The hex file format, short for “hexadecimal” or “base-16”, is the raw data structure followed by all files stored on your computer. Although literally every document is stored in this format, it is almost impossible to find it on a PC. While not everyone knows that being able to directly modify raw bits and bytes on a PC can sometimes be very useful.
What does the HEX extension stand for
The number system that people use for counting is called decimal (numbers from 0 to 9), and was invented by the Persians about 6,000 years ago. In the 1950s or 1960s, IBM formalized the hexadecimal number system, which is a short way to represent binary data. Instead of using the digits 0-9, the hexadecimal number uses the digits 0 through F. When you reach the end of the numeric “digits”, you simply increment the number to the left by one, just like you do with decimal numbers.
HEX files have the same properties as binaries. All bytes are placed one after the other. No address information or checksums are added. The only difference with the binary format is that each byte is converted to 2 ASCII characters in the range 0-9 and AF representing 2 hexadecimal digits. These characters are grouped by line. The pair number in a string can usually range from 1 to 255, with 16 or 32 pairs being the most common length. Each line ends with a CR (ASCII value $ 0D) or CRLF (ASCII) pair. To work with such documents, a special hex-file editor program is required. It will display all the information in a convenient form and allow you to perceive and change it quite comfortably.
How to open a HEX file
Not everyone is a programmer, and sometimes an ordinary person may need to open a file with the HEX extension to view some information in it. In fact, for such a simple task, an ordinary Notepad is quite enough – a standard application that is available in any Windows system. After all, this file, in fact, is a text file, it just contains specific information, but with ordinary symbols.
To do this, just right-click on the file, select “Open” or “Open with” from the menu, then “Select from the list of installed programs”, and then simply select the standard Notepad. Uncheck the box “Use the selected program for all files of this type” – suddenly you will open it later with another program. You can just open Notepad, drag the file into it, and it will open.
Another version of Notepad, Notepad ++, is much more convenient for opening such files. You can download it at this link . Many also have this program, as it is more convenient. But it can also recognize many programming languages and HEX files in it look much more convenient, since there is a highlighting in color. Notepad ++ is like a primitive HEX editor, and you can use it completely freely.
This is what a HEX file looks like when opened in Notepad ++. In standard Notepad the same, but without color.
And now let’s take a closer look at what you may need to open, and even more so change files with hexadecimal content. By the way, if you are going to do this often, then it is better to download and install a special HEX editor – there are quite a lot of them on the Internet. Some of them are discussed in more detail below.
Hacking games and files
A popular reason why you can use a hexadecimal editor is game hacking. You can upload a save game document and change the amount of money, for example, from $ 1,000 to $ 1,000,000 In later games, things are much more complicated. Many modern gamesuse either compression or encryption, which makes it many times difficult to decompile save or game state. However, some games still allow you to edit certain variables, such as Sonic Spinball. In addition to viewing the game files, you can sometimes extract other important information from the saved file that you would not otherwise have access to. It depends a lot on the type of file and what information you are looking for, but using a hex editor is useful for determining what exactly is in the document.
Debugging and Editing
Finally, another popular reason why you might want to use a hex editor is if you are a programmer and need to debug your code. Rather than going back to recompiling your code, you might need to do a simple hex edit to validate the template. But first, be sure to make sure you have a backup before modifying any files with a hex editor.
Which hex editors to use
Hexadecimal editor is software used to view and edit binary files. A binary document is a document that contains data in a machine-readable form. HEX editors allow you to modify the content of a file’s raw data Because a hex editor is used to edit binaries, they are sometimes referred to as a binary editor or binary editor. If you open a documentusing the hexadecimal editor, a message appears stating that the document is being edited in hexadecimal format, and the process of using the hexadecimal editor is called hexadecimal editing. Hexadecimal editors are different from regular text-based functions. The core of the hex editor is that they display the raw content of the file. No coding or translation to text – just raw machine code. Second, the line numbers are instead the offset address from the beginning of the file. We’ve handpicked some of the best free software for viewing and editing HEX documents.
HxD
HxD is a free hexadecimal editor that can open and modify computer code. It is a very powerful utility in the right hands that can check, compare and diagnose files, disks, disk images, memory and logs, as well as fix errors and restore disk structure.
Benefits:
- Really Big Data – The latest version of HxD handles large datasets. If it fits on disk, HxD will be able to open it.
- Standard Options – HxD contains many useful extras such as a checksum generator, support for multiple character sets, a RAM editor, file shredder, split and merge, unlimited undo and a portable version.
