SO files can technically be opened with the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), but these types of files aren't intended to be viewed or used like you might another file type. Instead, they're just placed in an appropriate folder and used automatically by other programs via Linux's dynamic link loader.

In general, libraries are collections of data and functions written to be reused by other programmers or programs. On Linux, archive libraries end with the . a extension, and shared object libraries end with the . so extension.

Once you have Cygwin installed, you can use the objdump command to disassemble the . so file and view the assembly code. Keep in mind that decompiling code that you don't have permission to access or modify may be illegal in some cases.

Files with the “. so” extension are dynamically linked shared object libraries. These are often referred to more simply as shared objects, shared libraries, or shared object libraries. Shared object libraries are dynamically loaded at run time.