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P4 CLI Documentation | 2026.1

# Base file types

The base file types of P4 Server and their default storage.

Keyword | Description | Comments | Default storage
--- | --- | --- | ---
`binary` | Non-text file | Synced as binary files in the workspace. Stored compressed within the depot. | full file, compressed
`text` | Text file | Synced as text in the workspace. Line-ending translations are performed automatically. | full file, compressed
`symlink` | Symbolic link | P4 Server applications on UNIX, macOS, recent versions of Windows treat these files as symbolic links. On other platforms, these files appear as (small) text files. On Windows, you require `admin` privileges or an appropriate group policy must be set, otherwise, you get text files. | full file, compressed
`unicode` | Unicode file | Services operating in unicode mode support the `unicode` file type. These files are translated into the local character set specified by `P4CHARSET`. Line-ending translations are performed automatically. Services not in unicode mode do not support the `unicode` file type. For details, see the Internationalization Notes. | full file in UTF-8 format, compressed
`utf8` | Unicode file | Synced in the client workspace with the UTF-8 BOM (byte order mark). Whether the service is in unicode mode or not, files are transferred as UTF-8 in the client workspace. Line-ending translations are performed automatically. For details, see the Internationalization Notes. | full file in UTF-8 format, compressed without the UTF-8 BOM (byte order mark)
`utf16` | Unicode file | Whether the service is in unicode mode or not, files are transferred as UTF-8, and translated to UTF-16 (with byte order mark, in the byte order appropriate for the user’s machine) in the client workspace. Line-ending translations are performed automatically. For details, see the Internationalization Notes. | full file in UTF-8 format, compressed
apple | N/A | A legacy format of Apple Inc. | N/A
resource | N/A | For resource forks on legacy Apple computers, which are no longer supported by Apple Inc. | N/A

## Prior to the 2022.1 release

Prior to the 2022.1 release, the default storage was deltas in RCS forma, except that files of type `binary` were always compressed. Since 2022.1, the lbr.autocompress configurable, by default, causes files of type `text`, `symlink`, `unicode`, `utf8`, and `utf16` to be compressed.

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