Windows clipboard

Latest revision as of 02:56, 28 December 2023

The Windows clipboard holds data being temporarily copied/cut and pasted within programs running under the Microsoft Windows operating system. There are various sub-formats of it to handle different sorts of text, graphical, and other data. While this is usually just held in memory, sometimes it may be saved in files with a .clp extension.

[edit] Identification

.clp files begin with a 2-byte signature. Known signatures:

• 0x50 0xc3 (Windows 3.1)
• 0x51 0xc3 (NT)
• 0x52 0xc3 ("BK")

[edit] Specifications

Documentation of the .clp file format is lacking, but ReactOS is open source, and appears to support at least one version of the standard format (WriteClipboardFile() in clipbrd/fileutils.c).

[edit] Software

For .clp files:

• Clipboard Viewer / ClipBook Viewer - Included with Microsoft Windows prior to Vista.
• XnView - Can read graphical files.
• IrfanView - Can read graphical files.
• Deark

[edit] Sample files

• PGACLP.ZIP
• dexvert samples — image/windowsClipboard

[edit] Links

• Standard Clipboard Formats
• How can I get an image out of the clipboard without losing the alpha channel in .NET?
• How do I read a jpg or png from the windows clipboard in python and vice versa?
• Win32::Clipboard Perl module