Payload files<\/strong> are files stored in and delivered by the package. This includes your code, assets, and data, such as executables, DLLs, images, configuration files, and resources. For example:<\/p>\n The term content<\/strong> is sometimes used in MSIX-related APIs and documentation, but it does not provide as clean a classification as payload<\/strong> and footprint<\/strong>. For example, the Packaging API<\/a> associates a content type with payload files. To avoid ambiguity, we’ll use payload file<\/strong> when referring to files stored in the package.<\/p>\n Footprint files<\/strong> are package metadata and infrastructure files used to describe, validate, or otherwise support the package and its payload.<\/p>\n Not just terminology:<\/strong> The Packaging API<\/a> distinguishes between the two concepts directly: IAppxPackageWriter::AddPayloadFile()<\/a> adds payload files, while IAppxPackageWriter::Close()<\/a> writes the package’s footprint files. The API also prevents reserved footprint filenames such as The APPX_FOOTPRINT_FILE_TYPE<\/a> enumeration identifies the package’s footprint file types:<\/p>\n A package contains core footprint files such as Bundles<\/a> have a different set of footprint files. The APPX_BUNDLE_FOOTPRINT_FILE_TYPE<\/a> enumeration identifies the bundle’s footprint file types:<\/p>\n Here’s a little cheat sheet summarizing the terms:<\/p>\n Payload files Payload files are files stored in and delivered by the package. This includes your code, assets, and data, such as executables, DLLs, images, configuration files, and resources. For example: MyApp.exe MyLibrary.dll Assets\\Logo.png Config\\defaults.json Resources.pri Content files The term content is sometimes used in MSIX-related APIs and documentation, but it does not provide as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":911,"featured_media":101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8,9,33,10],"class_list":["post-330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-msix","tag-architecture","tag-code","tag-packaging","tag-terminology"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":" Payload files Payload files are files stored in and delivered by the package. This includes your code, assets, and data, such as executables, DLLs, images, configuration files, and resources. For example: MyApp.exe MyLibrary.dll Assets\\Logo.png Config\\defaults.json Resources.pri Content files The term content is sometimes used in MSIX-related APIs and documentation, but it does not provide as […]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/insidemsix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/insidemsix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/insidemsix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/insidemsix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/911"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/insidemsix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/insidemsix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":333,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/insidemsix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions\/333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/insidemsix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/insidemsix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/insidemsix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/insidemsix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Content files<\/h3>\n
Footprint files<\/h2>\n
AppxManifest.xml<\/code>, AppxBlockMap.xml<\/code>, and AppxSignature.p7x<\/code> from being added as payload files.<\/p>\nAPPX_FOOTPRINT_FILE_TYPE<\/h3>\n
\n\n
\n \nConstant<\/th>\n Filename<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n APPX_FOOTPRINT_FILE_TYPE_MANIFEST<\/code><\/td>\nAppxManifest.xml<\/code><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n APPX_FOOTPRINT_FILE_TYPE_BLOCKMAP<\/code><\/td>\nAppxBlockMap.xml<\/code><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n APPX_FOOTPRINT_FILE_TYPE_SIGNATURE<\/code><\/td>\nAppxSignature.p7x<\/code><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n APPX_FOOTPRINT_FILE_TYPE_CODEINTEGRITY<\/code><\/td>\nAppxMetadata\\CodeIntegrity.cat<\/code><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n APPX_FOOTPRINT_FILE_TYPE_CONTENTGROUPMAP<\/code><\/td>\nAppxContentGroupMap.xml<\/code><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\nAppxManifest.xml<\/code> and AppxBlockMap.xml<\/code>. Other footprint files are conditional. For example, AppxContentGroupMap.xml<\/code> is only present in packages that define content groups<\/a>.<\/p>\nAPPX_BUNDLE_FOOTPRINT_FILE_TYPE<\/h3>\n
\n\n
\n \nConstant<\/th>\n Filename<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n APPX_BUNDLE_FOOTPRINT_FILE_TYPE_MANIFEST<\/code><\/td>\nAppxBundleManifest.xml<\/code><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n APPX_BUNDLE_FOOTPRINT_FILE_TYPE_BLOCKMAP<\/code><\/td>\nAppxBlockMap.xml<\/code><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n APPX_BUNDLE_FOOTPRINT_FILE_TYPE_SIGNATURE<\/code><\/td>\nAppxSignature.p7x<\/code><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\nPractical terminology<\/h2>\n
\n\n
\n \n\n Term\n <\/th>\n \n Meaning\n <\/th>\n \n Example\n <\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n \n Package file<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n \n A file represented in the package\n <\/td>\n \n Any file in the package\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \n Payload file<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n \n A file stored in and delivered by the package\n <\/td>\n \n .exe<\/code>, .dll<\/code>, .png<\/code>, .json<\/code>, .pri<\/code>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n \n Footprint file<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n \n Package metadata or infrastructure\n <\/td>\n \n AppxManifest.xml<\/code>, AppxBlockMap.xml<\/code>, AppxSignature.p7x<\/code>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n \n Content file<\/strong>\n <\/td>\n \n An ambiguous term; prefer “payload file” when that is what you mean\n <\/td>\n \n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"