.nfo

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The filename extension .nfo is used in the warez and demo scenes for pure text files (so-called NFO files ) that contain information about publications shared with them (such as demos or black copies ). NFOis an abbreviation for “Info”, which comes about due to the 8.3 limitation of many file systems .

Other programs that NFOuse file extensions include: a. System information under Microsoft Windows , the Windows program Folio Views , the computer game Age of Empires and the multimedia center distribution Kodi (formerly XBMC).

NFO files of the warez and demo scene

The following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
NFO file
Example: An NFO file with ASCII art


Example: An NFO file with ASCII art

File extension : .nfo
MIME type : text / x-nfo
Type: Text file
Standard (s) : no standard


Example: An NFO file with ASCII art

The first NFO file was used by the Warez group The Humble Guys (THG for short) for the computer game Bubble Bobble, which they cracked in 1990 . replaced the readme files used up until then . BUBBLE.NFO

use

If the name of the software was initially used, the name of the release group soon established itself as the file name. This group was responsible for the content of the published package (software such as computer programs or games, but also films and the like). For example, if the publication is from THG, the THG.NFOfilename was used. A uniform ASCII-Art logo assigned to the group was then found in the file.

The presence of an NFO file was like a certificate of authenticity in the warez scene, attesting a valid publication. Most of the hacking groups competed for the first cracked release of software, but at the same time the quality of the work determined the group's reputation. Many groups of hackers therefore tested their crack extensively to make sure that bypassing copy protection did not impair the software. In this respect, the NFO file and the group behind it are also a kind of quality feature.

In the file were in addition to information for publication, English release to the publication or for their work, often in the form of praise or blame, led also wishes to other hackers or groups comments. The group also posted contact information in order to recruit members.

The information was mostly installation instructions for the cracked software, often including a serial number required for this .

display

Files with the filename extension .NFO are mostly generic ASCII text files that can be viewed with any text editor . However, most NFO files also contain ASCII art , which require ASCII extensions and different character sets and were created under MS-DOS and compatible DOS operating systems using character set tables ( English code pages , abbreviated to "CP"). Common character set tables are, for example, CP850 for Western Europe and CP866 for Russia. Later on, the ANSI type was also used, for which an ANSI driver, e.g. B. ANSI.SYS , is required to process the ANSI escape sequences used.

In order to be able to correctly display ASCII-Art and thus an NFO file , the use of non-proportional fonts is mandatory in addition to the correct character set ( code page ) so that the text graphics do not shift. In addition to special display programs available from the warez, demo and shareware scene, the English NFO viewer , many advanced text editors with adapted settings can correctly display an NFO file on modern operating systems. An example of this is the open source and free Windows program Notepad ++ .

There are also developments for the display on Internet pages that correctly display the text including ASCII art, e.g. As in a PNG - image file to convert.

Creation

As a simple text file, the content can be edited in an appropriate text editor, which is correspondingly more complex with ASCII Art.

In the warez, demo and shareware scene there are various programs that are supposed to facilitate the creation of NFO files with ASCII art. The release groups themselves usually have their own programs that make the quick creation of an NFO file considerably easier and automated.

Other uses

In addition to the NFO file as a pure text file, there are some programs that also use this file name extension . These contain incompatible, mostly binary data and are used by specific programs.

Age of Empires
The computer game Age of Empires from Microsoft uses a binary file with the extension .nfoto store the player name and the progress in the campaign.
Folio Views
The Windows program Folio Views saves help pages in a binary file with the extension .nfo. The English name for the file type is " Folio Views Infobase File ".
Kodi
Under Kodi (formerly XMBC), files with the filename extension contain .nfometadata in XML format.
System information
Under Microsoft Windows since Windows 2000 files with the file extension .nfoby default with the program system information , msinfo32.exelinked. They contain information about a computer system such as the hardware equipment.

Web links

  • Defacto2 (English) is a site that collects and archives the legal parts of the warez scene and makes them available to the general public - in addition to NFO files, there are also various intros and demos.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Daniel Botz: Art, Code and Machine: The Aesthetics of the Computer Demo Scene . transcript Verlag , 2011, ISBN 978-3-8376-1749-8 , pp. 32 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ^ A b David McCandless: Warez World. In: Telepolis. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012 ; accessed on March 23, 2016 .
  3. ↑ a b File Info: .NFO File Extension (English); accessed on March 24, 2016.
  4. ↑ The text / nfo Media Type for Release iNFOrmation - IETF (English), Sean Leonard, November 10, 2014 (PDF; 151 kB); accessed on March 26, 2016.
  5. ↑ Defacto2: BUBBLE.NFO (English); accessed on March 24, 2016.
  6. ↑ Daniel Botz: Art, Code and Machine: The Aesthetics of the Computer Demo Scene . transcript Verlag , 2011, ISBN 978-3-8376-1749-8 , pp. 221 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  7. ↑ NFO files from The Humble Guys (THG) (English); accessed on March 24, 2016.
  8. ^ The three ASCII Art Styles of the Underground Art Scene (English), Carsten Cumbrowski; accessed on March 25, 2016.
  9. ↑ MakeUseOf: The 3 Best NFO File Readers To Open Those NFO Documents (English), Simon Slangen, August 30, 2009; accessed on March 24, 2016.
  10. ↑ PHP library to generate PNG images from NFOs (for display in browsers, independent of the operating system)
  11. ↑ Kodi Wiki: NFO files (English); accessed on March 24, 2016.
  12. ↑ Windows 2000 command line parameters for "Msinfo32.exe". In: Microsoft Knowledge Base. May 12, 2015, accessed March 23, 2016 .