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VCS (.vcs)

.vcs file signature | text/x-vcalendar

VCS (vCalendar) is a text-based calendar interchange format created by the Internet Mail Consortium and maintained through the vCalendar and related calendaring specifications. It is used for sharing appointments, meetings, and other scheduling data between email clients, personal information managers, and calendar applications. The format is largely superseded by iCalendar, but it remains supported by some legacy software; as plain text, it generally poses limited security risk when opened in trusted applications.

Safe

Magic Bytes

Offset 0
42 45 47 49 4E 3A 56 43 41 4C 45 4E 44 41 52

Sources: Apache Tika

Extension

.vcs

MIME Type

text/x-vcalendar

Byte Offset

0

Risk Level

Safe

Validation Code

How to validate .vcs files in Python

Python 
def is_vcs(file_path: str) -> bool:
    """Check if file is a valid VCS by magic bytes."""
    signature = bytes([0x42, 0x45, 0x47, 0x49, 0x4E, 0x3A, 0x56, 0x43, 0x41, 0x4C, 0x45, 0x4E, 0x44, 0x41, 0x52])
    with open(file_path, "rb") as f:
        return f.read(15) == signature

How to validate .vcs files in Node.js

Node.js 
function isVCS(buffer: Buffer): boolean {
  const signature = Buffer.from([0x42, 0x45, 0x47, 0x49, 0x4E, 0x3A, 0x56, 0x43, 0x41, 0x4C, 0x45, 0x4E, 0x44, 0x41, 0x52]);
  return buffer.subarray(0, 15).equals(signature);
}

How to validate .vcs files in Go

Go 
func IsVCS(data []byte) bool {
    signature := []byte{0x42, 0x45, 0x47, 0x49, 0x4E, 0x3A, 0x56, 0x43, 0x41, 0x4C, 0x45, 0x4E, 0x44, 0x41, 0x52}
    if len(data) < 15 {
        return false
    }
    return bytes.Equal(data[:15], signature)
}

API Endpoint

GET /api/v1/vcs
curl https://filesignature.org/api/v1/vcs

See the full API documentation for all endpoints and parameters.

Related Formats

.ics .ifb .vcf

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a .vcs file?

A .vcs file is identified by the magic bytes 42 45 47 49 4E 3A 56 43 41 4C 45 4E 44 41 52 at byte offset 0. VCS (vCalendar) is a text-based calendar interchange format created by the Internet Mail Consortium and maintained through the vCalendar and related calendaring specifications. It is used for sharing appointments, meetings, and other scheduling data between email clients, personal information managers, and calendar applications. The format is largely superseded by iCalendar, but it remains supported by some legacy software; as plain text, it generally poses limited security risk when opened in trusted applications.

What are the magic bytes for .vcs files?

The magic bytes for VCS files are 42 45 47 49 4E 3A 56 43 41 4C 45 4E 44 41 52 at byte offset 0. These bytes uniquely identify the file format regardless of the file extension.

How do I validate a .vcs file?

To validate a .vcs file, read the first bytes of the file and compare them against the known magic bytes (42 45 47 49 4E 3A 56 43 41 4C 45 4E 44 41 52) at offset 0. This is more reliable than checking the file extension alone, as extensions can be renamed.

What is the MIME type for .vcs files?

The primary MIME type for .vcs files is text/x-vcalendar.

Is it safe to open .vcs files?

VCS (.vcs) files are generally safe to open. They are classified as low risk because they primarily contain data rather than executable code. However, always ensure files come from a trusted source.