ByteScope

PE (Windows executable) file format

Portable Executable — the Windows .exe/.dll binary format.

MIME type
application/vnd.microsoft.portable-executable
Extensions
.exe, .dll, .sys
Category
Executables & bytecode

Magic-number signature

0x000000004D5AMZDOS 'MZ' stub

A 4-byte offset at 0x3C points to the 'PE\0\0' (50 45 00 00) signature.

About the PE (Windows executable) format

PE is the Windows format for executables, DLLs and drivers, still carrying a DOS 'MZ' stub for backward compatibility. Files start with 'MZ'; a pointer at offset 0x3C leads to the 'PE\0\0' signature.

Related formats

Have a file that might be PE (Windows executable)? Identify it with the File Type Identifier — it reads the magic number locally, nothing is uploaded. Or browse all formats.