I need to detect whether a given .dll or .exe file is 32 bit

Question

Asked: May 12, 20262026-05-12T05:05:45+00:00 2026-05-12T05:05:45+00:00

I need to detect whether a given .dll or .exe file is 32 bit or 64 bit

At the moment I have only one solution: read the PE Header from the specified file and take the ‘Machine’ field from there.

( Specification: Microsoft Portable Executable and Common Object File Format Specification (.docx file) at section “3.3. COFF File Header (Object and Image)” )

This field can take up to about 20 values. Three of them are:

IMAGE_FILE_MACHINE_I386  ( == 32bit )

IMAGE_FILE_MACHINE_IA64  ( == 64bit )

IMAGE_FILE_MACHINE_AMD64 ( == 64bit )

My questions:

1) Is ‘Machine’ to bitness mapping correct or did I miss something? Are there any other caveats?

2) Is there easier way to detect 32/64 bitness (probably some specific field in PE format I didn’t notice or some special system function)?

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Editorial Team · Answer 1 · 2026-05-12T05:05:45+00:00

Editorial Team

GetBinaryType(…) returns SCS_32BIT_BINARY for a 32-bit Windows-based application
and SCS_64BIT_BINARY for a 64-bit Windows-based application.

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