To merge PCAP files, select all the files, then drag into Wireshark. You can also use Wireshark's mergecap command-line tool. The proposed extension for libpcap files is .pcap. Wireshark handles captu...
To merge PCAP files, select all the files, then drag into Wireshark. You can also use Wireshark’s mergecap command-line tool. The proposed extension for libpcap files is .pcap. Wireshark handles capture file I/O in the wiretap library. Variants of the format exist “in the wild”. Wireshark includes heuristics for formats with changed magic bytes. An extension makes files easier to work with visually. File name extensions other than .pcap should be avoided for clarity. PCAPNG is a new capture file format. The libpcap file format has drawbacks. Developers extended the format to meet needs. Some changed the magic bytes; for others heuristics were added. PCAP extension use makes files visually distinguishable. Extensions other than .pcap should be avoided. New work creates the PCAP Next Generation capture file format. The typical PCAP file extension is .pcap, although .cap and .dmp are also common. libpcap was developed by the tcpdump developers for capturing packets. The code was made into a library used by tcpdump and now developed by tcpdump.org. A Windows port called WinPcap was successful. Earlier Windows versions need the deprecated WinPcap library. PCAP uses .CAP and .DMP extensions. Suitable software like Wireshark is needed to open PCAP files. The MIME type for PCAP files is application/vnd.tcpdump.pcap.
