ELF shared library
File type: System file
Files with so extension can be most frequently found as executables or shared libraries/objects saved in Unix's Executable and Linkable Format.
File type category:
System file
Date updated: November 13, 2023
File extension so is one of the suffixes commonly used for Executable and Linkable Format, also known simply as ELF. It is a common standard file format for executables, object code, shared libraries, and core dumps, mainly used on Unix and Unix-like systems.
SO is probably acronym for Shared Object and denotes that .so files is a shared object library, similar in function to DLL format on Windows platform.
These .so files may also be in different format than ELF, but most use this file format. They are typically stored in /lib or /usr/lib directories.
ELF format can also feature several other file extensions, such as .o files (objects) .elf files (executable), .prx or .puff files. But each of these serve different purpose.
This program is executable that works under Unix. When you open it, you start a certain program.
It does not seem possible to convert this file type to anything else.
Linux operating systems (Linux/Unix)
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NetBSD (Linux/Unix)
OpenBSD (Linux/Unix)
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Ubuntu (Linux/Unix)
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