The CU_ file extension was used in some previous version of Microsoft Windows for one of the compressed files utilized by WinHelp. Microsoft WinHelp is a proprietary format for online help files that can be displayed by the Microsoft Help browser winhelp.exe or winhlp32.exe. The file format is based on Rich Text Format (RTF). It remained a popular Help platform from Windows 3.0 platform through Windows XP. WinHelp was removed in Windows Vista to discourage software developers from using the obsolete format and encourage use of newer help formats.