Preferred Executable Format

Preferred Executable Format

Uniform Type Identifier (UTI)	com.apple.pef-binary
Developed by	Apple Computer
Type of format	executable
Container for	PowerPC executable and object code

The Preferred Executable Format is a file format that specifies the format of executable files and other object code. PEF executables are also called Code Fragment Manager files (CFM).

PEF was developed by Apple Computer for use in its Mac OS operating system. It was optimised for RISC processors. In Mac OS X, the Mach-O file format is the native executable format. However, PEF is still supported on PowerPC-based Macintoshes and is used by some Carbon applications ported from earlier Mac OS versions.

BeOS on PowerPC systems also uses PEF, although x86 systems do not.

See also

• Comparison of executable file formats

External links

• PEF Structure - documentation at developer.apple.com via web.archive.org
• Mac OS Runtime Architectures For System 7 Through Mac OS 9 - PDF from developer.apple.com (see chapter 8, PEF Structure)
• dumppef Documentation - description of what is in a PEF file, such as allowed sections the string table.