AOL history
application/octet-stream
Magic Bytes
Offset: 0
D4 C3 B2 A1
AOL history is a proprietary binary format developed by America Online for its legacy desktop client software. This format functions as a local database for archiving user activity logs, including browsing history and session data within the application environment. Although the format is now obsolete, it remains significant in digital forensics for retrieving historical information from archived installations of the discontinued AOL service and related communication platforms.
Validation Code
How to validate .arl files in Python
Python
def is_arl(file_path: str) -> bool:
"""Check if file is a valid ARL by magic bytes."""
signature = bytes([0xD4, 0xC3, 0xB2, 0xA1])
with open(file_path, "rb") as f:
return f.read(4) == signatureHow to validate .arl files in Node.js
Node.js
function isARL(buffer: Buffer): boolean {
const signature = Buffer.from([0xD4, 0xC3, 0xB2, 0xA1]);
return buffer.subarray(0, 4).equals(signature);
}
Go
func IsARL(data []byte) bool {
signature := []byte{0xD4, 0xC3, 0xB2, 0xA1}
if len(data) < 4 {
return false
}
return bytes.Equal(data[:4], signature)
}API Endpoint
GET
/api/v1/arl
curl https://filesignature.org/api/v1/arl