- DOS executable
Infobox file format
name = DOS executable
extension = .exe
mime =
uniform type =
owner =
magic = MZ
genre =Binary ,executable
container for =
contained by =
extended from =
extended to =
standard =The DOS MZ executable format is the
executable file format used for .EXE files inDOS .The file can be identified by the
ASCII string "MZ" or the hexadecimal 4D 5A at the beginning of the file (the "magic number"), although, in fact, "ZM" or the hexadecimal 5A 4D works as well. "MZ" are the initials ofMark Zbikowski , one of the developers of MS-DOS.The MZ DOS executable file is newer than COM executable and differs from it. The DOS executable header contains relocation information, which allows multiple segments to be loaded at arbitrary memory addresses, and support executables larger than 64 KiB, but still suffering from low memory limits. Later those limits were bypassed using
DOS extender s.Compatibility
MZ DOS executables can be run from DOS and
Windows 9x -based Operating Systems. 32-bitWindows NT -based operating systems can execute them using their built-inVirtual DOS machine (although some graphics modes are unsupported). 64-bit versions of Windows cannot execute them. Alternative ways to run these executables includeDOSBox andDOSEMU .MZ DOS executables can be created by linkers, like MS linker, VALX or Open WATCOM's WLINK, additionally
FASM can create them directly.ee also
*
DOS
*DOS extender External links
* [http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/doc/exe/ MZ DOS EXE file format]
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