Comparison of archive formats
Encyclopedia
There are many popular computer data archive format
s for creating and maintaining archive file
s. The tables below compare many popular archive formats.
Improved versions of archive formats added the ability to compress
the data to consume less storage space and network bandwidth. There are multiple compression algorithms available to statistically compress data. Some kinds of data can be highly compressed and some kinds of data do not benefit from compression.
Currently, archive formats are also used to package
software files for distribution, installation, and execution.
and Windows
operating systems required filenames to include a three-character extension to identify the file type and use. Filename extensions must be unique for each type of file. Many operating systems identify a file's type from its contents without the need for an extension in its name. However, the use of three-character extensions has been embraced as a useful and efficient shorthand for identifying file types—both for computer software, and for humans.
had a higher rate of errors than is expected for magnetic media today. Many archive formats contain extra data embedded in the files in order to detect data storage or transmission errors, and the software used to read the archive files contain logic
to detect errors.
There are many popular computer data archive format
s for creating and maintaining archive file
s. The tables below compare many popular archive formats.
Improved versions of archive formats added the ability to compress
the data to consume less storage space and network bandwidth. There are multiple compression algorithms available to statistically compress data. Some kinds of data can be highly compressed and some kinds of data do not benefit from compression.
Currently, archive formats are also used to package
software files for distribution, installation, and execution.
and Windows
operating systems required filenames to include a three-character extension to identify the file type and use. Filename extensions must be unique for each type of file. Many operating systems identify a file's type from its contents without the need for an extension in its name. However, the use of three-character extensions has been embraced as a useful and efficient shorthand for identifying file types—both for computer software, and for humans.
had a higher rate of errors than is expected for magnetic media today. Many archive formats contain extra data embedded in the files in order to detect data storage or transmission errors, and the software used to read the archive files contain logic
to detect errors.
There are many popular computer data archive format
s for creating and maintaining archive file
s. The tables below compare many popular archive formats.
Improved versions of archive formats added the ability to compress
the data to consume less storage space and network bandwidth. There are multiple compression algorithms available to statistically compress data. Some kinds of data can be highly compressed and some kinds of data do not benefit from compression.
Currently, archive formats are also used to package
software files for distribution, installation, and execution.
and Windows
operating systems required filenames to include a three-character extension to identify the file type and use. Filename extensions must be unique for each type of file. Many operating systems identify a file's type from its contents without the need for an extension in its name. However, the use of three-character extensions has been embraced as a useful and efficient shorthand for identifying file types—both for computer software, and for humans.
had a higher rate of errors than is expected for magnetic media today. Many archive formats contain extra data embedded in the files in order to detect data storage or transmission errors, and the software used to read the archive files contain logic
to detect errors.
Archive format
An archive format is the file format of an archive file. The archive format is determined by the file archiver. Some archive formats are well-defined by their authors and have become conventions supported by multiple vendors and/or open-source communities....
s for creating and maintaining archive file
Archive file
An archive file is a file that is composed of one or more files along with metadata that can include source volume and medium information, file directory structure, error detection and recovery information, file comments, and usually employs some form of lossless compression. Archive files may be...
s. The tables below compare many popular archive formats.
Purpose
The earliest use of archive formats was for backup, mobility, and archiving.Improved versions of archive formats added the ability to compress
Compress
Compress is a UNIX compression program based on the LZC compression method, which is an LZW implementation using variable size pointers as in LZ78.- Description of program :Files compressed by compress are typically given the extension .Z...
the data to consume less storage space and network bandwidth. There are multiple compression algorithms available to statistically compress data. Some kinds of data can be highly compressed and some kinds of data do not benefit from compression.
Currently, archive formats are also used to package
Package
Package can refer to:* Packaging and labeling* Package testing* Mail item larger than a letter* Chip package or chip carrier, in electronics, the material added around a component or integrated circuit to allow it to be handled without damage and incorporated into a circuit* Automotive package, in...
software files for distribution, installation, and execution.
Filename extension
The DOSDOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
and Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
operating systems required filenames to include a three-character extension to identify the file type and use. Filename extensions must be unique for each type of file. Many operating systems identify a file's type from its contents without the need for an extension in its name. However, the use of three-character extensions has been embraced as a useful and efficient shorthand for identifying file types—both for computer software, and for humans.
Integrity check
Archive files are often stored on magnetic media, which is subject to data storage errors. Early tape mediaMagnetic tape data storage
Magnetic tape data storage uses digital recording on to magnetic tape to store digital information. Modern magnetic tape is most commonly packaged in cartridges and cassettes. The device that performs actual writing or reading of data is a tape drive...
had a higher rate of errors than is expected for magnetic media today. Many archive formats contain extra data embedded in the files in order to detect data storage or transmission errors, and the software used to read the archive files contain logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
to detect errors.