- Data export – the program exports data to source code (C, C #, Java, Pascal and VB.NET) or in hexadecimal formats.
Disadvantages:
- Not for the inexperienced user, but it’s not a disadvantage. The program is aimed at advanced users.
DeltaHex Editor
One of the best hex editors based on the deltahex library. Use the Open As Hexadecimal action from the main File menu or the context menu of project files.
Specifications:
- Display data as hexadecimal code, preview text.
- “Paste” and “Overwrite” editing modes.
- Selection and clipboard support .
- Undo / redo.
- Choice of encoding.
- Display non-printable characters.
- Codes can also be binary, octal, or decimal.
- Search for text / hexadecimal code with matching highlighting.
- Delta mode – changes are only saved in memory until they are saved.
- Support for huge files.
Free Hex Editor Neo
Free Hex Editor Neo is the fastest free binary editor for the Windows platform. Neo Hex Editor’s data processing algorithms are extremely optimized and carefully tuned to handle large file operations.
Program characteristics:
- Unlimited Undo / Redo.
- Edit, Copy, Cut, Paste, Delete, Fill, Import / Export, Insert Template / File, Resize File, Start Offset, Change Bits.
- Search and replacement of templates.
- Bytes, words, double words, grouping of four words.
- Hexadecimal, Decimal, Octal, Binary, etc. data presentation.
- Changing file attributes.
- Analysis of clipboard data.
- Creation of binary patches, search / replacement of regular expressions.
- Multilingual interface.
Utility functions and capabilities:
- Statistics and Hexadecimal Analyzer – Binary Data Analysis Module allows you to analyze the distribution of bytes, characters, and strings across hex dumps and text data. The Neo Binary File Analyzer supports the following types of patterns: ASCII / Unicode character and string patterns, Hex, Decimal, Octal, Binary, Float, Double, and RegEx (Regular Expression) data patterns.
- Graphical representation of analyzed data in user interface Neo – software supports heat map and visualization of histogram data. You can also parse a binary document in the form of descriptive statistics: mean, sample variance, standard deviation, standard error, kurtosis, skewness, median, range, minimum, maximum, sum, etc.
- File Comparison – Neo is an advanced hex comparison tool. The built-in hex editor allows you to compare 2 hex files using two different comparison algorithms: simple (byte to byte) and difference (block matching).
- RAM Editor – Process Modifier allows you to edit memory and process data loaded into the PC’s RAM by the operating system. RAM Explorer provides the ability to easily view loaded processes and jump to specific offsets. You can then access and edit these data blocks directly in the hexadecimal editor window. Thus, Hex Editor Neo provides the ability to view and edit the data of binary programs directly in RAM.
- Disassembler – the program also allows you to parse x86, x64 and .NET executables. Neo Assembler View supports the following instruction sets: x86, x86-64, MMX, SSE, SSE2, 3DNow !, MSIL. You can download symbol files for both 32-bit and 64-bit executables. Neo is just the perfect dll / exe editor!
- Binary templates / structure editor – the program supports parsing of the internal structure of the following files: exe, dll, sys, ocx, bmp, png, avi, rar, icc, vhd, zip, tiff, wav, tga, psd, pic, pcx, pal , emf EPS.
- Structure View Module – Allows customization of binary templates. You can write your own definition of the file structure using an internal language similar to C / C ++ for almost any binary document. For example, if you want to edit data files, you first need to describe the file structure and then bind it to a specific file using a special editor window.
- The File Structure Analyzer makes binary correction much easier than just editing raw hexadecimal bytes. Open, view and edit hex / bin files with ease!
Hex Editor Neo provides basic, advanced and even innovative features. Hexadecimal editing is now available to every novice user!
PSPad
The favorite hexadecimal editor of most programmers. PSPad, besides being an excellent text and code editor, offers an “Open in HEX Editor …” option that launches a special editing mode. When you are in this mode, you can see the location and hexadecimal values of each bit in the file. You have two options for adjusting – you can edit hex values by location, or on the right you have an alphanumeric representation of that value that you can edit as well.
XVI32
XVI32 is also a very capable hex editor. As with PSPad, you can edit hexadecimal values directly or through character display. It also has several advanced hex editing tools, such as an address calculator to check offsets and other hex specific parameters that can help you bypass a hexadecimal document. If you, of course, know what you are doing.
Knowing how your PC works is becoming more and more important as technology becomes easier and easier to use. If you have any questions regarding editing hex files, please leave a comment under this article.
