Executables

File Format
Name	Executables
Ontology	Electronic File Formats Executables

Container formats for machine executable code. These often define different sections to be loaded into memory. Some formats may be compatible with different CPU architectures.

Directly executable

• a.out
• COFF — The Common Object File Format, an executable format originally designed for use in UNIX System V
• Commodore 64 binary executable (.prg)
• DOS executable (.com) — 16 bit DOS executable
• EXE — The original DOS executable format, with variants like NE (New Executable), PE (Portable Executable, actually a COFF variant), LX (Linear Executable) and others, as used in Microsoft MS-DOS and MS Windows (and some other operating systems like SkyOS)
• ELF
• Intel HEX
• iOS app (.app) (see also IPA for archived version, and Mobile Provision file for provision file accompanying apps)
• Mach-O

Shared libraries, chained files, etc.

(can't be run by themselves, but are used at runtime by other executables)

• Dynamic-link library (Windows) (.dll)
• Dynamic library (OS X or iOS) (.dylib)
• Turbo Pascal chain file (.chn)

See also Source code for code in a higher-level programming language that needs to be compiled, assembled, or interpreted, and Development for other files used in the development process, including object and library files that get linked into a finished executable.

Virtual machine code

• Bytecode (or p-code) — programs "compiled" into machine-independent code that loads or runs more quickly than raw interpreted source code; runs in an interpreter
• Universal Machine (ICFP programming contest 2006)

Links

• Download Wrappers and Unwanted Software are pure evil
• Flappy Bird implementations for various classic platforms