Recovery record
Many archive formats contain redundant data embedded in the files in order to detect data storage or transmission errors, and the software used to read the archive files contain logic to detect and correct errors.Encryption
In order to protect the data being stored or transferred from being read if intercepted, many archive formats include the capability to encrypt the data. There are multiple mathematical algorithms available to encrypt data.Comparison
| Format | Filename extension | Created by | Introduced in | Based on | Purpose | Integrity check | Recovery record | Encryption supported | Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... filenames |
Modification date resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archiving only | ||||||||||
| Archive Ar (Unix) The archiver is a Unix utility that maintains groups of files as a single archive file. Today, ar is generally used only to create and update static library files that the link editor or linker uses; it can be used to create archives for any purpose, but has been largely replaced by tar for... (ar) |
.a | CSRG | Original | Archive | ||||||
| cpio Cpio cpio is a general file archiver utility and its associated file format. It is primarily installed on Unix-like computer operating systems. The software utility was originally intended as a tape archiving program as part of the Programmer's Workbench , and has been a component of virtually every... |
.cpio | Bell Labs Bell Labs Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its... |
Unix System V UNIX System V Unix System V, commonly abbreviated SysV , is one of the first commercial versions of the Unix operating system. It was originally developed by American Telephone & Telegraph and first released in 1983. Four major versions of System V were released, termed Releases 1, 2, 3 and 4... (1983) |
Archive | , select formats only | |||||
| Shell Archive Shar In the Unix operating system, shar is an archive format. A shar file is a shell script, and executing it will recreate the files. This is a type of self-extracting archive file. It can be created with the Unix shar utility... (shar and makeself) |
.shar, .run | 4.4BSD (1994) | Original | Archive | , commonly MD5 | |||||
| Tape Archive Tar (file format) In computing, tar is both a file format and the name of a program used to handle such files... (tar) |
.tar | Bell Labs Bell Labs Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its... |
Version 6 Unix Version 6 Unix Sixth Edition Unix, also called Version 6 Unix or just V6, was the first version of the Unix operating system to see wide release outside Bell Labs. It was released in May 1975 and, like its direct predecessor, targeted the DEC PDP-11 family of minicomputers... (1975) |
Archive | , metadata only, by itself, but yes if used with gzip | 1 s | ||||
| Extended TAR format (pax) | .tar | OpenGroup | 2001 | Sun proposal + TAR | Archive | metadata | arbitrary (typically 1 ns) | |||
| BagIt BagIt BagIt is a hierarchical file packaging format designed to support disk-based storage and network transfer of arbitrary digital content. A "bag" consists of a "payload" and "tags", which are metadata files intended to document the storage and transfer of the bag... |
- | The Library of Congress | 2007 | file system | Archive | |||||
| Archiving and Compression | ||||||||||
| 7z 7z 7z is a compressed archive file format that supports several different data compression, encryption and pre-processing algorithms. The 7z format initially appeared as implemented by the 7-Zip archiver. The 7-Zip program is publicly available under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public... |
.7z | Igor Pavlov | 2000 | LZMA | Compressed archive | , AES | 1 ms (maybe better?) | |||
| ACE ACE (file format) In computing, ACE is a proprietary data compression archive file format developed by Marcel Lemke, and later bought by e-merge GmbH. The peak of its popularity was 1999—2001, when it provided slightly better compression rates than RAR, which has since become more popular.-WinAce:WinAce, maintained... |
.ace | Marcel Lemke | Compressed archive | , Blowfish | ||||||
| AFA | .afa | Vicente Sánchez-Alarcos | 2009 | Original | Compressed archive | , AES and CAST | ||||
| ARC ARC (file format) ARC is a lossless data compression and archival format by System Enhancement Associates . It was very popular during the early days of networked dial-up BBS. The file format and the program were both called ARC... |
.arc | Thom Henderson (SEA) | 1985 | Compressed archive | 2s | |||||
| ARJ ARJ ARJ is a software tool designed by Robert K. Jung for creating high-efficiency compressed file archives. ARJ is currently on version 2.85 for DOS and 3.15 for Windows and supports 16-bit and 32-bit Intel architectures.ARJ was one of two mainstream archivers for DOS and Windows during early and... |
.arj | Robert Jung | 1991 | AR001 and AR002 | Compressed archive | |||||
| Cabinet Cabinet (file format) In computing, CAB is the Microsoft Windows native compressed archive format. It supports compression and digital signing, and is used in a variety of Microsoft installation engines: Setup API, Device Installer, AdvPack and Windows Installer.Though Cabinet was originally called Diamond, its .CAB... |
.cab | Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions... |
