Unified Emulator Format
| Filename extension |
.uef |
|---|---|
| Internet media type |
application/octet-stream |
| Magic number | UEF File! |
| Developed by | Thomas Harte |
| Initial release | before 10 August 2000 |
| Latest release | 0.10 draft 28 10 January 2006 |
| Type of format | Computer emulation |
| Container for | 8-bit computer data |
| Website | http://electrem.emuunlim.com/UEFSpecs.html |
Unified Emulator Format (UEF) is a container format for the compressed storage of audio tapes, ROMs, floppy discs and machine state snapshots for the 8-bit range of computers manufactured by Acorn Computers. First implemented by Thomas Harte's ElectrEm emulator and related tools, it is now supported by major emulators of Acorn machines and carried by two online archives of Acorn software numbering thousands of titles.
UEF attempts to concisely reproduce media borne signals rather than simply the data represented by them, the intention being an accurate archive of original media rather than merely a capability to reproduce files stored on them. A selection of metadata can be included, such as compatibility ratings, position markers, images of packaging and the text of instruction manuals.
The Acorn machines implement the Kansas City standard (KCS) for tape data encoding and as a result the file format is suitable for creating backups of original media for several non-Acorn machines. As of version 0.10 the file format carries BASICODE signals as well.
TZX is a chunked format with similar scope for the ZX Spectrum series.