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FAQs Index > .TAP file format details

TAP file format.


A TAP file is simply a series of data chunks.

Each chunk is preceded by a 2 byte value indicating the contained data size in bytes
(not counting this 2 bytes).

data1 size data1
chunk 1
data2 size data2
chunk 2
data3 size data3
chunk 3		 etc ..

A Jupiter Ace tape file is represented in a TAP file using two of those chunks.

26 = header block size + 1 header block and it's checksum
Header chunk
data block size + 1 data block and it's checksum
Data chunk

The first chunk contains the Header Block and it's Checksum byte.
The second chunk contains the Data Block and it's Checksum byte.

Note: The TAP files does not contain the preceding Block Type byte as in the original tape file format.

More then one Jupiter Ace tape files can be joined in only one TAP file by just concatenating them.

File 1 Header chunk File 1 Data chunk File 2 Header chunk File 2 Data chunk etc ..

The TAP format can be used with the ACE32 emulator.

The VACE and XACE emulators also uses the TAP format but with different extensions:
  • Extension .DIC for dictionary (Dict) files and
  • Extension .BYT for binary (Bytes) files.
VACE/XACE also does not understand the file concatenation method mentioned above and the file name must be the same as the original tape file.