Windows 3.1 (1992) | Compressed archive | PKCS7 Authenticode signature | (with SDK) | 2s | |||
| Compact File Set CFS (Compact File Set file format) Compact File Set is an open archive file format and software distribution container file format.- Overview :The Compact File Set is an open archive file format and software distribution container file format.... |
.cfs | Joe Lowe (Pismo Technic Inc.) | April 1, 2008 | ZIP/LZMA | Compressed archive | |||||
| Compact Pro Compact Pro Compact Pro is a software data compression utility for archiving and compressing files on the Apple Macintosh platform. It was a major competitor to StuffIt in the early 1990s, producing smaller archives in less time, as well as being distributed via shareware which greatly helped its popularity... |
.cpt | Bill Goodman | May 5, 1990 (as "Compactor") | Original | Compressed archive | |||||
| Disk Archive DAR (Disk Archiver) DAR is a command-line archiving tool and a replacement for tar.It features:*Support for slices, archives split over multiple files of a particular size.*Option of deleting files from the system which are removed in the archive.... (DAR) |
.dar | Denis Corbin | 2002 | Original | Compressed encrypted archive | 1 s | ||||
| DGCA | .dgc | Shin-ichi Tsuruta | 2001 | GCA GCA (file format) In computing, GCA is a freeware compression utility created in 2000 by . GCA is a compressed archive format. It has higher compression capabilities than ZIP, especially with binary files. The next generation of GCA is 'DGCA'. It is not widely used other than by some Japanese programmers for... |
Compressed archive | |||||
| Format | Filename extension | Created by | Introduced in | Based on | Purpose | Integrity check | Recovery record | Encryption supported | Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... filenames |
Modification Date Resolution |
| LHA LHA (file format) LHA is a freeware compression utility and associated file format. It was created in 1988 by , and originally named LHarc. A complete rewrite of LHarc, tentatively named LHx, was eventually released as LH. It was then renamed to LHA to avoid conflicting with the then-new MS-DOS 5.0 LH command... (also LZH) |
.lzh, .lha | Haruyasu Yoshizaki | 1988 | Frozen | Compressed archive | Only on recent LHA releases | 1–2 s | |||
| LZX | .lzx | Jonathan Forbes and Tomi Poutanen | 1995 | LZ77 | Compressed archive | Only on recent LZX releases | ||||
| Sparc SPARC SPARC is a RISC instruction set architecture developed by Sun Microsystems and introduced in mid-1987.... |
.arc | David Pilling | 1989 | Compressed archive | ||||||
| WinMount format | .mou | ? | 2007 | ? | Compressed archive | |||||
| Macintosh Disk Image | .dmg | Apple Computer Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad... |
Macintosh System 7 System 7 (Macintosh) System 7 is a single-user graphical user interface-based operating system for Macintosh computers. It was introduced on May 13, 1991 by Apple Computer. It succeeded System 6, and was the main Macintosh operating system until it was succeeded by Mac OS 8 in 1997... (1991) |
Original | Compressed archive | |||||
| Partition Image Partimage Partimage is a disk cloning utility for Linux/UNIX environments. Partimage can save partitions in many formats to a disk image. Utilities such as Partimage are useful in a number of situations which are commonly encountered by network administrators as well as advanced computer users who maintain... (PartImage) |
? | François Dupoux and Franck Ladurelle | 2000 | Compressed archive | ||||||
| PAQ PAQ PAQ is a series of lossless data compression archivers that have evolved through collaborative development to top rankings on several benchmarks measuring compression ratio . Specialized versions of PAQ have won the Hutter Prize and the Calgary Challenge... (Several formats) |
? | Matt Mahoney | 2002–2006 | Original | Compressed archive | |||||
| PEA | .pea | Giorgio Tani | 2006 | Original, Deflate based compression | Compressed archive | Adler32, CRC32, CRC64, MD5, SHA1, RIPEMD-160, SHA256, SHA512, Whirlpool | Authenticated Encryption, AES128 and AES256 in EAX mode | system dependent | arbitrary | |
| PIM | .pim | Ilia Muraviev | 2004–2008 | Original | Compressed archive | |||||
| Quadruple D Quadruple D Quadruple D is a DirectX library for Delphi developed by a Japanese programmer named "SANDMAN"... |
.qda | Taku Hayase (aka sandman) | 1997 | Compressed archive | ||||||
| RAR RAR (file format) RAR stands for Roshal ARchive. It is a proprietary archive file format that supports data compression, error recovery, and file spanning... |
.rar | Eugene Roshal | 1993 | Original | Compressed archive | , AES | 0.1 µs or 2 s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... |
|||
| RK | .rk | M Software, Ltd. | 2004 | Original | Compressed archive | , AES, Square, Twofish | 1s | |||
| StuffIt StuffIt StuffIt is a family of computer software utilities for archiving and compressing files on the Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms: it was originally produced for the Macintosh. An old version for Linux and Sun Solaris 2.7 or later is also available... (also SIT) |
.sit | Raymond Lau | 1987 | Compressed archive | ||||||
| StuffIt X (also SITx) | .sitx | Aladdin/Allume Systems Allume Systems Allume Systems was a software developer, originally founded in 1988 by David Schargel and Jonathan Kahn in New York City as Aladdin Systems to develop, publish and distribute software for personal computers. Allume was incorporated in January 1989... |
