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Format

Hypertext Markup Language

Summary

Name
Hypertext Markup Language
Identifiers
  • PUID: fmt/96
  • Apple Uniform Type Identifier: public.html
  • MIME: text/html
Format type
Text (Mark-up)
Disclosure
None
Description
The HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is a markup language designed for the rendering of information via a web browser. It was originally defined as a highly simplified subset of SGML, but is now an international standard, and is maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). A HTML document consists of nested elements, each of which may have attributes and content. The notion of a generic HTML format is used here to define HTML documents which pre-date the first formal specification (HTML 2.0), or which otherwise to do not fully conform to any formal specifications.
File extensions
htm, html
Source
Digital Preservation Department / The National Archives

Relationships

Has lower priority than

Internal signatures

HTML pre-2.0 1

Note
Signature for pre-2.0 HTML, or non-valid HTML (no DOCTYPE declaration). EOF character sequence: </(HTML|html|BODY|body)>{0-1024}

Byte sequences

Min Frag Length
Absolute from BOF
Offset
0
Max offset
1024
Byte Sequence
3C(48544D4C|68746D6C)
Endianness
None
Min Frag Length
Absolute from EOF
Offset
0
Max offset
1024
Byte Sequence
3C2F(48544D4C|68746D6C|424F4459|626F6479)3E
Endianness
None

HTML pre 2.0 2

Note
BOF (Max offset 2084: <.(H.T.M.L.|h.t.m.l.) EOF: {0-2048} <./.(H.T.M.L.|h.t.m.l|B.O.D.Y.|b.o.d.y.)>.

Byte sequences

Min Frag Length
Absolute from BOF
Offset
0
Max offset
2048
Byte Sequence
3C00(480054004D004C00|680074006D006C00)
Endianness
None
Min Frag Length
Absolute from EOF
Offset
0
Max offset
2048
Byte Sequence
3C002F00(480054004D004C00|680074006D006C00|42004F0044005900|62006F0064007900)3E00
Endianness
None

Changelog

  • Updated in V75

    Release date
    17 July 2014

    Hypertext Markup Language: Added an additional signature sequence.

  • Updated in V49

    Release date
    5 April 2011

    Hypertext Markup Language: Priority information changed to avoid potential clash with Cascading Style Sheet identification.

  • Updated in V38

    Release date
    1 August 2010

    Hyptertext Markup Language - Pre 2.0: Signature update as part of DROID 5.0 research to improve identification accuracy