I have a .psf file, and need to read it. It’s not life or death, but I’m seriously curious what created this file.
Clues:
Google has little to offer. PSF, and various search terms in the file header return no useful information.
http://wotsit.org says PSF is a Palette Storage format. This file does not appear to match that format format.
Some sites list this as a PostScript file, and in fact the sender said they somehow printed it to disk. It’s not a PostScript file.
It’s not a JPEG, EPS, PDF. Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator, Internet Exploder 6.0.2, Word (97), all want nothing to do with it. Photoshop Elements (of all things) thinks .PSF is a ‘proof’ file, but doesn’t open this file.
The file header (see below) contains interesting clues:
The ‘FSPA’ starter.
The ‘layer 10’ entry at 0x249
The JFIF header starting at 0x267
The JFIF header is especially interesting – the balance of the file (~2MB) appears to be an array of JPEGs; if I truncate the file at the first JFIF header, I can open that portion as a JPEG (which appears to be a brown square). My guess is that the rest of the header is probably a description of the location and placement of a bunch JPEGs.
Does anybody know what created this file?
Thanks very much for any help.
Here’s the file header:
00000000:46 53 50 41 03 00 00 00 72 06 00 00 FB 04 00 00 FSPA....r...{...
00000010:18 00 00 00 12 17 00 00 12 17 00 00 0B 00 00 00 ................
00000020:00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
00000030:30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 02 00 00 02 00 00 00 0.......@.......
00000040:20 03 00 00 6C 02 00 00 64 00 00 00 58 02 00 00 ...l...d...X...
00000050:10 05 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
00000060:30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 A0 09 00 00 02 00 00 00 0....... .......
00000070:45 03 00 00 E9 02 00 00 64 00 00 00 B0 09 00 00 E...i...d...0...
00000080:68 0C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 h...............
00000090:30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 F8 10 00 00 02 00 00 00 0.......x.......
000000A0:00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 64 00 00 00 08 11 00 00 ........d.......
000000B0:80 49 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .I..............
000000C0:30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 78 9D 03 00 02 00 00 00 0.......x.......
000000D0:00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 64 00 00 00 88 9D 03 00 ........d.......
000000E0:00 D6 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .V..............
000000F0:30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 F8 29 07 00 02 00 00 00 0.......x)......
00000100:00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 64 00 00 00 08 2A 07 00 ........d....*..
00000110:80 62 0A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .b..............
00000120:30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 78 B6 0A 00 02 00 00 00 0.......x6......
00000130:00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 64 00 00 00 88 B6 0A 00 ........d....6..
00000140:00 EF 0D 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .o..............
00000150:30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 F8 42 0E 00 02 00 00 00 0.......xB......
00000160:00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 64 00 00 00 08 43 0E 00 ........d....C..
00000170:80 7B 11 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .{..............
00000180:30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 78 CF 11 00 02 00 00 00 0.......xO......
00000190:00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 64 00 00 00 88 CF 11 00 ........d....O..
000001A0:00 08 15 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
000001B0:30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 F8 5B 15 00 02 00 00 00 0.......x[......
000001C0:00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 64 00 00 00 08 5C 15 00 ........d....\..
000001D0:80 94 18 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
000001E0:30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 78 E8 18 00 02 00 00 00 0.......xh......
000001F0:00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 64 00 00 00 88 E8 18 00 ........d....h..
00000200:00 21 1C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .!..............
00000210:30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 F8 74 1C 00 02 00 00 00 0.......xt......
00000220:00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 64 00 00 00 08 75 1C 00 ........d....u..
00000230:80 AD 1F 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .-..............
00000240:09 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 6C 61 79 65 72 2D 31 30 ........layer-10
00000250:00 00 00 0B 00 19 00 32 10 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 .......2........
00000260:00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 FF D8 FF E0 00 10 4A 46 .........X.`..JF
00000270:49 46 00 01 01 01 00 96 00 96 00 00 FF DB 00 43 IF...........[.C
Berkut
January 27, 2003, 5:19am
2
Probably a Microsoft “Picture it!” slideshow.
Q.E.D
January 27, 2003, 5:26am
3
I found:
.psf Outline PostScript printer font (ChiWriter)
And this site concurs.
Berkut
January 27, 2003, 5:30am
4
He said in the OP that he already knew it wasn’t a PostScript file.
Here is a link to an evaluation copy of Picture It.
http://home.earthlink.net/~richardtan/picturit.htm
I haven’t used it myself, so good luck.