2002 | Compressed archive | , RC4,Blowfish,AES,DES | |||||
| UltraCompressor II | .uc .uc0 .uc2 .ucn .ur2 .ue2 | Nico de Vries | 1992–1996 | LZ77 and Huffman coding Huffman coding In computer science and information theory, Huffman coding is an entropy encoding algorithm used for lossless data compression. The term refers to the use of a variable-length code table for encoding a source symbol where the variable-length code table has been derived in a particular way based on... |
Compressed archive | , triple DES | ? | |||
| Windows Image | .wim | Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions... |
Original | Compressed archive | ||||||
| ZIP ZIP (file format) Zip is a file format used for data compression and archiving. A zip file contains one or more files that have been compressed, to reduce file size, or stored as is... (also PKZIP) |
.zip | Phil Katz | 1989 | DEFLATE | Compressed archive | , AES | 1 s | |||
| Format | Filename extension | Created by | Introduced in | Based on | Purpose | Integrity check | Recovery record | Encryption supported | Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... filenames |
Modification Date Resolution |
| Software Packaging and Distribution | ||||||||||
| Debian package Deb (file format) deb is the extension of the Debian software package format and the most often used name for such binary packages. Like the "Deb" part of the term Debian, it originates from the name of Debra, erstwhile girlfriend and now ex-wife of Debian's founder Ian Murdock.Debian packages are also used in... (deb) |
.deb | Debian Debian Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential... |
Debian Debian Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential... 0.91 (1994) |
ar Ar (Unix) The archiver is a Unix utility that maintains groups of files as a single archive file. Today, ar is generally used only to create and update static library files that the link editor or linker uses; it can be used to create archives for any purpose, but has been largely replaced by tar for... , tar Tar (file format) In computing, tar is both a file format and the name of a program used to handle such files... , and gzip Gzip Gzip is any of several software applications used for file compression and decompression. The term usually refers to the GNU Project's implementation, "gzip" standing for GNU zip. It is based on the DEFLATE algorithm, which is a combination of Lempel-Ziv and Huffman coding... |
Software package | 1s | ||||
| Macintosh Installer Installer (Mac OS X) Installer is an application included in Mac OS X which extracts and installs files out of .pkg packages. It was created by NeXT, and is now maintained by Apple Inc... |
.pkg, .mpkg (metapackage) | NeXT NeXT Next, Inc. was an American computer company headquartered in Redwood City, California, that developed and manufactured a series of computer workstations intended for the higher education and business markets... |
NeXTSTEP NEXTSTEP NeXTSTEP was the object-oriented, multitasking operating system developed by NeXT Computer to run on its range of proprietary workstation computers, such as the NeXTcube... 1.0 (1989) |
pax and gzip Gzip Gzip is any of several software applications used for file compression and decompression. The term usually refers to the GNU Project's implementation, "gzip" standing for GNU zip. It is based on the DEFLATE algorithm, which is a combination of Lempel-Ziv and Huffman coding... |
Software package | |||||
| RPM Package Manager RPM Package Manager RPM Package Manager is a package management system. The name RPM variously refers to the .rpm file format, files in this format, software packaged in such files, and the package manager itself... (RPM) |
.rpm | Red Hat Red Hat Red Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide.... |
Red Hat Linux Red Hat Linux Red Hat Linux, assembled by the company Red Hat, was a popular Linux based operating system until its discontinuation in 2004.Red Hat Linux 1.0 was released on November 3, 1994... 1.0 (1995) |
cpio Cpio cpio is a general file archiver utility and its associated file format. It is primarily installed on Unix-like computer operating systems. The software utility was originally intended as a tape archiving program as part of the Programmer's Workbench , and has been a component of virtually every... and gzip Gzip Gzip is any of several software applications used for file compression and decompression. The term usually refers to the GNU Project's implementation, "gzip" standing for GNU zip. It is based on the DEFLATE algorithm, which is a combination of Lempel-Ziv and Huffman coding... |
Software package | |||||
| Slackware Slackware Slackware is a free and open source Linux-based operating system. It was one of the earliest operating systems to be built on top of the Linux kernel and is the oldest currently being maintained. Slackware was created by Patrick Volkerding of Slackware Linux, Inc. in 1993... Package |
.tgz | Patrick Volkerding Patrick Volkerding Patrick Volkerding is the founder and maintainer of the Slackware Linux distribution. He is the "Slackware Benevolent Dictator for Life." Volkerding earned a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Minnesota State University Moorhead in 1993.For a short while, Chris Lumens and others assisted... |
