PRONOM_Research
PRONOM_Research copied to clipboard
digital-preservation
New format: LabView Virtual Instrument File Format 3.0
Format name
LabVIEW Virtual Instrument
Version number
3.0
(Version 3.0 was introduced in 2021, and corresponds to most of the Virtual Instrument files currently produced. Prior versions exist and might need to be documented later.)
Extensions
.vi (VI) .vim (VI malleable) .vit (VI template)
MIME/Media Type
None
Description
LabVIEW Virtual Instrument is a proprietary format that stores the core building blocks of the LabVIEW software developed and maintained by the National Instruments company. It describes processes chaining together virtual instruments that reproduce the behavior of a physical traditional instrument (oscilloscope, multimeter, etc.). The format describes both a "front panel" - the GUI that displays controls, inputs and outputs and lets the user define the data flow according to a graphical programming language - and a "block diagram", which is the source code of the file.
Some VI files can be distributed as templates and can be identified by their extension .vit.
Format type
None suitable - the format stores source code and a graphical view of it.
Vendor
File format identification signatures
The signature is strong and straightforward: from BOF, at offset 0:
- "RSRC" (0x52 0x53 0x52 0x43)
- \r\n (0x0D 0x0A)
- a version number on two bytes little-endian (first byte = minor version, second byte = major version) (here 0x00 0x03)
- "LVIN" for "LabVIEW Instrument" (0x4C 0x56 0x49 0x4E)
- "LBVW" for "LabVIEW" as the producer (0x4C 0x42 0x56 0x57)
See my attempt at building a custom signature here.
Relevant links, documentation, extra information
Information is taken from the following sources, that make attempts at reverse engineering the file format::
The exact same signature is defined in those two registries:
The LabVIEW tool is creating files in many other formats, but this is the one that is most likely to be found in data submitted to a repository. Some additional investigation could be made to add other entries (other VI versions, other formats like LabVIEW projects, LabVIEW measurements, etc.)
Credit
Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB)
