What is a .DIFF file?
A diff lists the changes between two versions of text. Applied with the patch tool, central to coding.
- Did you know
- The Unix diff tool was created at Bell Labs in 1974.
- The original diff used the Hunt - McIlroy longest-common-subsequence algorithm to find the smallest set of changes.
- Its modern “unified” format, the kind seen in code review and Git, shows added and removed lines with surrounding context.
- What Analyser reads
- Identify and read metadata from developer and data files: JWT tokens (header + claims + expiry), WebAssembly, Java class files, NumPy arrays, source maps, SQL dumps (dialect, tables, columns, INSERT counts), Visual Studio/.NET projects, Terraform, Protobuf, GraphQL, SARIF, Python bytecode, and Apple property lists (XML + binary). Machine-learning models (ONNX, Safetensors, GGUF, PyTorch, Keras) now open in a full viewer - see AI models above; Jupyter notebooks (IPYNB) and HAR captures do too - see Notebooks & data.
- Depth of analysis
- .DIFF is an identification-grade format: Analyser recognises it from its bytes and decodes the header metadata it carries, rather than opening it in a full viewer. Formats that do get a full viewer are marked "Full" on the formats page.
- Open a .DIFF file
- Drag a .DIFF file onto the Analyser home page (or tap to pick one). It is identified entirely in your browser - nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and it works offline once installed.