Slackware Slackware Slackware is a free and open source Linux-based operating system. It was one of the earliest operating systems to be built on top of the Linux kernel and is the oldest currently being maintained. Slackware was created by Patrick Volkerding of Slackware Linux, Inc. in 1993... 1.0 (1993) |
tar Tar (file format) In computing, tar is both a file format and the name of a program used to handle such files... and gzip Gzip Gzip is any of several software applications used for file compression and decompression. The term usually refers to the GNU Project's implementation, "gzip" standing for GNU zip. It is based on the DEFLATE algorithm, which is a combination of Lempel-Ziv and Huffman coding... |
Software package | |||||
| Windows Installer Windows Installer The Windows Installer is a software component used for the installation, maintenance, and removal of software on modern Microsoft Windows systems... (also MSI) |
.msi | Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions... |
Windows 2000 Windows 2000 Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the... (2000) |
OLE Structured Storage, Cabinet Cabinet (file format) In computing, CAB is the Microsoft Windows native compressed archive format. It supports compression and digital signing, and is used in a variety of Microsoft installation engines: Setup API, Device Installer, AdvPack and Windows Installer.Though Cabinet was originally called Diamond, its .CAB... and SQL SQL SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems .... |
Software package | PKCS7 Authenticode Signature | 2s | |||
| Java Archive JAR (file format) In software, JAR is an archive file format typically used to aggregate many Java class files and associated metadata and resources into one file to distribute application software or libraries on the Java platform.JAR files are built on the ZIP file format and have the .jar file extension... (JAR) |
.jar | Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982... |
JDK 1.1 (1997) | PKZIP PKZIP PKZIP is an archiving tool originally written by Phil Katz and marketed by his company PKWARE, Inc. The common "PK" prefix used in both PKZIP and PKWARE stands for "Phil Katz".-History:... |
Software package | |||||
There are many popular computer data archive format
Archive format
An archive format is the file format of an archive file. The archive format is determined by the file archiver. Some archive formats are well-defined by their authors and have become conventions supported by multiple vendors and/or open-source communities....
s for creating and maintaining archive file
Archive file
An archive file is a file that is composed of one or more files along with metadata that can include source volume and medium information, file directory structure, error detection and recovery information, file comments, and usually employs some form of lossless compression. Archive files may be...
s. The tables below compare many popular archive formats.
Purpose
The earliest use of archive formats was for backup, mobility, and archiving.Improved versions of archive formats added the ability to compress
Compress
Compress is a UNIX compression program based on the LZC compression method, which is an LZW implementation using variable size pointers as in LZ78.- Description of program :Files compressed by compress are typically given the extension .Z...
the data to consume less storage space and network bandwidth. There are multiple compression algorithms available to statistically compress data. Some kinds of data can be highly compressed and some kinds of data do not benefit from compression.
Currently, archive formats are also used to package
Package
Package can refer to:* Packaging and labeling* Package testing* Mail item larger than a letter* Chip package or chip carrier, in electronics, the material added around a component or integrated circuit to allow it to be handled without damage and incorporated into a circuit* Automotive package, in...
software files for distribution, installation, and execution.
Filename extension
The DOSDOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
and Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
operating systems required filenames to include a three-character extension to identify the file type and use. Filename extensions must be unique for each type of file. Many operating systems identify a file's type from its contents without the need for an extension in its name. However, the use of three-character extensions has been embraced as a useful and efficient shorthand for identifying file types—both for computer software, and for humans.
Integrity check
Archive files are often stored on magnetic media, which is subject to data storage errors. Early tape mediaMagnetic tape data storage
Magnetic tape data storage uses digital recording on to magnetic tape to store digital information. Modern magnetic tape is most commonly packaged in cartridges and cassettes. The device that performs actual writing or reading of data is a tape drive...
had a higher rate of errors than is expected for magnetic media today. Many archive formats contain extra data embedded in the files in order to detect data storage or transmission errors, and the software used to read the archive files contain logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
to detect errors.
