normally include metadata, while the EXE file and Windows PE formats do. These metadata can include the company that published the program, the date the program was created, the version number and more.
    In the .NET Framework executable format, extra metadata is included to allow reflection at runtime.

References
  1. "elfsign – Freecode". Freshmeat.net. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  2. "(3elf) - Elf library routines". Uw714doc.sco.com. 25 April 2004. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  3. "FatELF: Universal Binaries for Linux". Icculus.org. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  4. "ElfIcon: Icons for ELF files". Compholio.com. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  5. "Windows Authenticode Portable Executable Signature Format". Microsoft. 29 August 2008. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  6. History of Portable Executable
  7. "Mac OS X ABI Mach-O File Format Reference". Apple Inc. 4 February 2009. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  8. "a.out(5) - FreeBSD Man Pages". Freebsd.org. 10 June 2010. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  9. "Files Reference – XCOFF Object File Format". IBM.
  10. "MPW Command Reference - DumpPEF". Apple Inc. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008.
  11. DOS stub of New Executable
  12. "LX - Linear eXecutable Module Format Description". 3 June 1992. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
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