Adobe Acrobat Capture

November 17, 2023 by Thor 1 Comment

During the recent PRONOM Research Week, I noticed a file format with no description and no signature.

All I had to go on was it was an Adobe format and the acronym “ACD”. One of the first results that came up in a google search was a post in the Adobe forums with someone asking what to do with some old ACD and ACI files they found on a disc, circa 2000, labeled “Adobe Capture”. The only thing I remember about Adobe Capture was some scanning tools related to Adobe Acrobat, but I didn’t remember coming across any ACD files related to Acrobat.

Initially it wasn’t easy to find more information on this format. Eventually I was able to narrow it down to stand-alone software adobe released called “Adobe Acrobat Capture”. Originally released in 1995 it was eventually discontinued in 2010. The software was marketed under the ePaper name and connected to Acrobat through the creation of a PDF from scanned images. The software was compatible with many scanner models and would process the scanned images, run Optical Character recognition, and export to a searchable PDF. These tools are built into Adobe Acrobat today.

One of the reasons the software was being so elusive is the fact it was sold with a high price tag and required the use of a hardware key, or dongle, in order to process scans. The hardware key also managed the type of license you purchased which may limit the number of pages you are allowed to scan within a certain period of time. So the software is very difficult to run today, if you do happen to find a copy out there in Internet land.

In order to document these file formats for preservation purposes I needed to find some samples. I was excited to find a demonstration CD on the Internet Archive, but unfortunately it contained no examples of the ACD file format.

A little sleuthing on the Wayback Machine helped me find a few user guides and brochures. I was also able to find there was three versions of Adobe Acrobat Capture. In a Product Brochure, you can see a screenshot of the software with a document open with the ACD extension.

If you are OCD like me you might have noticed the window in this screenshot is typical of the older Windows 3.1 or Windows NT system. So this was indeed an older product released by Adobe.

The Adobe Acrobat Capture 3.0 Demonstration CD-ROM from the Internet Archive luckily has a UserGuide PDF on the disc and was able to help me understand the ACD format a little more.

Looks like the ACD format is an intermediate format used by the software to manage the process between scanning and export to PDF. ACD was also defined as an “Acrobat Capture Document” which makes sense. They were also mentioned as being “multipage files in Acrobat Capture Document (ACD)”. The UserGuide also mentioned an ACP format which it referenced as “one-page files are in Acrobat Capture Page (ACP) format.” So more research is needed.

Lets start with Adobe Acrobat Capture 2.0 as I managed to get a few samples from an installer I found. Here is a hexdump of an ACD file and its corresponding ACI file.

hexdump -C CONTRACT.ACD | head
00000000  02 04 47 47 c9 00 86 b5  01 00 b6 27 02 00 01 00  |..GG.......'....|
00000010  f5 00 5e 00 3b 96 02 00  01 6e 63 6a 00 00 88 68  |..^.;....ncj...h|
00000020  00 00 26 00 44 3a 5c 43  4f 44 45 5c 47 47 5c 50  |..&.D:\CODE\GG\P|
00000030  52 4f 44 55 43 54 2e 33  32 53 5c 49 4e 5c 63 6f  |RODUCT.32S\IN\co|
00000040  6e 74 72 61 63 74 2e 61  63 69 00 00 00 00 00 00  |ntract.aci......|
00000050  7c 33 c0 27 00 40 ff ff  ff 00 03 00 03 00 00 00  ||3.'.@..........|
00000060  00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00  00 00 00 00 00 03 00 00  |......@.........|
00000070  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40  00 00 00 00 09 00 0a ab  |.......@........|
00000080  04 0b 14 b5 04 39 19 00  40 00 00 00 00 0c 14 b0  |.....9..@.......|
00000090  04 38 19 b0 04 08 00 0a  7f 06 d3 11 89 06 39 17  |.8............9.|

