DMF (Distribution Media Format)

DMF (Distribution Media Format), is a special way of formatting a PC-compatible floppy disk, so that it can store more than the usual amount of data. It was designed (presumably) by Microsoft, and used on some of their distribution disks.

The main DMF format puts 1680KB on what would normally be a 1.44M 3.5" floppy disk. There is also an 82-track version that has a slightly higher capacity, at the expense of compatibility.

Simply reading a raw DMF disk image file isn't necessarily problematic. Such a file should be readable by most software that supports images of FAT filesystems, or IMA format.

Sample files

 * Microsoft Office 4.3 Professional → Disk02, Disk03, ...
 * Microsoft Windows 95B → Disk02, Disk03, ...

Links

 * Distribution Media Format
 * WinImage: About DMF
 * Put 1.7MB Onto 1.44MB Floppies (1999 Byte.com article)