File extensions

Question

I am trying to open a file with file extension '.lib' (open file library) and (.dll) but i dont know what program application to open it with. any advice?

Thanks

Answer 1

A .lib file is not meant to be opened interactively, neither is a .dll

They are both "library" files which means that they are to be imported into an application that you are coding yourself and utilised there.

The method for doing that depends entirely on what language/toolset you are using to develop.

Answer 2

That depends on what you want to do with it. Microsoft provides a tool called depends.exe (Google it) that opens DLLs and shows you a bunch of interesting stuff about them. Visual Studio comes with a command-line utility called dumpbin that lets you poke around inside .lib and .dll files. There are tons of other tools, depending on what you are trying to do.

Answer 3

LIB files could be used by the linker to link it to get EXE or DLL. DLL files are used by EXE files to invoke additional functions from them.

Additionally you can use Dependency Walker to view which functions are exported from the DLL.

Answer 4

Those are usually compiled binary files. Not typically human readable, however if you really want a look inside the files, you are going to need a HEX editor. There are several free ones out there, just search google.

Answer 5

RedGate Reflector (formerly Lutz Reflector) will let you look inside the dll and also decompile and view the source.