Recovery record
Many archive formats contain redundant data embedded in the files in order to detect data storage or transmission errors, and the software used to read the archive files contain logic to detect and correct errors.Encryption
In order to protect the data being stored or transferred from being read if intercepted, many archive formats include the capability to encrypt the data. There are multiple mathematical algorithms available to encrypt data.Comparison
| Format | Filename extension | Created by | Introduced in | Based on | Purpose | Integrity check | Recovery record | Encryption supported | Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... filenames |
Modification date resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archiving only | ||||||||||
| Archive Ar (Unix) The archiver is a Unix utility that maintains groups of files as a single archive file. Today, ar is generally used only to create and update static library files that the link editor or linker uses; it can be used to create archives for any purpose, but has been largely replaced by tar for... (ar) |
.a | CSRG | Original | Archive | ||||||
| cpio Cpio cpio is a general file archiver utility and its associated file format. It is primarily installed on Unix-like computer operating systems. The software utility was originally intended as a tape archiving program as part of the Programmer's Workbench , and has been a component of virtually every... |
.cpio | Bell Labs Bell Labs Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its... |
Unix System V UNIX System V Unix System V, commonly abbreviated SysV , is one of the first commercial versions of the Unix operating system. It was originally developed by American Telephone & Telegraph and first released in 1983. Four major versions of System V were released, termed Releases 1, 2, 3 and 4... (1983) |
Archive | , select formats only | |||||
| Shell Archive Shar In the Unix operating system, shar is an archive format. A shar file is a shell script, and executing it will recreate the files. This is a type of self-extracting archive file. It can be created with the Unix shar utility... (shar and makeself) |
.shar, .run | 4.4BSD (1994) | Original | Archive | , commonly MD5 | |||||
| Tape Archive Tar (file format) In computing, tar is both a file format and the name of a program used to handle such files... (tar) |
.tar | Bell Labs Bell Labs Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its... |
Version 6 Unix Version 6 Unix Sixth Edition Unix, also called Version 6 Unix or just V6, was the first version of the Unix operating system to see wide release outside Bell Labs. It was released in May 1975 and, like its direct predecessor, targeted the DEC PDP-11 family of minicomputers... (1975) |
Archive | , metadata only, by itself, but yes if used with gzip | 1 s | ||||
| Extended TAR format (pax) | .tar | OpenGroup | 2001 | Sun proposal + TAR | Archive | metadata | arbitrary (typically 1 ns) | |||
| BagIt BagIt BagIt is a hierarchical file packaging format designed to support disk-based storage and network transfer of arbitrary digital content. A "bag" consists of a "payload" and "tags", which are metadata files intended to document the storage and transfer of the bag... |
- | The Library of Congress | 2007 | file system | Archive | |||||
| Archiving and Compression | ||||||||||
| 7z 7z 7z is a compressed archive file format that supports several different data compression, encryption and pre-processing algorithms. The 7z format initially appeared as implemented by the 7-Zip archiver. The 7-Zip program is publicly available under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public... |
.7z | Igor Pavlov | 2000 | LZMA | Compressed archive | , AES | 1 ms (maybe better?) | |||
| ACE ACE (file format) In computing, ACE is a proprietary data compression archive file format developed by Marcel Lemke, and later bought by e-merge GmbH. The peak of its popularity was 1999—2001, when it provided slightly better compression rates than RAR, which has since become more popular.-WinAce:WinAce, maintained... |
.ace | Marcel Lemke | Compressed archive | , Blowfish | ||||||
| AFA | .afa | Vicente Sánchez-Alarcos | 2009 | Original | Compressed archive | , AES and CAST | ||||
| ARC ARC (file format) ARC is a lossless data compression and archival format by System Enhancement Associates . It was very popular during the early days of networked dial-up BBS. The file format and the program were both called ARC... |
.arc | Thom Henderson (SEA) | 1985 | Compressed archive | 2s | |||||
| ARJ ARJ ARJ is a software tool designed by Robert K. Jung for creating high-efficiency compressed file archives. ARJ is currently on version 2.85 for DOS and 3.15 for Windows and supports 16-bit and 32-bit Intel architectures.ARJ was one of two mainstream archivers for DOS and Windows during early and... |
.arj | Robert Jung | 1991 | AR001 and AR002 | Compressed archive | |||||
| Cabinet Cabinet (file format) In computing, CAB is the Microsoft Windows native compressed archive format. It supports compression and digital signing, and is used in a variety of Microsoft installation engines: Setup API, Device Installer, AdvPack and Windows Installer.Though Cabinet was originally called Diamond, its .CAB... |
.cab | Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions... |
Windows 3.1 (1992) | Compressed archive | PKCS7 Authenticode signature | (with SDK) | 2s | |||
| Compact File Set CFS (Compact File Set file format) Compact File Set is an open archive file format and software distribution container file format.- Overview :The Compact File Set is an open archive file format and software distribution container file format.... |
.cfs | Joe Lowe (Pismo Technic Inc.) | April 1, 2008 | ZIP/LZMA | Compressed archive | |||||
| Compact Pro Compact Pro Compact Pro is a software data compression utility for archiving and compressing files on the Apple Macintosh platform. It was a major competitor to StuffIt in the early 1990s, producing smaller archives in less time, as well as being distributed via shareware which greatly helped its popularity... |
