{
 "id": "microsoft-excel-3-0-worksheet-xls-3",
 "name": "Microsoft Excel 3.0 Worksheet (xls)",
 "category": "spreadsheet",
 "identifiers": {
  "extensions": [
   "xls"
  ],
  "puid": [
   "fmt/56"
  ],
  "wikidata": [
   "Q60806040"
  ],
  "mime": [
   "application/vnd.ms-excel"
  ],
  "uti": [
   "com.microsoft.excel.xls"
  ],
  "magic": [
   {
    "offset": 0,
    "hex": "09020600",
    "notes": "BIFF 3 Worksheet"
   }
  ],
  "signatures": [
   {
    "name": "BIFF 3 Worksheet",
    "sequences": [
     {
      "position": "bof",
      "offset": 0,
      "pattern": "09020600{2}1000"
     }
    ]
   }
  ]
 },
 "status": "readable",
 "summary": "The Binary Interchange File Format (BIFF) is a spreadsheet file format developed by Microsoft. BIFF 3 is the native file format of Microsoft Excel 3.0 for Windows. The format is proprietary and Microsoft does not make details of its structure public. The information contained here is derived primarily from OpenOffice.org's reverse-engineered documentation of the format, and should not therefore be regarded as definitive. BIFF is a stream based format, and a BIFF 3 file comprises a single worksheet stream, containing a Beginning of File (BOF) record, followed by a series of Worksheet records, and terminated by an End of File (EOF) record.",
 "tools": [
  {
   "name": "Distributed Password Recovery",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q122168633",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Front Page Explorer",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q120119485",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Microsoft Access 2000",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q120598149",
   "reads": false,
   "writes": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Microsoft Excel",
   "url": "https://products.office.com/en-gb/excel",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false,
   "license": "end-user license agreement"
  },
  {
   "name": "Microsoft Excel 2000",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q120359611",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Microsoft Publisher 6.0",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q120967357",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Microsoft Works 3.0",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q116486411",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Microsoft Works 8.0",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q123464379",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false
  },
  {
   "name": "PC/FOCUS",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q113626536",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false
  },
  {
   "name": "PhotoRec",
   "url": "http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false,
   "license": "GNU General Public License",
   "open_source": true
  }
 ],
 "projects": [
  {
   "name": "PRONOM fmt/56",
   "url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/PRONOM/fmt/56",
   "kind": "format-doc"
  },
  {
   "name": "Wikidata Q60806040",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60806040",
   "kind": "wiki"
  }
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "sources": [
   "pronom",
   "wikidata"
  ]
 },
 "updated": "2026-10-20",
 "version": "3",
 "aliases": [
  "Microsoft Excel Worksheet (3.0)"
 ],
 "structure": [],
 "parsers": [],
 "conversions": [],
 "samples": [],
 "claims": [],
 "verification": [],
 "family": "xls"
}