OLE Compound File

The OLE Compound File (OLECF) is used in other file formats as its underlying container file. It allows data to be stored in multiple streams.

The OLECF is also known as:

• OLE2 file
• Compound Binary File (current name used by Microsoft)
• Compound Document File (name used by OpenOffice)

MIME types

Because the OLECF by itself is just a container it does not use a mime type. A mime type assigned to an OLECF refers to its content.

File signature

The OLECF has the following file signature: hexadecimal: d0 cf 11 e0 a1 b1 1a e1

The OLECF has no distinct footer.

Contents

The OLECF uses a FAT like file system to define the streams through a directory and the blocks that are assigned to the stream using multiple allocation tables.

The OLECF is used to store:

• Microsoft Office 97-2003 documents:
  • Word Document (DOC)
  • Excel Spreadsheet (XLS)
  • Powerpoint Presentation (PPT)
• Thumbs.db

See also

Microsoft Compound Document File Format (This is actually the OpenOffice specification)

Compound Binary File Specification by Microsoft

Be warned this file contains at least one error: the directory entry name length is a size in bytes not in characters.