HEXtreme

HEXtreme is an advanced and free tool with approachable options that enables you to directly examine a file via hexadecimal display, as well as to edit code and save modifications. It supports color-coded hex and gives you the possibility to process up to 4GB-sized files.

Simple GUI with multi-tabs

It's packed in an outdated interface with a simple menu bar and toolbar, where files can be dropped in the main window to view their hex code. Multiple tabs are supported, so you can open multiple files and easily cycle through them.

View and edit hex code

It's possible to edit text, look up hex, ASCII or Unicode strings in the file using a basic search function, go to a specific address, set the bits per line, hide addresses, display only hex or ASCII code (or both), as well as customize colors when it comes to the normal and selected text, background, and address within the hex code. Color schemes can be saved as schemes.

Configure general settings

The tool, search, goto, value and status bar can be hidden to make the main window as minimalistic as possible. Moreover, HEXtreme lets you select a different UI theme, overwrite the original file with the edited hex, create a new file, or print the document.The file can be previewed for printing, and you can set the paper size, source and orientation. If you have a virtual printer installed, you can create a PDF or other formatted file instead of a physical copy of it. Meanwhile, mistakes can be fixed with the undo button. Keyboard shortcuts are supported.

Evaluation and conclusion

It was light on system resources consumption in our tests, using low CPU and RAM. There were no compatibility issues with newer Windows, although HEXtreme hasn't received updates for a long time. There is no help documentation available, but the options are fairly intuitive, especially if you have some minimum experience with hex editors.