Microsoft Compiled HTML Help (CHM) is a Microsoft proprietary online help format, consisting of a collection of HTML pages, an index and other navigation tools. The files are compressed and deployed in a binary format with the extension .CHM. The format was intended to succeed Microsoft WinHelp.
Although the format was designed by Microsoft, it has been successfully reverse-engineered and is now supported by many document viewers.
History
CHM was introduced as the successor to Microsoft WinHelp with the release of Windows 95 OSR 2.5. Within the Windows NT family, the CHM file support is introduced in Windows NT 4.012 and is still supported in Windows 11.3
| Month | Year | Description |
|---|---|---|
| February | 1996 | Microsoft announces plans to stop development of WinHelp and start development on HTML Help. |
| August | 1997 | HTML Help 1.0 (HH 1.0) is released with Internet Explorer 4. |
| February | 1998 | HTML Help 1.1a ships with Windows 98. |
| January | 2000 | HTML Help 1.3 ships with Windows 2000. |
| July | HTML Help 1.32 releases with Internet Explorer 5.5 and Windows Me. | |
| October | 2001 | HTML Help 1.33 releases with Internet Explorer 6 and Windows XP. |
| March | At the WritersUA (formerly WinWriters) conference, Microsoft announces plans for a new help platform, Help 2, which is also HTML based. | |
| January | 2003 | Microsoft decides not to release Microsoft Help 2 as a general Help platform. |
Microsoft has announced that they do not intend to add any new features to HTML Help.4
File format
Help is delivered as a binary file with the .chm extension. It contains a set of HTML files, a hyperlinked table of contents, and an index file. The file format has been reverse-engineered and documentation of it is freely available.56
The file starts with bytes "ITSF" (in ASCII), for "Info-Tech Storage Format", which is the internal name given by Microsoft to the generic storage file format used for CHM files.7
CHM files support the following features:
- Data compression (using LZX)
- Built-in search engine
- Ability to merge multiple .chm help files
- Extended character support, although it does not fully support Unicode.8
The Microsoft Reader's .lit file format is a modification of the HTML Help CHM format. CHM files are sometimes used for e-books.9
Viewers
In addition to Microsoft Windows, the following apps support CHM:
| Name | Operating system | Website | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Okular | Windows, Linux, Unix-like | okular.kde.org | Uses hh.exe on Windows |
| Calibre | Windows, macOs, Linux, | calibre-ebook.com | |
| Sumatra PDF | Windows | www.sumatrapdfreader.org sumatrapdf on GitHub | |
| GnoCHM | Linux, BSD | GnoCHM on SourceForge | |
| CHM View | None/Uncompiled | chmviewkit on GitHub | |
| kchmviewer | Windows, Linux | ulduzsoft.com/kchmviewer/ | |
| KCHM | Linux, BSD, Solaris | KCHM on SourceForge | |
| CHMPane | Windows, macOS, Linux | CHMPane on SourceForge | |
| CHMate Neue | iOS, iPadOS, visionOS | CHMate Neue on iTunes | |
| iChm | iOS, macOS | iChm on iTunes | Discontinued |
| ChmPlus | iOS, iPadOS, macOS, visionOS | ChmPlus on iTunes | |
| Chmox | macOS | chmox.sourceforge.net Chmox on SourceForge | |
| Clearview | macOS | Clearview on iTunes | |
| DisplayCHM | Linux | linux-apps.com/p/998057 |
Creators
Microsoft's HTML Help Workshop generates CHM files by instructions stored in a HTML Help project file, which bears a .HHP file name extension and is a specialized form of INI file.10
Lazarus and Free Pascal provide a doxygen-like tool for CHM generation and a separate command-line compiler called chmcmd.
Other utilities
The official viewer in Microsoft Windows (hh.exe) can decompile a CHM file. So can Microsoft HTML Help Workshop and 7-Zip. Calibre and arCHMage can convert CHM into another format.
See also
The Wikibook Windows Programming has a page on the topic of: Compiled HTML HelpExternal links
- HTML Help Web Page on MSDN[dead link]
- Microsoft Help 2 Reference[dead link]} (part of Visual Studio SDK for VS7.1 and VS8.0)
- History of HTML Help
- Unofficial (Preliminary) HTML Help Specification (the linked ITSF specification has been moved to the Russotto.net domain)
References
"Microsoft Security Bulletin MS02-055 - Critical". docs.microsoft.com. Retrieved 2020-10-29. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2002/ms02-055 ↩
"Full Disclosure: HtmlHelp - .CHM File Heap Overflow". seclists.org. Retrieved 2020-10-29. https://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2004/Jul/679 ↩
"[SOLVED] Windows 10 CHM Help Files showing up blank. - Spiceworks". community.spiceworks.com. Retrieved 2020-10-29. https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1961503-solved-windows-10-chm-help-files-showing-up-blank ↩
"Microsoft HTML Help Downloads". Microsoft. Retrieved 6 March 2012. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms669985 ↩
Wise, Paul; Wing, Jed (2005). "Unofficial (Preliminary) HTML Help Specification". Retrieved 15 August 2012. http://www.nongnu.org/chmspec/latest/index.html ↩
Palade, Alexandru (2005). "Archive::Chm". Retrieved 22 July 2014. https://metacpan.org/pod/Archive::Chm ↩
"Virus Bulletin :: Chamber of horrors". www.virusbulletin.com. Retrieved 2022-01-05. https://www.virusbulletin.com/virusbulletin/2006/10/chamber-horrors/ ↩
"INFO: Limited Unicode Support in HTML Help". Microsoft. 11 April 2001. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20160313203857/https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/269766/ ↩
Salomon, David; Motta, Giovanni; Bryant, David (CON) (2009). Handbook of Data Compression (5th, illustrated ed.). Springer. ISBN 978-1-84882-902-2. 978-1-84882-902-2 ↩
Wise, Paul; Wing, Jed (2005). "Unofficial (Preliminary) HTML Help Specification INI formats". Retrieved 1 February 2018. http://chmspec.nongnu.org/latest/INI.html#HHP ↩