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Magic Numbers in File Formats
Understanding File Signatures and Format Detection
JPEG File Structure
4A 46 49 46
Magic Number
Image Data and Metadata
Common File Format Signatures
Format
Magic Number
Description
JPEG
4A 46 49 46
Image file format known for compression
PNG
89 50 4E 47
Lossless image compression format
GIF
47 49 46 38
Widely used for animated images
PDF
25 50 44 46
Standard for documents
File Identification Process
Read File Header
First few bytes
Check Magic Number
Compare signature
Identify Format
Process accordingly
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