Access

Access released by Microsoft also known as Jet DB is a standalone database that forms part of the Microsoft Office Suite of productivity tools. It was first released in 1992.

Access databases are composed of multiple page types. The length of these pages depends on the version of the Jet Database employed by the specific version of Microsoft Access. The first page of Access 95/97 and Access 2000/2003 databases is always a Database Definition Page.

Microsoft Access 95/97 - Jet 3 Database
Microsoft Access 95/97 utilizes the Jet3 database engine. The page size of the Jet3 database engine is 2048 bytes.

Microsoft Access 2000/2002 - Jet 4 Database
Microsoft Access 2000/2003 utilizes the Jet 4 database engine. The page size of the Jet4 database engine is 4096 bytes.

Internal structure of the format
The Jet DB version can be found in the file header by reading the 4 byte little-endian integer at offset 0x13. Jet3 databases have a value of 0. Jet 4 databases have a value of 1.

The version and build number of Access, used to create the file is located variable in the file structure. It will be located within a 'Page Index' page type, under one of the memo fields stored within that page type.

The block of data at offset 0x18 running for 126 bytes (Jet 3) and 128+ bytes (Jet 4) represents RC4 encrypted data. It is thought this uses the key: 0x6b39dac7.

Specifications
A formal specification from Microsoft has not been made available. The following links are attempts by third parties to reverse engineer and document the format:


 * Reverse engineered documentation used by mdbtools on GitHub


 * Further documentation built on top of mdbtools' work

Sample Files

 * utterangel.com: Sample Access databases and applications


 * Conversion Software Registry: Sample Access databases