Flipnotes animation files are normally stored on the SD card in the following folder:

/private/ds/app/4B475556/001 - European location

You can save your images in a user folder as long as it's on the same level as the 001 folder. Clicking on the Choose Folder icon on the top of the View Flipnote / SD Card option gives you a list of normal folders, and you can swap to user folders by selecting the normal button again. This could possibly be to overcome a limitation in one of the files (possibly the dirmemo2.lst file).

==File Header==
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background-color: #ddd;"
! Start
! Length
! Description
|-
| 0x0000
| 4
| Magic (should be PARA)
|-
| 0x0004
| 4
| Size of animation data
|-
| 0x0008
| 4
| size of audio data
|-
| 0x000C
| 2
| # of frames
|-
| 0x000E
| 2
| Unknown - all files looked at so far has this field set to 24 00 hex.
|-
| 0x0010
| 2
| Lock - 0 open, 1 locked
|-
| 0x0012
| 2
| Preview frame number
|-
| 0x0014
| 22
| Original author name (UCS-2)
|-
| 0x002A
| 22
| Last Edited By Author name (UCS-2)
|-
| 0x0040
| 22
| User name (UCS-2)
|-
| 0x0056
| 8
| Original author ID
|-
| 0x005E
| 8
| Edit Author ID - the last user to save the file
|-
| 0x0066
| 18
| Original File-name - see notes on format
|-
| 0x0078
| 18
| File-name - see notes on format
|-
| 0x008A
| 8
| Previous Editing Author ID
|-
| 0x0092
| 8
| Partial File name? - see notes on format
|-
| 0x009A
| 4
| Date stored as the number of seconds since midnight 1 Jan 2000.
|-
| 0x009E
| 2
| Filler - 00 00
|-
| 0x00A0
| 1536
| Preview Bitmap (4 bits/pixel).
|}

The file name seems to be stored in the file header 3 times:
*Original file name 0x0066
*Current file name 0x0078
*Partial file name 0x0092

The file name is stored in 3 parts:
*3 hex bytes, the first byte's high nibble is not the same as the first byte of the file name
*13 bytes for the central part of the file name
*2 bytes for the last part of the file name.

For the file name : G35B20_0909841CDBEB1_002
*First location: D3 5B 20 30 39 30 39 38 34 31 43 44 42 45 42 31 00 00
*Second location: D3 5B 20 30 39 30 39 38 34 31 43 44 42 45 42 31 02 00
*Last location: D3 5B 20 09 09 84 1C DB

The 3 sections of the file name seem to be stored as:
*Last 6 digits of your Flipnote Studio ID
*A random number, possibly generated from a date stamp
*The version number of the file

===Palette===
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background-color: #ddd;"
! Hex
! Color
! DS RGB Approximation
|-
| 0x0
| Not used / White
| 31, 31, 31
|-
| 0x1
| Dark Grey
| 10, 10, 10
|-
| 0x2
| White
| 31, 31, 31
|-
| 0x3
| Light Grey
| 20, 20, 20
|-
| 0x4
| Pure Red
| 31, 0, 0
|-
| 0x5
| Dark Red
| 15, 0, 0
|-
| 0x6
| Light Red / Pink
| 31, 15, 15
|-
| 0x7
| Pure Green
| 0, 31, 0
|-
| 0x8
| Pure Blue
| 0, 0, 31
|-
| 0x9
| Dark Blue
| 0, 0, 15
|-
| 0xA
| Light Blue
| 15, 15, 31
|-
| 0xB
| Pure Green
| 0, 31, 0
|-
| 0xC
| Magenta / Purple
| 31, 0, 31
|-
| 0xD
| Pure Green
| 0, 31, 0
|-
| 0xE
| Pure Green
| 0, 31, 0
|-
| 0xF
| Pure Green
| 0, 31, 0
|}

The preview image is a 64x48 image stored in a 16 colour tile format, with each 8x8 tile taking up 32 bytes of the file.

Here's a photo taken of the altered preview image, reduced to about the correct size.

[[Image:Palpic_actsize.png|{{Image:Palpic_actsize.png}}]]

[[Media:Palpic_big.JPG|Link to the original picture, warning image is 2,048 × 1,536.]]