hexdump -C CONTRACT.ACI | head
00000000  49 49 2a 00 b3 0c 02 00  35 80 78 a0 80 35 c0 78  |II*.....5.x..5.x|
00000010  a4 80 35 40 3c 54 40 01  e2 b2 01 e2 b2 01 e2 b2  |..5@<T@.........|
00000020  01 e2 b2 01 e2 b2 01 e2  b2 01 e2 b2 01 e2 b2 01  |................|
00000030  e2 b2 01 e2 b2 01 e2 b2  01 e2 b2 01 e2 b2 01 e2  |................|
00000040  b2 01 e2 b2 01 e2 b2 01  e2 b2 01 e2 b2 01 e2 b2  |................|
00000050  01 e2 b2 01 e2 b2 01 e2  b2 01 e2 b2 01 e2 b2 01  |................|
00000060  e2 b2 01 e2 b2 01 e2 b2  01 e2 b2 01 e2 b2 01 e2  |................|
00000070  b2 01 e2 b2 01 e2 b2 01  e2 b2 01 e2 b2 01 e2 b2  |................|
00000080  01 e2 b2 01 e0 b0 01 e0  b0 01 e0 b0 01 e0 b0 01  |................|
00000090  e0 b0 01 e0 b0 01 e0 b0  01 e0 b0 01 e0 b0 01 e0  |................|

The ACD file is unique, PRONOM and even TrID was unaware of the format. But to the keen observer, the ACI format is very recognizable. You may have seen this header before:

Lets take a closer look at an ACI file to see if they are a true TIFF image or if there is any customization to the format.

tiffinfo CONTRACT.ACI 
=== TIFF directory 0 ===
TIFF Directory at offset 0x20cb3 (134323)
  Subfile Type: (0 = 0x0)
  Image Width: 2544 Image Length: 3295
  Resolution: 300, 300
  Bits/Sample: 1
  Compression Scheme: CCITT RLE
  Photometric Interpretation: min-is-white
  Samples/Pixel: 1
  Rows/Strip: 32
  Planar Configuration: single image plane
  Software: HALO Desktop Imager

exiftool -D CONTRACT.ACI 
    - ExifTool Version Number         : 12.60
    - File Name                       : CONTRACT.ACI
    - Directory                       : TUTORIAL/SAMPOUT
    - File Size                       : 134 kB
    - File Modification Date/Time     : 1995:07:10 16:02:08-06:00
    - File Access Date/Time           : 2023:11:14 15:41:02-07:00
    - File Inode Change Date/Time     : 2023:11:08 08:34:18-07:00
    - File Permissions                : -rwxrwxrwx
    - File Type                       : TIFF
    - File Type Extension             : tif
    - MIME Type                       : image/tiff
    - Exif Byte Order                 : Little-endian (Intel, II)
  254 Subfile Type                    : Full-resolution image
  256 Image Width                     : 2544
  257 Image Height                    : 3295
  258 Bits Per Sample                 : 1
  259 Compression                     : CCITT 1D
  262 Photometric Interpretation      : WhiteIsZero
  273 Strip Offsets                   : (Binary data 625 bytes, use -b option to extract)
  277 Samples Per Pixel               : 1
  278 Rows Per Strip                  : 32
  279 Strip Byte Counts               : (Binary data 448 bytes, use -b option to extract)
  282 X Resolution                    : 300
  283 Y Resolution                    : 300
  305 Software                        : HALO Desktop Imager
    - Image Size                      : 2544x3295
    - Megapixels                      : 8.4

Looks like a true TIFF image with no special tags or unique properties. They are 1-bit TIFF’s compressed with CCITT RLE. Not sure there would be any need to create a special signature for these ACI files.

Looking closer at the ACD file format, we can see they reference ACI files, so probably safe to assume the ACD file doesn’t contain the full raster data for each image:

hexdump -C Report.acd
00000000  02 04 47 47 c9 00 9a 8b  00 00 d4 ce 00 00 03 00  |..GG............|
00000010  f5 02 5f 00 00 61 01 00  01 6e 63 6a 01 00 30 5f  |.._..a...ncj..0_|
00000020  00 00 27 00 63 3a 5c 63  61 70 74 75 72 65 32 5c  |..'.c:\capture2\|
00000030  73 61 6d 70 6c 65 73 5c  6f 75 74 5c 52 65 70 6f  |samples\out\Repo|
00000040  72 74 5f 30 30 30 31 2e  61 63 69 00 00 01 00 00  |rt_0001.aci.....|
00000050  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 e8 03 00 00 01 00  |................|
00000060  01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 08 00 52 65 70 6f  |............Repo|
00000070  72 74 30 31 00 00 00 00  70 33 d8 27 00 40 ff ff  |rt01....p3.'.@..|
*
00005f40  07 00 40 6f 00 09 00 40  01 6e 63 6a 02 00 52 2c  |..@o...@.ncj..R,|
00005f50  00 00 27 00 63 3a 5c 63  61 70 74 75 72 65 32 5c  |..'.c:\capture2\|
00005f60  73 61 6d 70 6c 65 73 5c  6f 75 74 5c 52 65 70 6f  |samples\out\Repo|
00005f70  72 74 5f 30 30 30 32 2e  61 63 69 00 00 00 00 00  |rt_0002.aci.....|
00005f80  00 00 00 00 4e 0c fe ff  ff ff e8 03 00 00 01 00  |....N...........|
00005f90  01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 08 00 52 65 70 6f  |............Repo|
00005fa0  72 74 30 32 00 00 00 00  4c 31 f0 27 00 40 ff ff  |rt02....L1.'.@..|

