Editing Cabinet (file format) (section)

== Related formats ==

The <code>.cab</code> filename extension is also used by other installer programs (e.g. [[InstallShield]]) for their own proprietary archiving formats. InstallShield uses [[zlib]] for compression (see [[Deflate]]), but their headers are not the same as for Microsoft CAB files so they are incompatible and cannot be manipulated or edited with the programs that are made for standard cabinet format. Specialized third-party utilities, such as Unshield, can extract this specific proprietary format.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://github.com/twogood/unshield|title=twogood/unshield|website=GitHub|access-date=21 April 2018}}</ref> This format has a different magic number of {{tt|ISC(}}.<ref name=magic>{{cite web |title=kyz/libmspack: doc/magic |url=https://github.com/kyz/libmspack/blob/master/cabextract/doc/magic |website=GitHub |date=2 January 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

[[Windows CE]] software is distributed as CAB files where the first file inside, ending with extension ".000", details how it is installed.<ref>{{cite web |title=Windows CE installation cabinet (.CAB) file format |url=https://www.cabextract.org.uk/wince_cab_format/ |website=cabextract}}</ref>

[[Microsoft Installer]] <code>.msi</code> files sometimes ''contain'' CAB files, but are themselves in the [[Compound File Binary Format]] which has to be decoded first. Software like <code>lessmsi</code> can be used to unpack these files.

Microsoft Publisher has a "Pack and Go" feature that bundles a publisher document, together with all external links, into a CAB file with a <code>.PUZ</code> extension. These files are meant to be activated with a companion .EXE file which is distributed along with the <code>.PUZ</code> file. These files may be opened with any CAB file extraction program.