Here's two preview images that blasty decoded from some PPM files.

[[Image:ppm_1.png]] [[Image:ppm_2.png]]

You can use pbsds's [[User:Pbsds/PPMtool|PPMtool]] to extract the preview image yourself

==Animation Data Section==
The animation section starts at offset 0x06A0, with a header section.

===Animation Sequence Header===
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background-color: #ddd;"
! Start
! Length
! Description
|-
| 0000
| 4
| Size of the offset table
|-
| 0004
| 4
| Unknown
|-
| 0008
| 4 * number of frames
| A list of offsets to the frames in the order to play them.
|}

The offsets are all relative to the end of the offset list, and the frames are not stored in any specific format in the file, so you have to read this table for the next offset as I've seen the list point to a frame at 00023572 and the next frame was at 00000000.

===Animation Frame===
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background-color: #ddd;"
! Start
! Length
! Description
|-
| 0000
| 1
| Pen and Paper information
|-
| 0001
| 48
| Layer 1 line encoding
|-
| 0031
| 48
| Layer 2 line encoding
|-
| 0061
| ?
| The frame data stored layer 1 then layer 2
|}

The pen and paper byte at the start is encoded as follows:

[[Image:paperpeninfo.png]]

The paper bit indicates what color the paper is - 0 for black and 1 for white.

The Frame encoding is 0 for a change between last frame and this one, and 1 for a totally new frame.

The Layer 1 pen and Layer 2 pen information is as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background-color: #ddd;"
! Number
! Meaning
|-
| 0
| Not used
|-
| 1
| Invert Paper (black on white or white on black)
|-
| 2
| Red
|-
| 3
| Blue
|}

Line encoding is compacted from the 192 lines on the screen down to 48 bytes per layer, each byte within the layer encoding section is stored as 2 bits per line, and 4 lines to the byte. The lines are stored in the same order as the bits in the byte, i.e. line 0 uses bit 0-1, line 1 uses bit 2-3, line 2 uses bit 4-5, line 3 uses bit 6-7. The value for the line encoding determins how many bytes you need to read at a minimum:

{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background-color: #ddd;"
! Number
! Meaning
|-
| 0
| Skip this line - there is no data for this line
|-
| 1
| Coded line
|-
| 2
| Inverted coded line
|-
| 3
| Raw line data
|}

Before I explain how to read the line data you must understand that the way flipnote works is in layers, each layer is a bit map of on or off, with on being the pen colour, and off being the paper colour.

The coded and inverted coded lines are stored with a 4 byte header that is used to indicate how many extra bytes to read, and what part of the line they represent. Each byte after the first 4 is then read in a reverse order, i.e. pixel 0 of 8 is bit 0, etc. To understand this you first take the 256 pixels of the line, and divide it by 8 to give 32, this is the maximum number of bytes a line encoding will ever use, and it's also the number of bits in 4 bytes. The first 8 pixels of the line are used only when the bit 0x80000000 is set in the initial 4 bytes.

For example the line is encoded as type 1, and the bytes that's stored is 80 00 00 00 20.

The first 4 bytes is indicating that there is 1 byte effacted in this line, and that it's the first 8 pixels in the line. The next byte is read and once it's expanded the 6'th byte of the line is set to the pen colour. If on the other hand the line was encoded with type 2, that one pixel would be the paper colour and every other pixel would be the pen colour.

Here's some code to show how to decode the line:

<source lang="c">
u32 decodeLine( u8 *outB, u8 *inB, u32 useByte, u8 paper, u8 pen, u8 invflag )
{
u32 offset = 0;
u16 x = 0, i;
u8 data;

if( useByte == 0 ) // Set the full line to the current paper colour
memset( outB, paper, 256 );
else // Bytes in this line, read and deal with them
{
while( useByte != 0 )
{
if( ( useByte & 0x80000000 ) == 0x80000000 )
{
// This byte exists...
data = inB[ offset++ ];

for( i = 0; i < 8; i ++ )
{
if( ( data & 0x01 ) == 0x01 )
outB[ x ] = invflag == 0 ? pen : paper;
else
outB[ x ] = invflag == 0 ? paper : pen;

x ++;

data >>= 1;
}
}
else
{
memset( &outB[ x ], paper, 8 );
x += 8;
}

useByte <<= 1;
}

if( x < 256 )
memset( &outB[ x ], paper, 256 - x );
}

return offset;
}
</source>

The outB and inB are pointers to pre-allocated memory blocks, the inB is a pointer to the file, and the outB is the output data block. The useByte is the 4 bytes that is at the start of the line, if your reading a type 3 line (full raw data) just pass in 0xFFFFFFFF. The pen and paper values are what was read from the pen and paper information block.

