Reference for database of signatures
Database sources for file signatures/ file magic numbers
The file headers of different files do not use a defined standard. Instead, each application has a proprietary format for its file header or signature. That means a program (e.g., Microsoft Word) or an operating system (OS) (e.g., Windows 11) needs a file signature database to determine different file types. If my tool cannot help you to know which type of your files really are, you can read your header file with this tool, then look up it in some other sources like the following links:
- Main source
- GCK's file signature table (updated 09.12.2022)
- Alternative for this tool & signatures in form array instead of mysql
- FileSignatures.cs
Determining the file type from the magic number of file is not always easy because sometimes the magic number does not begin from first Bytes, or in a few special cases like .iso file it isn't in the first 512 bytes of the file. In addition, in case of extension .xml, there are a lot of signatures leading to different filetypes Read more.