Cabinet (file format)

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Cabinet
File extension:	`.cab`
MIME type:	`application/vnd.ms-cab-compressed`
Developed by:	Microsoft
Type of format:	Data compression

In computing, CAB is the Microsoft Windows native compressed archive format. It supports compression and digital signing, and is used in a variety of Microsoft installation engines: Setup API, Device Installer, AdvPack (for the installation of ActiveX components from Internet Explorer) and Windows Installer.

It was originally called Diamond.

The CAB file format allows for three data compression methods:

DEFLATE, invented by Phil Katz, the author of the ZIP file format.
Quantum, licensed from David Stafford, the author of the Quantum archiver.
LZX, invented by Jonathan Forbes and Tomi Poutanen, given to Microsoft when Jonathan joined the company.

The CAB file extension is also used in many installers (InstallShield and others), although it is not the same file format.

[edit] See also

List of archive formats

[edit] External links

Microsoft Cabinet SDK
7-Zip is an LGPL licensed utility that supports 7z, ZIP, CAB, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB (though it can only create archives in 7z, ZIP, Gzip, Bzip2, and TAR format).
cabextract is Free Software for unpacking cabinet files in UNIX
libmspack is an LGPL licensed, portable library for creating and extracting CAB files and other Microsoft misc. formats (creation of CAB files not implemented yet)
LCAB - Linux cabinet file creator

v • d • e Archive formats (comparison)
Archiving only	ar · cpio · shar · tar · LBR
Compression only	bzip2 · gzip · LZMA · lzop · rzip · SQ · compress · LZW
Archiving and compression	7z · ACE · ARC · ALZip · ARJ · Cabinet · cpt · DAR · dd · DGCA · .dmg · GCA · kgb · LHA · LZX · PAQ · RAR · qda · sit · SQX · zoo · ZIP
Software packaging and distribution	deb · pkg · RPM · MSI · JAR (WAR · RAR (Java) · EAR)