==Sound data section==

The position of the sound header is 0x6A0 + AnimationDataSize

{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background-color: #ddd;"
! Length
! Description
|-
| FrameCount
| Sound effect usage. Each byte is a frame, and bit number one represents Sound 1, bit number two represents Sound 2 and bit number three represents Sound 3
|-
| ???
| Padding - only used if FrameCount isn't dividable by 4
|-
| 4
| Size of Background music(0 if not used)
|-
| 4
| Size of Sound effect 1(0 if not used)
|-
| 4
| Size of Sound effect 2(0 if not used)
|-
| 4
| Size of Sound effect 3(0 if not used)
|-
| 20
| Tags. Used for sound decoding? (speed, compression, etc...)
|}

I have yet to figure out the decoding...--[[User:Pbsds|pbsds]] 17:38, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

User:Pbsds/PPMtool

2010-06-05T17:47:25Z

Pbsds: New link with source

User:Pbsds

2010-06-05T17:43:59Z

Pbsds:

Im just a 14 years old boy who has always dreamed of making something that others can use.(music, programs 'n games)

My blog: http://pbsds.blogspot.com/
=== Shit I made: ===
*PPMtool: [[/PPMtool]]
*PPM.py: [http://www.mediafire.com/?clt4ad2wcmh]
*TPL.py: [http://www.mediafire.com/?mlwtmzmzjwz]
*EWES: [http://www.mediafire.com/?mz1my1zkxqy]
*Wii n DSi.au3 (Not released, but E-Mail might work ;) )

=== People to thanks ===
* Xuzz/IceFire - you inspired me to begin developing.
* Jacol - Giving some advice in the begining when i made EWES.
* Remark - Helped with 8x8 tiling when i made PPMtool
* Steven - documenting the most of [[Flipnote_Files/PPM|PPM files]]
* YAGCD's contributors - Awesome documentations!
* You - for (hopefully) using my stuff. :D

=== How to reach me: ===

E-Mail: pbsds@hotmail.com (No spambots please!)
Most preferred forum: http://wadder.freeforums.org/

Talk:Flipnote Files/PPM

2010-05-26T15:57:27Z

User talk:Matt

2010-05-19T09:47:28Z

Pbsds:

User talk:Matt

2010-05-18T16:32:36Z

Pbsds:

User talk:Matt

2010-05-18T16:32:25Z

Pbsds: New page: You can't get the source for PPMTool, it wouldn't help you anyway. It's written in AutoIt(Windows only). But, i have ported it to Python, and this version supports frame extraction! Check ...

User:Pbsds

2010-05-18T16:27:46Z

Pbsds:

Im just a 14 years old boy who has always dreamed of making something that others can use.(music, programs 'n games)

My blog: http://pbsds.blogspot.com/
=== Shit I made: ===
*PPMtool: [[/PPMtool]]
*PPM.py: [http://www.mediafire.com/?ngmdmmyzztj]
*TPL.py: [http://www.mediafire.com/?ydzynn21yu1]
*EWES: [http://www.mediafire.com/?mz1my1zkxqy]
*Wii n DSi.au3 (Not released, but PM might work ;) )

=== People to thanks ===
* Xuzz/IceFire - you inspired me to begin developing.
* Jacol - Giving some advice in the begining when i made EWES.
* Remark - Helped with 8x8 tiling when i made PPMtool
* Steven - documenting the most of [[Flipnote_Files/PPM|PPM files]]
* YAGCD's contributors - Awesome documentations!
* You - for (hopefully) using my stuff. :D

Talk:Flipnote Files/PPM

2010-05-18T13:49:46Z

Pbsds:

