Windows 95 is stored on the distribution disks as cabinet files (*.CAB). When the Windows 95 disks are created, files are compressed into folders. The Windows 95 files are read in and written as one, continuous byte-stream, which compresses the entire stream and divides it into folders as appropriate. Folders can fill one or more cabinets. The following defines the terms used to describe the distribution files.
Cabinet.
A normal file that contains pieces of one or more files, usually compressed.
Folder.
A decompression boundary. Large folders enable higher compression, because the compressor can refer back to more data in finding patterns. However, to retrieve a file at the end of a folder, the entire folder must be decompressed.
The Windows 95 distribution disks use distribution media format (DMF), which is a special read-only format for 3.5-inch floppy disks that permits storage of 1.7 MB of data.