MS-DOS installation compression
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| − | + | '''MS-DOS installation compression''' refers to a family of compressed file formats formats by Microsoft that appear on MS-DOS and early Windows (3.x) installation disks. The formats have no generally agreed-upon name. This article is primarily about the format whose files start with "SZDD". For the other formats, see [[Microsoft KWAJ installation compression]] and [[Microsoft SZ installation compression]]. | |
| − | There are reports of the Google Chrome installer [http://festiva-yourchoice.blogspot.com/2010/01/expandexe-preventing-google-chrome-from.html needing the EXPAND.EXE program]. | + | Compressed files may be generated by the COMPRESS.EXE program (appearing in Microsoft's Setup Toolkit for Visual C++), and decompressed with the EXPAND.EXE program distributed with Windows and MS-DOS. Compressed files have the last character of the file extension replaced with an underscore, or sometimes a dollar sign. |
| + | <!-- There are reports of the Google Chrome installer [http://festiva-yourchoice.blogspot.com/2010/01/expandexe-preventing-google-chrome-from.html needing the EXPAND.EXE program]. --> | ||
| + | |||
| + | == See also == | ||
| + | Other formats in this family: | ||
| + | * [[Microsoft KWAJ installation compression]] | ||
| + | * [[Microsoft SZ installation compression]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | Other formats that might be in this family: | ||
| + | * [[FXPF]] | ||
| + | * [[MRNZ]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | == Format details == | ||
| + | SZDD's compression format is similar, but not identical, to [[LZSS (Haruhiko Okumura)|Okumura's LZSS]]. There is a byte at offset 8 that specifies the exact type of compression. Most sources say that the only known value for this byte is "A" (0x41), but some report[https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26161] that there is also a type "B", used by Windows 3.1 builds 026 and 034e. | ||
== Identification == | == Identification == | ||
| − | + | An SZDD file begins with bytes {{magic|53 5A 44 44 88 F0 27 33}}. | |
== Software == | == Software == | ||
| + | * [https://www.cabextract.org.uk/libmspack/ libmspack] → msexpand (decompress only) | ||
* EXPAND.EXE - utility included with many versions of MS Windows and MS-DOS | * EXPAND.EXE - utility included with many versions of MS Windows and MS-DOS | ||
| + | ** [https://archive.org/details/1996-01-13-windows3.1windowsforworkgroups3.11intl Windows for Workgroups 3.11...] → WFW311/ENG_ARA/EXPAND.EXE - File Expansion Utility v2.10 (for DOS). This version of EXPAND.EXE supports SZDD, as well as KWAJ compression types 2 and 3. | ||
* [ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/CP0982.EXE Setup Toolkit for Visual C++] | * [ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/CP0982.EXE Setup Toolkit for Visual C++] | ||
| − | * [ | + | * [[7-Zip]] |
| − | * [ftp://ftp.penguin.cz/pub/users/mhi/mscompress/ mscompress | + | * [https://github.com/stapelberg/mscompress mscompress] ([ftp://ftp.penguin.cz/pub/users/mhi/mscompress/ original version]) → mscompress, msexpand (compression and decompression) |
| − | * [ | + | * [https://www.winehq.org/ Wine] |
| + | * {{Deark}} | ||
| + | |||
| + | == Sample files == | ||
| + | * {{DexvertSamples|archive/msCompress}} | ||
== Links == | == Links == | ||
| − | * [ | + | * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160527025701/https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/80751 Documentation in Microsoft site] (archived) |
| − | * [ | + | * [https://www.cabextract.org.uk/libmspack/doc/szdd_kwaj_format.html SZDD and KWAJ formats description] |
| + | [[Category:File formats with too many extensions]] | ||
[[Category:Microsoft]] | [[Category:Microsoft]] | ||
| + | [[Category:MS-DOS]] | ||
| + | [[Category:Windows]] | ||
Latest revision as of 14:58, 28 April 2024
MS-DOS installation compression refers to a family of compressed file formats formats by Microsoft that appear on MS-DOS and early Windows (3.x) installation disks. The formats have no generally agreed-upon name. This article is primarily about the format whose files start with "SZDD". For the other formats, see Microsoft KWAJ installation compression and Microsoft SZ installation compression.
Compressed files may be generated by the COMPRESS.EXE program (appearing in Microsoft's Setup Toolkit for Visual C++), and decompressed with the EXPAND.EXE program distributed with Windows and MS-DOS. Compressed files have the last character of the file extension replaced with an underscore, or sometimes a dollar sign.
Contents |
[edit] See also
Other formats in this family:
Other formats that might be in this family:
[edit] Format details
SZDD's compression format is similar, but not identical, to Okumura's LZSS. There is a byte at offset 8 that specifies the exact type of compression. Most sources say that the only known value for this byte is "A" (0x41), but some report[1] that there is also a type "B", used by Windows 3.1 builds 026 and 034e.
[edit] Identification
An SZDD file begins with bytes 53 5A 44 44 88 F0 27 33.
[edit] Software
- libmspack → msexpand (decompress only)
- EXPAND.EXE - utility included with many versions of MS Windows and MS-DOS
- Windows for Workgroups 3.11... → WFW311/ENG_ARA/EXPAND.EXE - File Expansion Utility v2.10 (for DOS). This version of EXPAND.EXE supports SZDD, as well as KWAJ compression types 2 and 3.
- Setup Toolkit for Visual C++
- 7-Zip
- mscompress (original version) → mscompress, msexpand (compression and decompression)
- Wine
- Deark