Could you guys post a example for decoding the preview image? i cant figure out the 8x8 tile thing. i will give credit to you:).Preview of what i have: [[Image:FlipnoteImageDecodedByPBSDS.png]]--[[User:Pbsds|pbsds]] 09:29, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

See [[User:Remark/Icon2ppm.c]]. -- [[User:Remark|Remark]] 09:45, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks:)--[[User:Pbsds|pbsds]] 09:55, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

It doesn't work! Here is the code im using(i had to transelate it):
<source lang="">Dim $ImageOutput[4072]
for $x=0 to 46 step 1
for $y=0 to 7 step 1
for $z=0 To 7 Step 1
ImageOutput[($x*64)+(16*$y)+(4*$z)] = RawImage[($x*64)+(32*$z)+(4*$y)]
ImageOutput[($x*64)+(16*$y)+(4*$z)+1] = RawImage[($x*64)+(32*$z)+(4*$y)+1]
ImageOutput[($x*64)+(16*$y)+(4*$z)+2] = RawImage[($x*64)+(32*$z)+(4*$y)+2]
ImageOutput[($x*64)+(16*$y)+(4*$z)+3] = RawImage[($x*64)+(32*$z)+(4*$y)+3]
Next
Next
Next</source>
Output: [[Image:Test2.png]]

----
You made a typo here:
for x=0 to 46 step
-[[User:Remark|Remark]] 18:42, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

Made no difference...--[[User:Pbsds|pbsds]] 21:08, 24 December 2009 (UTC)
----
If you would've used a sane language, you would've gotten a segfault. :-)

Please do some research on the tiling, my code is written for the 32x32 icons you see in the DSiMenu.

- [[User:Remark|Remark]] 21:52, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

----

I had to set the RawImage and the ImageOutput arrays to 1000 more pixels than needed to avoid the segfault.

I think i'll try again tomorrow. but now im off to bed:)--[[User:Pbsds|pbsds]] 00:39, 25 December 2009 (UTC)

----

WooHoo! im really close now!: [[Image:Test3.png]]--[[User:Pbsds|pbsds]] 14:43, 25 December 2009 (UTC)

----

Finaly got it!: [[Image:Test4.png]]--[[User:Pbsds|pbsds]] 21:26, 27 December 2009 (UTC)
== Pallete ==
i don't think my RGB pallete is perfect... Could someone post a RGB version of the pallete? My pallete have too sharp colors :( --[[User:Pbsds|pbsds]] 01:03, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

Maybe i should post my pallete so you guys can check if its wrong:

0 = FFFFFF

1 = 525252

2 = FFFFFF

3 = A4A4A4

4 = FF0000

5 = 7B0000

6 = FF7B7B

7 = 00FF00

8 = 0000FF

9 = 00007B

A = 7B7BFF

B = 00FF00

C = FF00FF

D = 00FF00

E = 00FF00

F = 00FF00

--[[User:Pbsds|pbsds]] 10:52, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

Use the following formula:
(x / 32) * 256
To convert between the scales 0-31 and 0-255.

Thanks!--[[User:Pbsds|pbsds]] 15:15, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

== Modifying the file? ==

Has anyone managed to get a modified PPM file running on the DSi? If so, can you update the wiki with your findings.
[[User:Chronic667|Chronic667]] 20:40, 13 January 2010 (UTC)

I don't know much about that but i think there is a hash in there.--[[User:Pbsds|pbsds]] 14:19, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

:The last 144 bytes of the file are a hash / encypted block that changes for every minor change in the file. When I was originally working on this with someone else (forgot his nick on here) we said that it could possibly be an AES cypher key or data block, I don't know if anything else was worked out behond this as I've not looked at the files since I worked out the basic file structure. If your thinking of using FlipNote as an entry into the DSi for homebrew then the files do not seem to have any way to break them due to the lack of strings in the file.
:Actually the last 144 bytes are split into 128 bytes of hash and 16 bytes of 0x00.
:[[User:Steven|Steven]] 06:26, 11 February 2010 (UTC)
::Has someone any idea what this checksum is? ;-) --[[User:Endres|Endres]] 18:29, 15 February 2010 (UTC)

== Sound ==

I think i have found out a little about the sounds.

i think that in the first byte in a animation frame has an index for which sound to play.