From the limited sample set I have access, all the ACD files begin with the same Hex values, “02044747C900”. Along with the common header we can assume there should be at least one ACI file referenced in the first part of the file. Because it is referenced as a filepath, the ACI string would be variable in its offset.

Adobe Acrobat Capture 3.0 turns out to be a different format. But looks familiar………

hexdump -C Contract.acd | head
00000000  50 4b 03 04 14 00 00 00  08 00 3b ba 6e 57 23 9d  |PK........;.nW#.|
00000010  8e b8 3d 00 00 00 3e 00  00 00 09 00 40 00 46 49  |..=...>.....@.FI|
00000020  4c 45 53 2e 4c 53 54 0a  00 20 00 00 00 00 00 00  |LES.LST.. ......|
00000030  00 00 00 80 e6 e9 ca 50  17 da 01 80 e6 e9 ca 50  |.......P.......P|
00000040  17 da 01 80 e6 e9 ca 50  17 da 01 4e 55 18 00 4e  |.......P...NU..N|
00000050  55 43 58 09 00 46 00 49  00 4c 00 45 00 53 00 2e  |UCX..F.I.L.E.S..|
00000060  00 4c 00 53 00 54 00 8b  76 74 76 31 8c e5 e5 f2  |.L.S.T..vtv1....|
00000070  0c 76 f6 f7 0d f0 0f f6  0c 71 b5 0d 09 0a 75 e5  |.v.......q....u.|
00000080  e5 f2 0b f5 75 f3 f4 71  0d b6 35 e4 e5 02 31 fc  |....u..q..5...1.|
00000090  1c 7d 5d 0d 6d 9d f3 f3  4a 8a 12 93 4b f4 12 93  |.}].m...J...K...|

sf Contract.acd 
---
siegfried   : 1.10.1
scandate    : 2023-11-15T09:10:01-07:00
signature   : default.sig
created     : 2023-10-11T15:10:17-06:00
identifiers : 
  - name    : 'pronom'
    details : 'DROID_SignatureFile_V114.xml; container-signature-20230822.xml'
---
filename : 'Contract.acd'
filesize : 79002
modified : 2023-11-14T23:17:53-07:00
errors   : 
matches  :
  - ns      : 'pronom'
    id      : 'x-fmt/263'
    format  : 'ZIP Format'
    version : 
    mime    : 'application/zip'
    basis   : 'byte match at [[0 4] [78886 3] [78980 4]]'
    warning : 'extension mismatch'

Yep, its a zip container file. lets take a peek inside to see what it is composed of.

7z l Contract.acd 
--
Path = Contract.acd
Type = zip
Physical Size = 79002

   Date      Time    Attr         Size   Compressed  Name
------------------- ----- ------------ ------------  ------------------------
2023-11-14 23:17:54 ....A           62           61  FILES.LST
2023-11-14 23:17:54 ....A          410          226  Contract.acd
2023-11-14 23:17:52 ....A       150213        78093  Contract.acp
------------------- ----- ------------ ------------  ------------------------
2023-11-14 23:17:54             150685        78380  3 files

The the Contract ACD file is like a nesting doll, an ACD within an ACD. Lets see what the ACD and ACP is made of.

