XLT

application/vnd.ms-excel

Safe

Magic Bytes

Offset: 2080
4D 69 63 72 6F 73 6F 66 74 20 45 78 63 65 6C 20 35 2E 30 20 57 6F 72 6B 73 68 65 65 74

XLT is a legacy template file format developed by Microsoft for its Excel spreadsheet software based on the Binary Interchange File Format. It is primarily utilized to store predefined layouts, formulas, and formatting settings that serve as a foundation for generating new workbooks consistently. While largely superseded by the modern XML-based XLTX extension, these files remain functional in contemporary applications but may carry macros that necessitate security scrutiny before execution.

Extension

.xlt

MIME Type

application/vnd.ms-excel

Byte Offset

2080

Risk Level

Safe

Validation Code

How to validate .xlt files in Python

Python
def is_xlt(file_path: str) -> bool:
    """
    Check if file is a valid XLT by magic bytes.
    Signature offset: 2080 bytes
    """
    signature = bytes([0x4D, 0x69, 0x63, 0x72, 0x6F, 0x73, 0x6F, 0x66, 0x74, 0x20, 0x45, 0x78, 0x63, 0x65, 0x6C, 0x20, 0x35, 0x2E, 0x30, 0x20, 0x57, 0x6F, 0x72, 0x6B, 0x73, 0x68, 0x65, 0x65, 0x74])
    with open(file_path, "rb") as f:
        f.seek(2080)
        return f.read(29) == signature

How to validate .xlt files in Node.js

Node.js
function isXLT(buffer: Buffer): boolean {
  // Signature offset: 2080 bytes
  const signature = Buffer.from([0x4D, 0x69, 0x63, 0x72, 0x6F, 0x73, 0x6F, 0x66, 0x74, 0x20, 0x45, 0x78, 0x63, 0x65, 0x6C, 0x20, 0x35, 0x2E, 0x30, 0x20, 0x57, 0x6F, 0x72, 0x6B, 0x73, 0x68, 0x65, 0x65, 0x74]);
  if (buffer.length < 2109) return false;
  return buffer.subarray(2080, 2109).equals(signature);
}
Go
func IsXLT(data []byte) bool {
    // Signature offset: 2080 bytes
    signature := []byte{0x4D, 0x69, 0x63, 0x72, 0x6F, 0x73, 0x6F, 0x66, 0x74, 0x20, 0x45, 0x78, 0x63, 0x65, 0x6C, 0x20, 0x35, 0x2E, 0x30, 0x20, 0x57, 0x6F, 0x72, 0x6B, 0x73, 0x68, 0x65, 0x65, 0x74}
    if len(data) < 2109 {
        return false
    }
    return bytes.Equal(data[2080:2109], signature)
}

API Endpoint

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

Related Formats