.cpt | Bill Goodman | May 5, 1990 (as "Compactor") | Original | Compressed archive | |||||
| Disk Archive DAR (Disk Archiver) DAR is a command-line archiving tool and a replacement for tar.It features:*Support for slices, archives split over multiple files of a particular size.*Option of deleting files from the system which are removed in the archive.... (DAR) |
.dar | Denis Corbin | 2002 | Original | Compressed encrypted archive | 1 s | ||||
| DGCA | .dgc | Shin-ichi Tsuruta | 2001 | GCA GCA (file format) In computing, GCA is a freeware compression utility created in 2000 by . GCA is a compressed archive format. It has higher compression capabilities than ZIP, especially with binary files. The next generation of GCA is 'DGCA'. It is not widely used other than by some Japanese programmers for... |
Compressed archive | |||||
| Format | Filename extension | Created by | Introduced in | Based on | Purpose | Integrity check | Recovery record | Encryption supported | Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... filenames |
Modification Date Resolution |
| LHA LHA (file format) LHA is a freeware compression utility and associated file format. It was created in 1988 by , and originally named LHarc. A complete rewrite of LHarc, tentatively named LHx, was eventually released as LH. It was then renamed to LHA to avoid conflicting with the then-new MS-DOS 5.0 LH command... (also LZH) |
.lzh, .lha | Haruyasu Yoshizaki | 1988 | Frozen | Compressed archive | Only on recent LHA releases | 1–2 s | |||
| LZX <-- Watch for anchor name changes --> | .lzx | Jonathan Forbes and Tomi Poutanen | 1995 | LZ77 | Compressed archive | Only on recent LZX releases | ||||
| Sparc SPARC SPARC is a RISC instruction set architecture developed by Sun Microsystems and introduced in mid-1987.... |
.arc | David Pilling | 1989 | Compressed archive | ||||||
| WinMount format | .mou | ? | 2007 | ? | Compressed archive | |||||
| Macintosh Disk Image | .dmg | Apple Computer Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad... |
Macintosh System 7 System 7 (Macintosh) System 7 is a single-user graphical user interface-based operating system for Macintosh computers. It was introduced on May 13, 1991 by Apple Computer. It succeeded System 6, and was the main Macintosh operating system until it was succeeded by Mac OS 8 in 1997... (1991) |
Original | Compressed archive | |||||
| Partition Image Partimage Partimage is a disk cloning utility for Linux/UNIX environments. Partimage can save partitions in many formats to a disk image. Utilities such as Partimage are useful in a number of situations which are commonly encountered by network administrators as well as advanced computer users who maintain... (PartImage) |
? | François Dupoux and Franck Ladurelle | 2000 | Compressed archive | ||||||
| PAQ PAQ PAQ is a series of lossless data compression archivers that have evolved through collaborative development to top rankings on several benchmarks measuring compression ratio . Specialized versions of PAQ have won the Hutter Prize and the Calgary Challenge... (Several formats) |
? | Matt Mahoney | 2002–2006 | Original | Compressed archive | |||||
| PEA | .pea | Giorgio Tani | 2006 | Original, Deflate based compression | Compressed archive | Adler32, CRC32, CRC64, MD5, SHA1, RIPEMD-160, SHA256, SHA512, Whirlpool | Authenticated Encryption, AES128 and AES256 in EAX mode | system dependent | arbitrary | |
| PIM | .pim | Ilia Muraviev | 2004–2008 | Original | Compressed archive | |||||
| Quadruple D Quadruple D Quadruple D is a DirectX library for Delphi developed by a Japanese programmer named "SANDMAN"... |
.qda | Taku Hayase (aka sandman) | 1997 | Compressed archive | ||||||
| RAR RAR (file format) RAR stands for Roshal ARchive. It is a proprietary archive file format that supports data compression, error recovery, and file spanning... |
.rar | Eugene Roshal | 1993 | Original | Compressed archive | , AES | 0.1 µs or 2 s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... |
|||
| RK | .rk | M Software, Ltd. | 2004 | Original | Compressed archive | , AES, Square, Twofish | 1s | |||
| StuffIt StuffIt StuffIt is a family of computer software utilities for archiving and compressing files on the Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms: it was originally produced for the Macintosh. An old version for Linux and Sun Solaris 2.7 or later is also available... (also SIT) |
.sit | Raymond Lau | 1987 | Compressed archive | ||||||
| StuffIt X (also SITx) | .sitx | Aladdin/Allume Systems Allume Systems Allume Systems was a software developer, originally founded in 1988 by David Schargel and Jonathan Kahn in New York City as Aladdin Systems to develop, publish and distribute software for personal computers. Allume was incorporated in January 1989... |
2002 | Compressed archive | , RC4,Blowfish,AES,DES | |||||
| UltraCompressor II | .uc .uc0 .uc2 .ucn .ur2 .ue2 | Nico de Vries | 1992–1996 | LZ77 and Huffman coding Huffman coding In computer science and information theory, Huffman coding is an entropy encoding algorithm used for lossless data compression. The term refers to the use of a variable-length code table for encoding a source symbol where the variable-length code table has been derived in a particular way based on... |
Compressed archive | , triple DES | ? | |||
| Windows Image | .wim | Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions... |
Original | Compressed archive | ||||||
| ZIP ZIP (file format) Zip is a file format used for data compression and archiving. A zip file contains one or more files that have been compressed, to reduce file size, or stored as is... (also PKZIP) |
.zip | Phil Katz | 1989 | DEFLATE | Compressed archive | , AES | 1 s | |||
| Format | Filename extension | Created by | Introduced in | Based on | Purpose | Integrity check | Recovery record | Encryption supported | Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... filenames |
Modification Date Resolution |
| Software Packaging and Distribution | ||||||||||