hexdump -C Contract.acd | head
00000000  00 01 00 00 00 02 04 47  47 2d 01 9a 01 00 00 02  |.......GG-......|
00000010  00 00 00 02 00 01 01 00  00 00 01 00 00 00 04 04  |................|
00000020  00 00 00 09 00 57 69 6e  67 64 69 6e 67 73 05 00  |.....Wingdings..|
00000030  41 72 69 61 6c 0b 00 43  6f 75 72 69 65 72 20 4e  |Arial..Courier N|
00000040  65 77 0f 00 54 69 6d 65  73 20 4e 65 77 20 52 6f  |ew..Times New Ro|
00000050  6d 61 6e 05 01 00 00 00  02 00 00 00 78 01 00 00  |man.........x...|
00000060  0f 00 54 69 6d 65 73 20  4e 65 77 20 52 6f 6d 61  |..Times New Roma|
00000070  6e 00 00 00 20 0b 00 00  c0 0a 00 00 00 00 00 00  |n... ...........|
00000080  00 06 00 00 00 0f 00 54  69 6d 65 73 20 4e 65 77  |.......Times New|
00000090  20 52 6f 6d 61 6e 00 00  00 20 0c 00 00 00 0c 00  | Roman... ......|

hexdump -C Contract.acp | head
00000000  25 50 44 46 2d 31 2e 33  0d 25 e2 e3 cf d3 0d 0a  |%PDF-1.3.%......|
00000010  31 20 30 20 6f 62 6a 0d  3c 3c 20 0d 2f 54 79 70  |1 0 obj.<< ./Typ|
00000020  65 20 2f 43 61 74 61 6c  6f 67 20 0d 2f 50 61 67  |e /Catalog ./Pag|
00000030  65 73 20 32 20 30 20 52  20 0d 2f 53 74 72 75 63  |es 2 0 R ./Struc|
00000040  74 54 72 65 65 52 6f 6f  74 20 34 20 30 20 52 20  |tTreeRoot 4 0 R |
00000050  0d 2f 43 41 50 54 5f 49  6e 66 6f 20 3c 3c 20 2f  |./CAPT_Info << /|
00000060  56 20 33 30 31 20 2f 46  53 20 5b 20 28 57 69 6e  |V 301 /FS [ (Win|
00000070  67 64 69 6e 67 73 29 28  41 72 69 61 6c 29 28 43  |gdings)(Arial)(C|
00000080  6f 75 72 69 65 72 20 4e  65 77 29 28 54 69 6d 65  |ourier New)(Time|
00000090  73 20 4e 65 77 20 52 6f  6d 61 6e 29 5d 20 2f 4c  |s New Roman)] /L|

The ACD has some of the same hex values as the previous version, but with some extra bytes at the beginning and it looks like the ACP is a straight up PDF. But may have some interesting tags, like “CAPT_info”.

The problem we will face when trying to write a signature for this version of ACD is the container signature needs a static file name to reference, and it appears the name of the container is also the name of the ACD file within the container. So every file will be different. I wish there was a way in the PRONOM signature syntax to reference an extension and ignore the filename, but currently there no method to do this. The only thing inside the container which seems to be consistent is the file “FILES.LST”. So lets take a peek inside if it.

hexdump -C FILES.LST | head
00000000  5b 41 43 44 31 5d 0d 0a  49 53 43 4f 4d 50 4f 53  |[ACD1]..ISCOMPOS|
00000010  49 54 45 3d 54 52 55 45  0d 0a 4e 55 4d 46 49 4c  |ITE=TRUE..NUMFIL|
00000020  45 53 3d 31 0d 0a 46 49  4c 45 4e 41 4d 45 31 3d  |ES=1..FILENAME1=|
00000030  43 6f 6e 74 72 61 63 74  2e 61 63 70 0d 0a        |Contract.acp..|

Ok, there seems to be some static information that is unique to the ACD format. I bet the string “[ACD1]” would be sufficient enough to make a solid signature.

This is a good format example of a limited amount of information on the file format used by a well known company which has become obsolete and disappeared. Take a look at my signatures, maybe you have some old ACD files you were unaware of!

Common Ground

October 20, 2023 by Thor 1 Comment

If digital preservation had an extension it most likely would be .DP

Unfortunately, it’s taken. Say hello to Digital Paper.

In the early 1990’s, folks started to share documents with each other through the their phone lines. The early internet, BBS, AOL, CompuServe and the like allowed people to share ideas through applications like Word/WordPerfect Documents. Most people had a copy of the popular software and that software could open documents from their competitors, but fonts were always a problem. Technically a font is software as well and needs a license to be used. Also printers at the time dictated what the document might look like when opened, so your document may look different on someone else’s computer. This lead to a few innovations in the software market Digital Paper.