Yes, it’s not Postscript. Postscript files are text and begin with (or contain near the beginning) the string “%!PS-Adobe”
Joey G : thanks for the PictureIt! links; the download links are busted right now (connexion appears to be down, at least from my ISP), I’ll try again later.
Hmmm, according to this , the PictureIt! downloads were available from the Win98 ‘samples’ CD. Darned if I can find an online source for them. The links here appear to be dead.
astro
January 27, 2003, 7:12am
8
[;pic#faq559"] Full install of latest version here](http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH; [LN)
Someone should have pislide.exe on their PC for you though.
Slide Show without Picture It!
astro
January 27, 2003, 7:21am
9
BTW some have had success renaming the .psf file extension to .jpg or .jpeg and letting your image reader extract the bundled jpg header info. Does not work with all programs however.
Astro -
You rock!, and thanks large for the links.
Unfortunately, I don’t want to pay for PI just to read one file. There doesn’t seem to be a free reader [;pic#faq559"]where you’d recommended](http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH; [LN), and your PISLIDE link seems to contain no download target.
And renaming to JPEG didn’t work in several programs (looking at the header I can see why – the JFIF is offset quite a ways).
Hmmm, the gods seem not to view my reading this file in an aspicious manner.
I guess I’ll ask around and see if any Win98 folk have PictureIt! acne on thier machines.
Berkut
January 27, 2003, 7:40am
11
Is there a download link in there somewhere? I couldn’t find it. The “Get Latest Version” takes you to an ordering page.
I think I may have a PC at work with PISLIDE.EXE on it. If so, I will email it to you. It’s freely distributable.
Joey G , thanks, that’s awfully nice of you to offer to send it to me. Please post here if you have it available – our profiles both have no e-mail address, so we’ll need to find some way to exchange info. Thanks in advance.
Q.E.D
January 27, 2003, 3:06pm
13
You can download pislide.exe here.
This one works, I just tested it.
Q.E.D : thanks for finding a download site! (MS doesn’t have pislide.exe on thier web site, but it can be had from a realty website. Go figure).
Aaaannnd …I tried it, and pislide can’t open this file. So it appears to not be a PictureIt! slide show file, dagnabbit.
Oh well, thanks for trying folks!
Cubsfan
January 27, 2003, 3:55pm
15
Doesnt PSPICE generate .psf files? I think it does.
Q.E.D
January 27, 2003, 4:05pm
16
I still think it’s a postcript font file. I can’t seem to find one to look at the file header for comparison though.
Q.E.D
January 27, 2003, 4:25pm
17
It might. I have Orcad PSpice, and it’s wonderful. let me go look…
Nope…no .psf files there
Postscript is usually .eps or .ai. It’s text and contains rasterizing commands for a command interpreter. Here’s an example snippet:
%!PS-Adobe-3.0
%%Creator: Adobe Illustrator(r) 6.0.1
%%Title: Sample file
%%CreationDate: (6/10/97) (3:14 PM)
%%BoundingBox: 195 348 408 437
%%HiResBoundingBox: 195.3943 348.6904 407.998 436.874
%%DocumentProcessColors: Black
%%DocumentNeededResources: procset Adobe_level2_AI5 1.0 0
%%+ procset Adobe_Illustrator_AI6_vars Adobe_Illustrator_AI6
%%+ procset Adobe_Illustrator_AI5 1.0 0
%AI5_FileFormat 2.1
%AI3_ColorUsage: Black&White
%%AI6_ColorSeparationSet: 1 1 (AI6 Default Color Separation Set)
...etc.
It’s not postscript. The array of JFIFs is also a negative indicator.
Additional info: a postscript file generated for a printer is sometimes saved as “.ps”
Here’s a .ps I found on the web:
%!PS-Adobe-2.0
%%Creator: dvipsk 5.58f Copyright 1986, 1994 Radical Eye Software
%%Title: intro.dvi
%%Pages: 33
%%PageOrder: Ascend
%%BoundingBox: 0 0 596 842
%%DocumentPaperSizes: A4
%%EndComments
%DVIPSCommandLine: dvips -o intro.ps intro
%DVIPSParameters: dpi=600, comments removed
%DVIPSSource: TeX output 1999.09.08:1015
%%BeginProcSet: tex.pro
/TeXDict 250 dict def TeXDict begin /N{def}def /B{bind def}N /S{exch}N
...etc
