Siegfried

Siegfried is a signature-based file format identification tool, implementing:

• the National Archives UK's PRONOM file format signatures
• freedesktop.org's MIME-info file format signatures
• the Library of Congress's FDD file format signatures (beta).
• Wikidata (beta).

Version

1.11.4

Usage

Command line

sf file.ext
sf *.ext
sf DIR

Options

sf -csv file.ext | *.ext | DIR             // Output CSV rather than YAML
sf -json file.ext | *.ext | DIR            // Output JSON rather than YAML
sf -droid file.ext | *.ext | DIR           // Output DROID CSV rather than YAML
sf -nr DIR                                 // Don't scan subdirectories
sf -z file.zip | *.ext | DIR               // Decompress and scan zip, tar, gzip, warc, arc
sf -zs gzip,tar file.tar.gz | *.ext | DIR  // Selectively decompress and scan 
sf -hash md5 file.ext | *.ext | DIR        // Calculate md5, sha1, sha256, sha512, or crc hash
sf -sig custom.sig *.ext | DIR             // Use a custom signature file
sf -                                       // Scan stream piped to stdin
sf -name file.ext -                        // Provide filename when scanning stream 
sf -f myfiles.txt                          // Scan list of files and directories
sf -v | -version                           // Display version information
sf -home c:\junk -sig custom.sig file.ext  // Use a custom home directory
sf -serve hostname:port                    // Server mode
sf -throttle 10ms DIR                      // Pause for duration (e.g. 1s) between file scans
sf -multi 256 DIR                          // Scan multiple (e.g. 256) files in parallel 
sf -log [comma-sep opts] file.ext          // Log errors etc. to stderr (default) or stdout
sf -log e,w file.ext | *.ext | DIR         // Log errors and warnings to stderr
sf -log u,o file.ext | *.ext | DIR         // Log unknowns to stdout
sf -log d,s file.ext | *.ext | DIR         // Log debugging and slow messages to stderr
sf -log p,t DIR > results.yaml             // Log progress and time while redirecting results
sf -log fmt/1,c DIR > results.yaml         // Log instances of fmt/1 and chart results
sf -replay -log u -csv results.yaml        // Replay results file, convert to csv, log unknowns
sf -setconf -multi 32 -hash sha1           // Save flag defaults in a config file
sf -setconf -serve :5138 -conf srv.conf    // Save/load named config file with '-conf filename' 

Example

Signature files

By default, siegfried uses the latest PRONOM signatures without buffer limits (i.e. it may do full file scans). To use MIME-info or LOC signatures, or to add buffer limits or other customisations, use the roy tool to build your own signature file.

Install

With go installed:

go install github.com/richardlehane/siegfried/cmd/sf@latest

sf -update

Or, without go installed:

Win:

Download a pre-built binary from the releases page. Unzip to a location in your system path. Then run:

sf -update

Mac Homebrew (or Linuxbrew):

brew install mistydemeo/digipres/siegfried

Or, for the most recent updates, you can install from this fork:

brew install richardlehane/digipres/siegfried

Ubuntu/Debian (64 bit):

curl -sL "http://keyserver.ubuntu.com/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x20F802FE798E6857" | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/siegfried-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/siegfried-archive-keyring.gpg] https://www.itforarchivists.com/ buster main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/siegfried.list
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install siegfried

FreeBSD:

pkg install siegfried

Arch Linux:

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/siegfried.git
cd siegfried
makepkg -si

Changes

v1.11.4 (2026-01-23)

Changed

• update go version to 1.24.0

v1.11.3 (2026-01-23)

Added

• Roy speed-up by avoiding function calls in loops. Fixes #148. Implemented by Ross Spencer

Changed

• update PRONOM to v122
• update LOC to 2025-12-09
• update TIKA to v3.2.3

v1.11.2 (2025-03-01)

Added

• Filter introduced to improve Wikidata queries and -harvestWikidataSigLen flag sets minimum length of Wikidata signatures. Implemented by Ross Spencer and Andy Jackson
• -noprov flag introduced for Wikidata signatures. Implemented by Ross Spencer
• version command for roy. Implemented by Ross Spencer

Changed

• Logged error messages have more context. Implemented by Ross Spencer
• update PRONOM to v120
• Wikidata definitions updated to 4.0.0. By Ross Spencer
• update LOC to 2025-02-26
• update TIKA to v3.1.0

Fixed

• Explicitly declared variable offsets are parsed e.g. fmt/1840. Implemented by Rijnder Wever

v1.11.1 (2024-06-28)

Added

• WASM build. See wasm/README.md for more details. Feature sponsored by Archives New Zealand. Inspired by Andy Jackson
• -sym flag enables following symbolic links to files during scanning. Requested by Max Moser

Changed

• XDG_DATA_DIRS checked when determining siegfried home location. Requested by Michał Górny
• Windows 7 build on releases page (built with go 1.20). Requested by Aleksandr Sergeev
• update PRONOM to v118
• update LOC to 2024-06-14

Fixed

• zips piped into STDIN are decompressed with -z flag. Reported by Max Moser
• panics from OS calls in init functions. Reported by Jürgen Enge

v1.11.0 (2023-12-17)

Added

• glob-matching for container signatures; see digital-preservation/pronom#10
• sf -update works for older versions of siegfried; see #231

Changed

• default location for siegfried HOME now follows XDG Base Directory Specification; see #216. Implemented by Bernhard Hampel-Waffenthal
• siegfried prints version before erroring with failed signature load; requested by Ross Spencer
• update PRONOM to v116
• update LOC to 2023-12-14
• update tika-mimetypes to v3.0.0-BETA
• update freedesktop.org to v2.4

Fixed

• panic on malformed zip file during container matching; reported by James Mooney

v1.10.2 (2023-12-17)

Changed

• update PRONOM to v116
• update LOC to 2023-12-14
• update tika-mimetypes to v3.0.0-BETA
• update freedesktop.org to v2.4

v1.10.1 (2023-04-24)

Fixed

• glob expansion now only on Windows & when no explicit path match. Implemented by Bernhard Hampel-Waffenthal
• compression algorithm for debian packages changed back to xz. Implemented by Paul Millar
• -multi droid setting returned empty results when priority lists contained self-references. See #218
• CGO disabled for debian package and linux binaries. See #219

v1.10.0 (2023-03-25)

Added

• format classification included as "class" field in PRONOM results. Requested by Robin François. Implemented by Ross Spencer
• -noclass flag added to roy build command. Use this flag to build signatures that omit the new "class" field from results.
• glob paths can be used in place of file or directory paths for identification (e.g. sf *.jpg). Implemented by Ross Spencer
• -multi droid setting for roy build command. Applies priorities after rather than during identification for more DROID-like results. Reported by David Clipsham
• /update command for server mode. Requested by Luis Faria

Changed

• new algorithm for dynamic multi-sequence matching for improved wildcard performance
• update PRONOM to v111
• update LOC to 2023-0