The idea is simple, create a format which could be opened with a free viewer which includes all the parts to make it look and print just like it was intended to. You may have already guessed who the winner in this space tuned out to be, yes, the PDF format. You can’t tell the history of the PDF Format without mentioning others that tried their luck to be the leader in portable document formats . WordPerfect’s Envoy format was one, Common Ground Digital Paper was another.

No Hands Software which started in 1990, developed the idea of making your documents truly portable. They released the Common Ground Maker and Viewer software in 1993. By 1996 the company was doing so well they were bought for $6 million by Hummingbird Ltd. PDF soon became so ubiquitous, formats like Common Ground and Envoy fizzled out. That doesn’t mean they didn’t have a big impact and still can be found in quite a few places.

Apple was one of the bigger users for awhile, but the format can still be found floating around today.

The Common Ground Digital Paper has some similarities to the PDF format, but the biggest different is the format is proprietary and not open like PDF. Another difference is you could embed the viewer into the file, this would make an executable on both Windows and Macintosh. Very convenient for sending to those who may not have the viewer or can’t install the viewer on their system.

Common Ground had two different viewers, a pro viewer with more features and a Mini Viewer with basic features and which was free to download and distribute from their website. Unfortunately, they linked to an FTP site which no longer is available and so finding the viewers today can be difficult.

I came across a boxed version 1 for Macintosh of the software a few years back, but have yet to find other full versions. The software did change hands a bit, but seems to have topped out at Version 4 in the late 1990’s. Let’s take a look at the file format for the samples we do have.

Version 1 for the Macintosh was the first I believe, coming to Windows shortly afterwards. The format was even assigned a MimeType for use on the web and the application gives us a little insight into the format.

The commonground file format does have versions (two at the moment). They *are* internally documented with a file signature, allowing commonground viewers to automatically handle both old and new format files. Therefore, I don’t believe a ‘version’ parameter is needed.

A Content-Type of “application/commonground” indicates a document in the Common Ground portable file format, also known as Digital Paper.

Encoding considerations: Common Ground files are in a binary format. Some encoding will be necessary for MIME mailers as in application/octet-stream. Common Ground files for the Macintosh are encoded in the data fork of a Macintosh file. The file type is APPL, the creator is CGVM.

If we look at a sample from Version 1 for the Macintosh we find the follow hex values:

hexdump -C CG-s01.dp | head
00000000  00 00 03 56 00 00 04 d9  43 47 44 43 00 00 00 00  |...V....CGDC....|
00000010  96 6c 00 07 04 b4 03 de  00 00 00 00 02 da 02 28  |.l.............(|
00000020  00 11 02 ff 0c 00 ff ff  ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000030  00 00 02 28 00 00 02 da  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01  |...(............|
00000040  00 0a 00 05 00 05 00 15  02 23 00 32 00 05 80 02  |.........#.2....|
00000050  00 15 7f fe 00 2c 00 09  00 03 06 47 65 6e 65 76  |.....,.....Genev|
00000060  61 00 00 03 00 03 00 0d  00 0c 00 2e 00 04 00 00  |a...............|
00000070  00 00 00 2b 06 11 07 54  65 73 74 69 6e 67 00 01  |...+...Testing..|
00000080  00 0a ff e1 ff e2 02 f9  02 46 00 03 00 00 00 0d  |.........F......|
00000090  00 00 00 28 02 d5 01 05  05 2d 20 31 20 2d 00 ff  |...(.....- 1 -..|

In all the samples I have the first 8 bytes are not consistent, but the next four bytes are. CGDC, which happens to be the registered type on the Macintosh. Convenient. But it appears later versions are not the same.

