MZ Executable Format - DOS Tarafından Kullanılırdı

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Executable content is identified by its MZ and PE signatures.

MZ imzası dosyanın başında bulunur. Açıklaması şöyle.

Most large files (over 64KiB) with a .COM extension are really MZ executables; the DOS loader doesn’t care whether the extension is .EXE or .COM, it uses the MZ signature to identify the format. This is the only documented way for a .COM file larger than 64KiB to work, so it’s the only approach which can be relied upon.

MZ formatında uygulamanın hangi işlemcide çalıştığı bilgisi bulunmaz. Açıklaması şöyle

The original DOS "MZ" type executable header do not contain such information about what kind of code it contains or what CPU type it needs. It just contains a binary image that is loaded to memory and information about how to start it in real mode, so there are no separate 16-bit or 32-bit binaries.