DiffX File Format Specification

Version:

1.0

Last Updated:

May 16, 2025

Copyright:

2021 Beanbag, Inc.

• 1. Introduction
  • 1.1. Scope
  • 1.2. Filenames
  • 1.3. General File Structure
• 2. Section Definitions
  • 2.1. Section Headers
    • 2.1.1. Header Options
    • 2.1.2. Section IDs
  • 2.2. Section Order
  • 2.3. Section Types
    • 2.3.1. Container Sections
    • 2.3.2. Content Sections
• 3. Section Hierarchy
  • 3.1. DiffX Main Section
    • 3.1.1. DiffX Main Header
    • 3.1.2. DiffX Preamble Section
    • 3.1.3. DiffX Metadata Section
  • 3.2. Change Sections
    • 3.2.1. Change Section
    • 3.2.2. Change Preamble Section
    • 3.2.3. Change Metadata Section
  • 3.3. Changed File Sections
    • 3.3.1. Changed File Section
    • 3.3.2. Changed File Metadata Section
    • 3.3.3. Changed File Diff Section
• 4. Encoding Rules
  • 4.1. Encoding Text
  • 4.2. Encoding Binary Files
• 5. Binary Diffs
  • 5.1. Encoding/Decoding Basics
    • 5.1.1. Binary Payloads
    • 5.1.2. Line Length Characters
  • 5.2. VCDIFFs
    • 5.2.1. Encoding Logic
    • 5.2.2. Decoding Logic
  • 5.3. Git Literal Binary Diffs
    • 5.3.1. Encoding Logic
    • 5.3.2. Decoding Logic
  • 5.4. Git Delta Binary Diffs
    • 5.4.1. Delta Payload Format
    • 5.4.2. Encoding Logic
    • 5.4.3. Decoding Logic
• 6. Example DiffX Files
  • 6.1. Diff of Local File
  • 6.2. Diff of File in a Repository
  • 6.3. Diff of Commit in a Repository
  • 6.4. Diff of Multiple Commits in a Repository
  • 6.5. Wrapped Git Diff
  • 6.6. Wrapped CVS Diff
  • 6.7. Wrapped Subversion Property Diff