PAX password protected bitmap
application/octet-stream
Magic Bytes
Offset: 0
50 44 4E 33
The PAX password protected bitmap is an encrypted raster image format developed by security software developers for the secure storage and exchange of visual data. It is primarily utilized for protecting sensitive graphical information, requiring a password to decrypt and render the underlying pixel data in compatible viewing applications. While now considered a legacy format, it highlights early efforts at implementing file-level encryption for images; however, modern workflows typically utilize secure containers or encrypted archives instead.
Validation Code
How to validate .pax files in Python
Python
def is_pax(file_path: str) -> bool:
"""Check if file is a valid PAX by magic bytes."""
signature = bytes([0x50, 0x44, 0x4E, 0x33])
with open(file_path, "rb") as f:
return f.read(4) == signatureHow to validate .pax files in Node.js
Node.js
function isPAX(buffer: Buffer): boolean {
const signature = Buffer.from([0x50, 0x44, 0x4E, 0x33]);
return buffer.subarray(0, 4).equals(signature);
}
Go
func IsPAX(data []byte) bool {
signature := []byte{0x50, 0x44, 0x4E, 0x33}
if len(data) < 4 {
return false
}
return bytes.Equal(data[:4], signature)
}API Endpoint
GET
/api/v1/pax
curl https://filesignature.org/api/v1/pax