PKLITE32 may be used to reduce the size of any Windows 32 bit Portable Executable (i.e. PE) "Image" file. The PE file format is based on the Common Object File Format (i.e. COFF) and is the primary Windows 32-bit executable file format. In addition to executable files, PKLITE32 will compress Dynamic Link Library (i.e. .DLL) files, OLE Custom Control (i.e. .OCX) files, or any PE based file type.

Once PKLITE32 compresses the specified sections/resources, it inserts a small piece of code into the PE file that decompresses the compressed sections at file runtime. This all occurs seamlessly to the end user. In other words, the end user won't know the difference between a compressed file and an uncompressed one.

PKLITE32 provides three interfaces for compressing PE files:

    the GUI provides a Windows based user-friendly method for compressing files;
    the Command Line is typically used when automating one or more file compression tasks with a batch file;
    the Scripting interface is used when automating compression, usually as a post processing operation during development. For example, MS Developers Studio may be configured to compress an image after it is compiled.