Something like this: [[Image:Temp.png]]

--[[User:Pbsds|pbsds]] 15:52, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

== PPM.py ==

I just wanted to say that i rewrote PPMTool in python and renamed it PPM.py

This one has support for extracting frames too(i fixed the NewFrame problem ;) )

Source: http://www.mediafire.com/?mkjyyykd2n3

Exe: http://www.mediafire.com/?ngmdmmyzztj

@Steven: Could you please update the documentation with my way of fixing the NewFrame stuff? I'm not that good with documentations... KTHXBAI! :D

--[[User:Pbsds|pbsds]] 15:49, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

User:Pbsds/PPMtool

2010-05-18T13:25:39Z

Pbsds:

[[Image:Icon.png]]

This is a command line program that is able to read info from PPM files(Flipnotes) and even convert the preview image into an BMP.

Download: [[Media:PPMtool.rar|here]]

----

Update:

Don't use this one! I rewrote it in python. and that one supports frame extractions too!

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ngmdmmyzztj

--[[User:Pbsds|pbsds]] 15:24, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

User:Pbsds/PPMtool

2010-05-18T13:24:53Z

Pbsds:

[[Image:Icon.png]]

This is a command line program that is able to read info from PPM files(Flipnotes) and even convert the preview image into an BMP.

Download: [[Media:PPMtool.rar|here]]

----

Update:

Don't use this one! I rewrote it in python. and that one supports frame extractions too!

http://www.mediafire.com/myfiles.php

--[[User:Pbsds|pbsds]] 15:24, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

User talk:Pbsds

2010-05-18T11:25:08Z

Pbsds:

User:Pbsds

2010-04-21T18:43:25Z

Pbsds:

Im just a 14 years old boy who has always dreamed of making something that others can use.(music, programs 'n games)

My blog: http://pbsds.blogspot.com/
=== Shit I made: ===
*[[/PPMtool|PPMtool]]
*EWES
*Wii n DSi.au3 (Not released yet tho...)

=== People to thanks ===
* Xuzz/IceFire - you inspired me to begin coding
* Jacol - Giving some advice when i made EWES
* Remark - Helped with 8x8 tiling when i made PPMtool
* Steven for documenting [[Flipnote_Files/PPM|PPM files]]
* You - for (hopefully) using my stuff. :D

User:Pbsds

2010-03-25T21:01:30Z

Pbsds:

Im just a 13 years old boy who has always dreamed of making something that others can use.(music, programs 'n games)

My blog: http://pbsds.blogspot.com/
=== Shit I made: ===
*[[/PPMtool|PPMtool]]
*EWES
*Wii n DSi.au3 (Not released yet tho...)

=== People to thanks ===
* Xuzz/IceFire - you inspired me to begin coding
* Jacol - Giving some advice when i made EWES
* Remark - Helped with 8x8 tiling when i made PPMtool
* Steven for documenting [[Flipnote_Files/PPM|PPM files]]
* You - for (hopefully) using my stuff. :D

User:Pbsds

2010-03-25T21:01:11Z

Pbsds:

Im just a 13 years old boy who has always dreamed of making something that others can use.(music, programs 'n games)
My blog: http://pbsds.blogspot.com/
=== Shit I made: ===
*[[/PPMtool|PPMtool]]
*EWES
*Wii n DSi.au3 (Not released yet tho...)

=== People to thanks ===
* Xuzz/IceFire - you inspired me to begin coding
* Jacol - Giving some advice when i made EWES
* Remark - Helped with 8x8 tiling when i made PPMtool
* Steven for documenting [[Flipnote_Files/PPM|PPM files]]
* You - for (hopefully) using my stuff. :D

Talk:Flipnote Files/PPM

2010-03-25T14:52:49Z

Pbsds:

File:Temp.png

2010-03-25T14:51:34Z

Pbsds:

User:Pbsds

2010-02-20T22:01:12Z

Talk:Flipnote Files/PPM

2010-01-05T14:15:31Z

Pbsds:

Talk:Flipnote Files/PPM

2010-01-05T12:32:47Z

Pbsds: