olefile is a Python package to parse, read and write Microsoft OLE2 files (also called Structured Storage, Compound File Binary Format or Compound Document File Format), such as Microsoft Office 97-2003 documents, vbaProject.bin in MS Office 2007+ files, Image Composer and FlashPix files, Outlook messages, StickyNotes, several Microscopy file formats, McAfee antivirus quarantine files, etc.
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If you have pip or setuptools installed (pip is included in Python 2.7.9+), you may simply run pip install olefile or easy_install olefile for the first installation.
To update olefile, run pip install -U olefile.
Otherwise, see https://bitbucket.org/decalage/olefileio_pl/wiki/Install
olefile can be used as an independent package or with PIL/Pillow.
olefile is mostly meant for developers. If you are looking for tools to analyze OLE files or to extract data (especially for security purposes such as malware analysis and forensics), then please also check my python-oletools, which are built upon olefile and provide a higher-level interface.
olefile is based on the OleFileIO module from PIL, the excellent Python Imaging Library, created and maintained by Fredrik Lundh. The olefile API is still compatible with PIL, but since 2005 I have improved the internal implementation significantly, with new features, bugfixes and a more robust design. From 2005 to 2014 the project was called OleFileIO_PL, and in 2014 I changed its name to olefile to celebrate its 9 years and its new write features.
As far as I know, olefile is the most complete and robust Python implementation to read MS OLE2 files, portable on several operating systems. (please tell me if you know other similar Python modules)
Since 2014 olefile/OleFileIO_PL has been integrated into Pillow, the friendly fork of PIL. olefile will continue to be improved as a separate project, and new versions will be merged into Pillow regularly.
Please see the online documentation for more information, especially the OLE overview and the API page which describe how to use olefile in Python applications. A copy of the same documentation is also provided in the doc subfolder of the olefile package.
A real-life example: using OleFileIO_PL for malware analysis and forensics.
See also this paper about python tools for forensics, which features olefile.
olefile (formerly OleFileIO_PL) is copyright (c) 2005-2015 Philippe Lagadec (http://www.decalage.info)
All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
olefile is based on source code from the OleFileIO module of the Python Imaging Library (PIL) published by Fredrik Lundh under the following license:
The Python Imaging Library (PIL) is
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