hexdump -C MANUAL.DP | head
00000000  00 00 00 20 00 00 b7 f4  44 50 4c 33 00 00 00 04  |... ....DPL3....|
00000010  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  3b 60 53 df 00 00 00 00  |........;`S.....|
00000020  00 00 00 18 00 00 b4 da  00 00 b4 c2 00 00 03 3e  |...............>|
00000030  78 00 79 00 7a 00 7b 00  00 00 00 77 01 01 00 0c  |x.y.z.{....w....|
00000040  00 01 02 01 00 00 00 97  fe ed f0 05 00 b7 86 04  |................|
00000050  5f 05 f7 01 00 03 ed f0  02 00 3d 00 ff 45 75 72  |_.........=..Eur|
00000060  6c 20 00 01 07 ff bf 05  9f 00 01 08 a3 05 fb ba  |l ..............|
00000070  02 fa f1 00 ff ff 00 11  ff 68 74 74 70 3a 2f 2f  |.........http://|
00000080  77 ff 77 77 2e 47 53 50  2e 43 b9 43 1c 0f 03 04  |w.ww.GSP.C.C....|
00000090  95 05 c8 0d 00 cc fb 05  e3 13 06 15 6d 61 69 6c  |............mail|

hexdump -C dpwhite.dp | head
00000000  00 00 00 18 00 01 79 17  44 50 4c 32 00 00 00 00  |......y.DPL2....|
00000010  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 18 00 01 76 de  |..............v.|
00000020  00 01 76 c6 00 00 04 b2  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |..v.............|
00000030  00 00 00 1e 01 01 00 0c  00 00 01 01 00 00 00 12  |................|
00000040  00 01 00 01 00 00 00 00  0c 4e 09 60 01 2c 01 2c  |.........N.`.,.,|
00000050  00 64 00 00 00 02 00 00  00 00 00 a2 01 01 00 0c  |.d..............|
00000060  00 01 02 01 00 00 00 e2  fa ed f0 22 ed f1 0c 4e  |..........."...N|
00000070  09 60 00 ff e1 01 26 0a  83 08 3b ff ff 6a ff 6a  |.`....&...;..j.j|
00000080  0c e4 09 f6 01 ff 2c 01  2c 00 08 00 64 00 df 00  |......,.,...d...|
00000090  01 01 00 03 ed f0 0f 00  79 0a 1c 0f 28 07 42 41  |........y...(.BA|

These files are from a later version and have a different string at byte 8. DPL2 & DPL3. In the MiniViewer you can request document information and it provides some basic metadata for each file.

I only have one example of the DPL3, but a couple examples of DPL2, and it seems like DPL2 comes from a Version 3 DP Maker and DPL3 comes from Version 4 Maker. Need to see if I can find a Version 2 file and see if it follows the same pattern.

Two of my favorite CD-ROM’s on Internet Archive are Dr. Dobb’s The Essential Books on File Formats and Internet File Formats, both have copies of the Mini Viewer.

One of features similar to PDF is the ability to password protect certain features. This is what the document information looks like.

The header is the same, but the plain text usually seen in the file is no longer visible, so it appears the rest of the file is encrypted.

hexdump -C password.dp | head 
00000000  00 00 5d 95 00 00 06 94  43 47 44 43 00 00 00 01  |..].....CGDC....|
00000010  8e 3b 18 7e c5 16 f8 e0  0f f5 6f 32 2f 34 36 81  |.;.~......o2/46.|
00000020  4b 8a 03 da 9e 1a 85 6c  36 e4 39 f2 5a 2a a2 5f  |K......l6.9.Z*._|
00000030  81 83 65 ee 9c 16 d0 2d  2d c3 04 df 69 c8 06 0d  |..e....--...i...|
00000040  77 df 27 19 33 59 f6 05  61 4e 2c a6 58 27 47 26  |w.'.3Y..aN,.X'G&|
00000050  fe 6b 3c 06 7e cb 7f fb  33 f8 64 ed 05 54 b4 7d  |.k<.~...3.d..T.}|
00000060  c7 b5 e3 c2 df 40 53 63  ef 8e 10 1c c7 58 bd 28  |.....@Sc.....X.(|
00000070  9b 8a 2c 8f ae 82 33 f7  ff d4 3c 96 5c b4 08 69  |..,...3...<.\..i|
00000080  1f 00 af ce a7 56 93 27  07 cc 39 97 17 22 49 d7  |.....V.'..9.."I.|
00000090  5b 89 9b e6 b7 b1 5c 38  75 ba 08 ee 66 d0 9a d2  |[.....\8u...f...|

This file format is not currently in PRONOM. From what I have gathered I could add three signatures. There could be some other variations out there and the password protection needs to be considered. Maybe I’ll take Nick Gault’s offer and request the format which was available starting in the middle of 1995. Think they’ll deliver?