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*Details: File format summary

    
 

 

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Summary
Name Microsoft Excel 4.0 Worksheet (xls)
Version 4S
Other names Microsoft Excel Worksheet (4.0)
Identifiers MIME:  application/vnd.ms-excel
Apple Uniform Type Identifier:  com.microsoft.excel.xls
PUID:  fmt/57
Family  
Classification Spreadsheet
Disclosure None
Description The Binary Interchange File Format (BIFF) is a spreadsheet file format developed by Microsoft. BIFF 4S is a native file format of Microsoft Excel 4.0 for Windows. Excel 4.0 allowed either a single worksheet to be stored as a worksheet file (BIFF 4S), or for multiple worksheets to be combined in a single workbook file (BIFF 4W). The format is proprietary and Microsoft does not make details of its structure public. The information contained here is derived primarily from OpenOffice.org's reverse-engineered documentation of the format, and should not therefore be regarded as definitive. BIFF is a stream based format, and a BIFF 4S file comprises a single Worksheet stream, containing a Beginning of File (BOF) record, followed by a series of Worksheet records, and terminated by an End of File (EOF) record.
Orientation Binary
Byte order Little-endian (Intel)
Related file formats Is previous version of Microsoft Excel 5.0/95 Workbook (xls) (5/95)
Is subsequent version of Microsoft Excel 3.0 Worksheet (xls) (3)
Is supertype of Microsoft Excel Chart (4.0)
Technical Environment  
Released  
Supported until  
Format Risk  
Developed by Microsoft Corporation
Supported by Microsoft Corporation
Source Digital Preservation Department / The National Archives
Source date 11 Mar 2005
Source description  
Last updated 19 Jul 2013
Note  
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