Filename extension | .xap |
---|---|
Internet media type | application/x-silverlight-app |
Type of format | Package management system, file archive |
Container for | Software package |
Extended from | ZIP |
Extended to | APPX |
XAP is the file format used to distribute and install application software and middleware onto Microsoft's Windows Phone 7/8/8.1/10 operating system, and is the file format for Silverlight applications. Beginning with Windows Phone 8.1, XAP was replaced by APPX as the file format used to install WinRT apps on the Windows Phone platform, a move which was done by Microsoft in order to unify the app development platforms for Windows Store apps and Windows Phone apps. [1]
XAP files are ZIP file formatted packages, however Microsoft has enabled XAP file encryption, meaning the file can no longer be opened with a standard ZIP extractor. The MIME type associated with XAP files is application/x-silverlight-app
. [2]
The Windows Phone Marketplace allows users to download XAP files to an SD card and install them manually. [3]
XAP is also the extension for XACT Audio Projects, openable with the Microsoft Cross-Platform Audio Creation Tool. Silverlight XAP Files are not openable with the Audio Creation Tool, and XACT XAP files are not archives.
An XAP file is a ZIP archive that usually contains the following files: [4]
Extensible Application Markup Language is a declarative XML-based language developed by Microsoft for initializing structured values and objects. It is available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise.
Windows Installer is a software component and application programming interface (API) of Microsoft Windows used for the installation, maintenance, and removal of software. The installation information, and optionally the files themselves, are packaged in installation packages, loosely relational databases structured as COM Structured Storages and commonly known as "MSI files", from their default filename extensions. The packages with the file extensions mst
contain Windows Installer "Transformation Scripts", those with the msm
extensions contain "Merge Modules" and the file extension pcp
is used for "Patch Creation Properties". Windows Installer contains significant changes from its predecessor, Setup API. New features include a GUI framework and automatic generation of the uninstallation sequence. Windows Installer is positioned as an alternative to stand-alone executable installer frameworks such as older versions of InstallShield and NSIS.
Microsoft OneNote is note-taking software, developed by Microsoft. It is available as part of the Microsoft 365 suite and since 2014 has been free on all platforms outside the suite. OneNote is designed for free-form information gathering and multi-user collaboration. It gathers users' notes, drawings, screen clippings, and audio commentaries, and notes can also be shared with other OneNote users over the Internet or a network.
Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is a free and open-source graphical subsystem originally developed by Microsoft for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0 in 2006. WPF uses DirectX and attempts to provide a consistent programming model for building applications. It separates the user interface from business logic, and resembles similar XML-oriented object models, such as those implemented in XUL and SVG.
Cross-platform Audio Creation Tool (XACT) is an audio programming library and engine released by Microsoft as part of the DirectX SDK. It is a high-level audio library for authoring/playing audio that is written to use Xaudio on the Xbox, DirectSound on Windows XP, and the new audio stack on Windows Vista and Windows 7. Xaudio is an Xbox-only API designed for optimal digital signal processing. XACT also includes X3DAudio, a spatialization helper library available on both platforms, Windows and the Xbox. XACT was originally developed for Xbox development, and was later modified to work for Microsoft Windows development as well.
Microsoft Silverlight is a discontinued application framework designed for writing and running rich internet applications, similar to Adobe's runtime, Adobe Flash. A plugin for Silverlight is still available for a very small number of browsers. While early versions of Silverlight focused on streaming media, later versions supported multimedia, graphics, and animation, and gave support to developers for CLI languages and development tools. Silverlight was one of the two application development platforms for Windows Phone, but web pages using Silverlight did not run on the Windows Phone or Windows Mobile versions of Internet Explorer, as there was no Silverlight plugin for Internet Explorer on those platforms.
The Open Packaging Conventions (OPC) is a container-file technology initially created by Microsoft to store a combination of XML and non-XML files that together form a single entity such as an Open XML Paper Specification (OpenXPS) document. OPC-based file formats combine the advantages of leaving the independent file entities embedded in the document intact and resulting in much smaller files compared to normal use of XML.
Comparison of the Java and .NET platforms.
Moonlight was a free and open source implementation for Linux and other Unix-based operating systems of the now deprecated Microsoft Silverlight application framework, developed and then abandoned by the Mono Project. Like Silverlight, Moonlight was a web application framework which provided capabilities similar to those of Adobe Flash, integrating multimedia, graphics, animations and interactivity into a single runtime environment.
XAML Browser Applications are Windows Presentation Foundation (.xbap) applications that are hosted and run inside a web browser such as Firefox or Internet Explorer. Hosted applications run in a partial trust sandbox environment and are not given full access to the computer's resources like opening a new network connection or saving a file to the computer disk and not all WPF functionality is available. The hosted environment is intended to protect the computer from malicious applications; however it can also run in full trust mode by the client changing the permission. Starting an XBAP from an HTML page is seamless. Although one perceives the application running in the browser, it actually runs in an out-of-process executable (PresentationHost.exe) managed by a virtual machine. In the initial release of .NET Framework 3.0, XBAPs only ran in Internet Explorer. With the release of .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, which includes an XBAP extension, they also run in Mozilla Firefox.
The Android Package with the file extension apk is the file format used by the Android operating system, and a number of other Android-based operating systems for distribution and installation of mobile apps, mobile games and middleware. A file using this format can be built from source code written in either Java or Kotlin.
Windows Phone Store was an app store platform, developed by Microsoft corporation for Windows Phone letting users installing various apps on their device. It initially launched with Windows Phone 7 in October 2010. With the rollout of Windows Phone 7.5, Microsoft unveiled the online Marketplace that offers, over the air installation of apps. In August 2012, Microsoft renamed Windows Phone Marketplace to Windows Phone Store. In 2015, Microsoft announced that Windows Phone Store would be killed out and replaced by Windows Store which would act as a unified store for all Windows-powered devices. This process was complemented by the Apps on Windows website, an interim solution before the unified Windows Store.
Microsoft Silverlight is an application framework for writing and running rich web applications that was actively developed and marketed by Microsoft from 2007 to 2012. This is a technical overview of the platform's history.
Windows Runtime (WinRT) is a platform-agnostic component and application architecture first introduced in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 in 2012. It is implemented in C++ and officially supports development in C++, Rust/WinRT, Python/WinRT, JavaScript-TypeScript, and the managed code languages C# and Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET).
Windows UI Library is a user interface API that is part of the Windows Runtime programming model that forms the backbone of Universal Windows Platform apps for the Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 and Windows Phone 8.1 operating systems. It enables declaring user interfaces using Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) technology.
Windows Phone 7 is the first release of the Windows Phone mobile client operating system, released worldwide on October 21, 2010, and in the United States on November 8, 2010. It runs on the Windows CE 6.0 kernel.
Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps are applications that can be used across all compatible Microsoft Windows devices. They are primarily purchased and downloaded via the Microsoft Store, Microsoft's digital storefront.
Universal Windows Platform (UWP) is a computing platform created by Microsoft and first introduced in Windows 10. The purpose of this platform is to help develop universal apps that run on Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile (discontinued), Windows 11, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and HoloLens without the need to be rewritten for each. It supports Windows app development using C++, C#, VB.NET, and XAML. The API is implemented in C++, and supported in C++, VB.NET, C#, F# and JavaScript. Designed as an extension to the Windows Runtime (WinRT) platform first introduced in Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8, UWP allows developers to create apps that will potentially run on multiple types of devices.