From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .nfo
.nfo
.nfo from the then near-ubiquitous code page 437 character
set in the file.
Before Windows 95 was introduced, NFO files also
sometimes used ANSI-escape sequences to generate ani-
mated ASCII art (ANSI art). These animations, however,
required ANSI.SYS to be loaded by the DOS shell. If the
user’s computer wasn’t already configured to load the
ANSI.SYS driver, viewing ANSI art required reconfiguring
and rebooting. Because of this, ANSI art was much less
common, and getting ANSI art to display correctly on a
Windows 95 PC often proved more difficult, leading to a
decline of such art in NFO files.
As of 2010, NFO files can still be found in many ZIP
archives. In modern day warez NFO files, a large ASCII art
logo is frequently shown at the top, followed by textu-
al information below. Instead of using the old code page
437 extended ASCII characters, modern ASCII art uses the
current de-facto web standard ISO-8859-1/ISO-8859-15
or Unicode UTF-8 characters.
Compatibility problems
Screenshot of a .nfo file Because the once-ubiquitous ASCII code page 437 was
Filename extension .nfo never common on the World Wide Web and is poorly
supported by most (as of 2007) modern computers, older
Internet media type text/x-nfo[1]
NFO files are frequently rendered incorrectly in modern
Type of format Plain text web browsers and on modern operating systems (which
mostly no longer use code page 437). To display old NFO
.nfo (also written .NFO or NFO a contraction of "info",
NFO, files as intended, a dedicated CP437-capable viewing soft-
or "information") is a commonly used three-letter file- ware or conversion is often required.[3]
name extension of ASCII or extended ASCII text files that An added problem lies in the fact that many modern
accompany other files and contain information about web browsers and text editing programs often use pro-
them. Such NFO files can be viewed with text editors portional fonts, whereas the ASCII art included in both
or dedicated NFO viewers. They commonly also contain old and new NFO files is heavily dependent on the file
elaborate ASCII art.[2] being viewed with a fixed width font. As a workaround,
simply using a text editor and selecting a monospace font
may, in the absence of incompatible extended ASCII char-
Content acters, sometimes be sufficient. In this case, the only dif-
NFO files usually contain release information about a ference might be that the text in GUI text editors will of-
software program. They are commonly associated with ten be black on a white background (rather than white on
warez groups who include them to declare credit of said a black background as seen when viewing in MS-DOS or
release. Similarly they are often found in demoscene pro- Unix console), thus making some of the art appear to be
ductions, where the respective groups include them for "inverse", like a film negative.
credits, contact details, and the software requirements.[2]
NFO files were common, and sometimes required,
during the era of the BBS. A typical warez NFO file was
Canonical origins
elaborate and highly decorated, and usually included a NFO files were first introduced by "Fabulous Furlough" of
large ASCII art logo along with software release and the PC organization The Humble Guys, or THG.[4][5] Such
warez group information. The designers of these NFO organizations are also known as warez groups or crack
files frequently incorporated extended ASCII characters groups. The first use came in 1989 on the THG release
of the PC game Bubble Bobble. This file was used in lieu
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .nfo
of the more common README.TXT or README.1ST file "Remove mimetype installation files and use the
names.[4] The perpetuation of this file extension legacy new ’text/x-nfo’ mimetype added with
was carried on by warez groups which followed after THG freedesktop.org’s shared-mime-info 0.30"
and is still in use to this day. Hence its strong presence [2] ^ "Defacto2 - Scene Documents, text and NFO files".
on Usenet newsgroups that carry binaries and on P2P file http://www.defacto2.net/documents.cfm.
trading networks. [3] "NFO Viewer". http://home.gna.org/nfoview/.
The Humble Guys later became a demogroup,[6] thus "NFO Viewer is a simple viewer for NFO files, which
bringing the .nfo file tradition into the demoscene. are "ASCII" art in the CP437 codepage. The
advantages of using NFO Viewer instead of a text
File association editor are preset font and encoding settings,
automatic window size and clickable hyperlinks."
On Microsoft Windows, the NFO filename extension is as- [4] ^ Garrett, Ben (2004-04-27). "Online Software
sociated with a Microsoft software tool called System In- Piracy of the Last Millennium" (pdf). defacto2.net.
formation (msinfo32.exe).[7] System Information provides http://www.defacto2.net/documents.cfm?id=183.
a general overview of a computer’s system specifications [5] "NFO files by THG". http://www.textfiles.com/
as well as detailed information on the system’s hardware piracy/HUMBLE/. Evidence of the very first NFO
components. It even includes information about the Win- files by The Humble Guys.
dows environment. NFO files that are meant for System [6] "Demo’s from The Humble Guys".
Information simply contain all of the information that http://www.pouet.net/groups.php?which=1673.
System Information displays and are saved in an XML [7] ".NFO File Extension". http://www.fileinfo.com/
format. extension/nfo. "Windows may unsuccessfully
attempt to use the Microsoft Help program in
See also order to open the file; instead open the file directly
with a text editor."
• README
• FILE ID.DIZ
• The iSONEWS External links
• NFO Uploader and Viewer
References • List of NFO utilities
[1] "NFO Viewer". NEWS file. http://gitorious.org/
nfoview/mainline/blobs/raw/master/NEWS.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=.nfo&oldid=465444735"
Categories:
• ASCII art
• Warez
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