Sometimes I download a Windows executable and when I run it, I get an error message "Unsupported 16-bit Application":

This happens when I download a Windows executable via the command-line, and fail to pay attention to the URL.

Like this executable on GitHub:

Downloading with curl from this URL:

And when I run this, I get the Unsupported 16-bit Application" error. That's because I made a mistake, and downloaded the HTML page from GitHub in stead of the PE file:

When you make this mistake, Windows will often show you that 16-bit error.

With this example from GitHub, I should have downloaded with the "raw" URL.

Didier Stevens
Senior handler
Microsoft MVP
blog.DidierStevens.com