XBIN

File Format
Name	XBIN
Ontology	Electronic File Formats Graphics XBIN
Extension(s)	.xb
Released	1996

XBIN (eXtended BIN) is a character graphics format. Its purpose is similar to that of ANSI Art. It was designed to be a successor to BIN format. It uses a specialized RLE compression algorithm.

It is closely tied to the capabilities of the text modes of VGA graphics cards. The font can be customized. Though limited to 16 colors, a custom palette can be used.

Disambiguation

xbin is also the name of an old utility[1] that translates BinHex files.

Identification

Files begin with 'X' 'B' 'I' 'N' 0x1A.

Specifications

• eXtended BIN Format specification
  • acdu0896.zip → XBIN.TXT
• XBin Specifications (from archive.org)

Software

• ACiD View: Viewer for Windows
• FFmpeg
• Konvertor Free Viewer / Converter for Windows
• Ansilove

See also ANSI Art#Software.

Sample files

• acdu0896.zip → *.XB
• blocktronics_block_to_the_future.zip → *.xb
• dexvert samples — image/xb

Links

• Wikipedia article