The resource data can be of any kind. The resource data is not directly used or validated by the deployment subsystem or the loader. The NGWS runtime provides a default resource data format. Files that contain resource data in this format typically have the .resource file type. Resources can also be used for data in other formats such as .GIF, .WAV, etc.
The resource data is available to a client as a managed stream. The following figure shows the resource model.
Figure. Resource Model
All resource data in a runtime PE file is kept in a contiguous block pointed to by the “Resources” entry in the COR Header. The first DWORD of each individual resource carries the length of the resource. When referring to resources in PE files, the assembly manifest contains the offset of the beginning of the resource within the resource data. The following figure shows the layout of resources in PE files:
Figure. Resources in PE Files