CompuServe RLE

File Format
Name	CompuServe RLE
Ontology	Electronic File Formats Graphics CompuServe RLE ; ; ;
Extension(s)	.rle

CompuServe RLE is a bi-level image format that was used by the CompuServe on-line service. In some ways, it is the predecessor of GIF.

The image dimensions are 256×192 or (rarely?) 128×96. Images are RLE-compressed.

Files consist entirely of ASCII characters, though some are control characters.

Identification

Files begin with bytes 0x1B 0x47 0x48 (256×192) or 0x1B 0x47 0x4D (128×96).