.manifest

A manifest file in Microsoft Windows is a text file with .manifest extension that accompanies and holds metadata for executable files and DLLs. It contains the XML version, encoding (UTF-8 etc.), assembly version trust information, privileges requested and even execution level.

An example of .manifest file is as follows:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
 <assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
   <assemblyIdentity version="1.0.0.0" name="MyApplication.app"/>
   <trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2">
     <security>
       <requestedPrivileges xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
         <requestedExecutionLevel level="asInvoker" uiAccess="false"/>
       </requestedPrivileges>
     </security>
   </trustInfo>
 </assembly>

See Comparison of privilege authorization features and Side-by-side assembly.