Microsoft Help

Also known as .hlp, Windows Help, Microsoft WinHelp

Microsoft WinHelp is a proprietary format for online help files that can be displayed by the Microsoft Help browser winhelp.exe or winhlp32.exe. The file format is based on Rich Text Format (RTF). It remained a popular Help platform from Windows 3.0 through Windows XP. WinHelp was removed in Windows Vista purportedly to discourage software developers from using the obsolete format and encourage use of newer help formats. Support for WinHelp files would eventually be removed entirely in Windows 10.

Key facts

File format.caption: Help File
File format.extension: .hlp
File format.magic: 3F 5F 03 00
File format.owner: Microsoft
File format.released: 1990
File format.extended from: RTF
File format.standard: No
Software.name: Microsoft WinHelp
Software.screenshot: WindowsMME-96-Help.png
Software.screenshot_size: 240px
Software.developer: Microsoft
Software.replaced_by: Microsoft Compiled HTML Help
Software.included with

Article · Deutsch

WinHelp war ein Hilfeformat, das erstmals im Jahr 1990 mit Windows 3.0 eingeführt wurde und noch bis Windows XP unterstützt wurde. Das Format ist nicht öffentlich dokumentiert, konnte aber inzwischen erfolgreich mittels Reverse Engineering entschlüsselt werden.

Abstract from DBpedia / Wikipedia · CC BY-SA