Doc (computing)

In computing, DOC or doc (an abbreviation of "document") is a filename extension

for word processing documents, most commonly in the proprietary Microsoft Word Word Document
Binary File Format.[4] Historically, the extension was used for documentation in plain
text, particularly of programs or computer hardware on a wide range of operating
systems. During the 1980s, WordPerfect used DOC as the extension of their
proprietary format. Later, in 1983, Microsoft chose to use the DOC extension for their Filename .doc
proprietary Microsoft Word format. These uses for the extension have largely extension
disappeared from the PC world. Internet application/msword[1]
media type
Uniform Type com.microsoft.word.doc[2][3]
Identifier (UTI)
Contents Developed by Microsoft
Microsoft Word Binary File Format Latest release 8.1
Application support (19 November 2019[4])
Specification Type of format document file format
Other file formats Container for Text, Image,Table
See also Extended from Compound File Binary
Format (since 97)
References
Extended to Microsoft Office XML
External links formats, Office Open XML
Open format? Yes

Microsoft Word Binary File Format

Binary DOC files often contain more text formatting information (as well as scripts and undo information) than some other
document file formats like Rich Text Format and Hypertext Markup Language, but are usually less widely compatible.

The DOC files created with Microsoft Word versions differ. Microsoft Word versions before Word 97 ("8.0") used a different
format from the OLE/CFBF-based Microsoft Word 97 – 2003.

In Microsoft Word 2007 and later, the binary file format was replaced as the default format by the Office Open XML format,
though Microsoft Word can still produce DOC files.

Application support

The DOC format is native to Microsoft Word. Other word processors, such as OpenOffice.org Writer, IBM Lotus Symphony, Apple
Pages and AbiWord, can also create and read DOC files, although with some limitations. Command line programs for Unix-like
operating systems that can convert files from the DOC format to plain text or other standard formats include the wv library, which
itself is used directly by AbiWord.

Specification

Because the DOC file format was a closed specification for many years, inconsistent handling of the format persists and may cause
some loss of formatting information when handling the same file with multiple word processing programs. Some specifications for
Microsoft Office 97 binary file formats were published in 1997 under a restrictive license, but these specifications were removed
from online download in 1999.[5][6][7][8] Specifications of later versions of Microsoft Office binary file formats were not publicly
available. The DOC format specification was available from Microsoft on request[9] since 2006[10] under restrictive RAND-Z terms
until February 2008. Sun Microsystems and OpenOffice.org reverse engineered the file format.[11] On February 15, 2008,
Microsoft released a .DOC format specification[4][12][13] under the Microsoft Open Specification Promise.[14][15] However, this
specification does not describe all of the features used by DOC format and reverse engineered work remains necessary.[16] Since
2008 the specification has been updated several times; the latest change was made in November 2019.

The format used in earlier, pre-97 ("1.0" 1989 through "7.0" 1995) versions of Word are less known, but both OpenOffice and
LibreOffice contains open-source code for reading these formats. The format is probably related to the "Stream" format found in
similar Excel versions.[17] Word 95 also seems to have an OLE-wrapped form.
Other file formats
Some historical documentations may use the DOC filename extension for plain-text file format. The DOC filename extension was
also used in historical versions of WordPerfect for its proprietary format.

Some software applications use the name DOC in combination with other words (such as the name of software manufacturer) for
different file formats. As an example, on the Palm OS, DOC is shorthand for PalmDoc, a completely unrelated format (commonly
using PDB filename extension) used to encode text files such as ebooks.

See also
De facto standard
Dominant design

References
1. "IME Content-Type/Subtype - application/msword" (http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/application/msword). IANA.
1993-07-22. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
2. Uniform Type Identifiers Reference (https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Miscellaneous/Reference/UTIRef/
UTIRef.pdf) (PDF), Apple, retrieved 2012-06-20
3. "System-Declared Uniform Type Identifiers (Mac OS X v10.4)" (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/Conceptua
l/understanding_utis/utilist/chapter_4_section_1.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40001319-CH205-BHACGADF). Apple Developer
Connection. Apple Inc. 2008-04-08.
4. MS-DOC: Word (.doc) Binary File Format (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc313153%28v=office.12%29), 2019-11-19,
retrieved 2020-02-25
5. "Comparing ODF and OOXML" (http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2006/presentations/wednesday_o3.pdf) (pdf). 2006.
Retrieved 2011-05-23.
6. Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts (http://www.robweir.com/blog/2006/11/beware-of-geeks-bearing-gifts.html), 2006, retrieved
2011-05-23
7. "A Word 8 converter for Unix" (ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/gnu/www/software/mswordview/MSWordView.html). Retrieved 2011-05-23.
8. "Microsoft Word 97 Binary File Format" (http://www.opennet.ru/docs/formats/wword8.html#01). Retrieved 2011-05-23.
9. "Royalty-free specifications for Microsoft Office binary file formats" (http://www.wictorwilen.se/Post/Royaltyfree-specifications-fo
r-Microsoft-Office-binary-file-formats.aspx). Retrieved 2011-05-23.
10. "Mapping documents in the binary format (.doc; .xls; .ppt) to the Open XML format" (http://blogs.msdn.com/b/brian_jones/archi
ve/2008/01/16/mapping-documents-in-the-binary-format-doc-xls-ppt-to-the-open-xml-format.aspx). 2008-01-16. Retrieved
2011-05-23.
11. "Microsoft Compound Document Format" (http://sc.openoffice.org/compdocfileformat.pdf) (PDF). OpenOffice.org. 2007-08-07.
12. Microsoft Office Binary (doc, xls, ppt) File Formats (https://web.archive.org/web/20080218212338/http://www.microsoft.com/int
erop/docs/officebinaryformats.mspx), 2008-02-15, archived from the original (http://www.microsoft.com/interop/docs/officebinar
yformats.mspx) on 2008-02-18
13. "Microsoft Office Word 97 - 2007 Binary File Format Specification (*.doc)" (http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/B/E/0BE
8BDD7-E5E8-422A-ABFD-4342ED7AD886/Word97-2007BinaryFileFormat(doc)Specification.pdf) (PDF). Microsoft
Corporation. 2008.
14. "Microsoft Open Specification Promise" (http://www.microsoft.com/interop/osp/default.mspx). Microsoft Corporation. March 23,
2009.
15. "How to extract information from Office files by using Office file formats and schemas" (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/840817/
en-us). Retrieved 2011-05-23.
16. Joel Spolsky. "Why are the Microsoft Office file formats so complicated? (And some workarounds)" (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20131014090710/http://joelonsoftware.com/items/2008/02/19.html). Archived from the original (http://www.joelonsoftware.co
m/items/2008/02/19.html) on 2013-10-14. Retrieved 2011-05-23.
17. "LibreOffice/core" (https://github.com/LibreOffice/core/blob/eaeabd78585c185e58f62be49e5888ef78d94793/sw/source/ui/uno/s
wdetect.cxx#L68). GitHub.

External links
DOC (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc313105(v=office.12).aspx), XLS, and PPT specifications
Microsoft Compound Document Format (http://sc.openoffice.org/compdocfileformat.pdf) - OpenOffice.org

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