How it works...

The resource system in Qt stores binary files, such as images and translation files, in the executable when it gets compiled. It reads the resource collection files (.qrc) in your project to locate the files that need to be stored in the executable and include them in the build process. A .qrc file looks something like this:

<!DOCTYPE RCC><RCC version="1.0">
 <qresource>
 <file>images/copy.png</file>
 <file>images/cut.png</file>
 <file>images/new.png</file>
 <file>images/open.png</file>
 <file>images/paste.png</file>
 <file>images/save.png</file>
 </qresource>
 </RCC>

It uses the XML format to store the paths of the resource files, which are relative to the directory that contains them. The listed resource files must be located in the same directory as the .qrc file, or one of its subdirectories.