# Use C/C++ standard fixed sized integers in the decompiler

**URL:** <https://community.hex-rays.com/t/use-c-c-standard-fixed-sized-integers-in-the-decompiler/628>\
**Category:** Feature requests\
**Created:** [December 22, 2025, 10:33pm UTC](https://community.hex-rays.com/t/use-c-c-standard-fixed-sized-integers-in-the-decompiler/628 "2025-12-22T22:33:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![void\_17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d2c977/32.png) [@void\_17](https://community.hex-rays.com/u/void_17)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 10:33pm UTC](https://community.hex-rays.com/t/use-c-c-standard-fixed-sized-integers-in-the-decompiler/628/1 "2025-12-22T22:33:50Z")

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Since C99 and C++11, the C and C++ languages have standardized fixed-sized integer typedefs from the `<stdint.h>` header, which are very useful when you need 100% precise binary format. Open source decompilers like RetDec use these fixed sized integers extensively which makes it easier to actually use the decompiled code and refactor it.

Currently, the Hex-Rays decompiler uses its own typedefs, which are based on legacy WIN32 typedefs from WinAPI (`_DWORD`,`_BYTE`, `_QWORD`, etc.). I wish there was a way (maybe an option in the decompiler plugin settings) to force Hex-Rays to use C/C++ fixed sized integers from `<stdint.h>` rather than use these legacy Windows typedefs.

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**Author:** ![ilfak](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.hex-rays.com/ilfak/32/49_2.png) [@ilfak](https://community.hex-rays.com/u/ilfak)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://community.hex-rays.com/t/use-c-c-standard-fixed-sized-integers-in-the-decompiler/628/2 "2025-12-22T22:57:03Z")

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I understand your desire but the partial types like \_DWORD are not the same as int32\_t because they are not completely defined. For example, they don’t have a fixed sign and may be replaced by a more precise defined type in some contexts. However, you can always specify the type of a variable to be more precise that a partial type.

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**Author:** ![Milanek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Milanek](https://community.hex-rays.com/u/Milanek)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://community.hex-rays.com/t/use-c-c-standard-fixed-sized-integers-in-the-decompiler/628/3 "2025-12-28T17:35:20Z")

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Those are not legacy Windows typedefs. The definitions are in `idafolder/include/defs.h`.