CompuServe RLE

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image

CompuServe RLE is a type of run-length encoding graphics monochrome file format, introduced by CompuServe in the 1980s to be used by the CompuServe on-line service. It is the predecessor of CompuServe's GIF file format that supported colour and was invented by Steve Wilhite. The image dimensions are either Medium (128x96) and High (256x192) resolution RLE- compressed files. Files consist entirely of ASCII characters, though some are control characters.

Identify it

Extensions	`.rle`
MIME types	`application/octet-stream`
Signatures	`1b47` at byte 0 (CompuServe RLE) `1b4748` at byte 0
PRONOM	`fmt/1538`
Wikidata	`Q28205858Q105859195`

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Sources

From Just Solve the File Format Problem (File Formats Wiki), PRONOM, Wikidata. Updated 2026-10-24.

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