| Debian package Deb (file format) deb is the extension of the Debian software package format and the most often used name for such binary packages. Like the "Deb" part of the term Debian, it originates from the name of Debra, erstwhile girlfriend and now ex-wife of Debian's founder Ian Murdock.Debian packages are also used in... (deb) |
.deb | Debian Debian Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential... |
Debian Debian Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential... 0.91 (1994) |
ar Ar (Unix) The archiver is a Unix utility that maintains groups of files as a single archive file. Today, ar is generally used only to create and update static library files that the link editor or linker uses; it can be used to create archives for any purpose, but has been largely replaced by tar for... , tar Tar (file format) In computing, tar is both a file format and the name of a program used to handle such files... , and gzip Gzip Gzip is any of several software applications used for file compression and decompression. The term usually refers to the GNU Project's implementation, "gzip" standing for GNU zip. It is based on the DEFLATE algorithm, which is a combination of Lempel-Ziv and Huffman coding... |
Software package | 1s | ||||
| Macintosh Installer Installer (Mac OS X) Installer is an application included in Mac OS X which extracts and installs files out of .pkg packages. It was created by NeXT, and is now maintained by Apple Inc... |
.pkg, .mpkg (metapackage) | NeXT NeXT Next, Inc. was an American computer company headquartered in Redwood City, California, that developed and manufactured a series of computer workstations intended for the higher education and business markets... |
NeXTSTEP NEXTSTEP NeXTSTEP was the object-oriented, multitasking operating system developed by NeXT Computer to run on its range of proprietary workstation computers, such as the NeXTcube... 1.0 (1989) |
pax and gzip Gzip Gzip is any of several software applications used for file compression and decompression. The term usually refers to the GNU Project's implementation, "gzip" standing for GNU zip. It is based on the DEFLATE algorithm, which is a combination of Lempel-Ziv and Huffman coding... |
Software package | |||||
| RPM Package Manager RPM Package Manager RPM Package Manager is a package management system. The name RPM variously refers to the .rpm file format, files in this format, software packaged in such files, and the package manager itself... (RPM) |
.rpm | Red Hat Red Hat Red Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide.... |
Red Hat Linux Red Hat Linux Red Hat Linux, assembled by the company Red Hat, was a popular Linux based operating system until its discontinuation in 2004.Red Hat Linux 1.0 was released on November 3, 1994... 1.0 (1995) |
cpio Cpio cpio is a general file archiver utility and its associated file format. It is primarily installed on Unix-like computer operating systems. The software utility was originally intended as a tape archiving program as part of the Programmer's Workbench , and has been a component of virtually every... and gzip Gzip Gzip is any of several software applications used for file compression and decompression. The term usually refers to the GNU Project's implementation, "gzip" standing for GNU zip. It is based on the DEFLATE algorithm, which is a combination of Lempel-Ziv and Huffman coding... |
Software package | |||||
| Slackware Slackware Slackware is a free and open source Linux-based operating system. It was one of the earliest operating systems to be built on top of the Linux kernel and is the oldest currently being maintained. Slackware was created by Patrick Volkerding of Slackware Linux, Inc. in 1993... Package |
.tgz | Patrick Volkerding Patrick Volkerding Patrick Volkerding is the founder and maintainer of the Slackware Linux distribution. He is the "Slackware Benevolent Dictator for Life." Volkerding earned a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Minnesota State University Moorhead in 1993.For a short while, Chris Lumens and others assisted... |
Slackware Slackware Slackware is a free and open source Linux-based operating system. It was one of the earliest operating systems to be built on top of the Linux kernel and is the oldest currently being maintained. Slackware was created by Patrick Volkerding of Slackware Linux, Inc. in 1993... 1.0 (1993) |
tar Tar (file format) In computing, tar is both a file format and the name of a program used to handle such files... and gzip Gzip Gzip is any of several software applications used for file compression and decompression. The term usually refers to the GNU Project's implementation, "gzip" standing for GNU zip. It is based on the DEFLATE algorithm, which is a combination of Lempel-Ziv and Huffman coding... |
Software package | |||||
| Windows Installer Windows Installer The Windows Installer is a software component used for the installation, maintenance, and removal of software on modern Microsoft Windows systems... (also MSI) |
.msi | Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions... |
Windows 2000 Windows 2000 Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the... (2000) |
OLE Structured Storage, Cabinet Cabinet (file format) In computing, CAB is the Microsoft Windows native compressed archive format. It supports compression and digital signing, and is used in a variety of Microsoft installation engines: Setup API, Device Installer, AdvPack and Windows Installer.Though Cabinet was originally called Diamond, its .CAB... and SQL SQL SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems .... |
Software package | PKCS7 Authenticode Signature | 2s | |||
| Java Archive JAR (file format) In software, JAR is an archive file format typically used to aggregate many Java class files and associated metadata and resources into one file to distribute application software or libraries on the Java platform.JAR files are built on the ZIP file format and have the .jar file extension... (JAR) |
.jar | Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982... |
JDK 1.1 (1997) | PKZIP PKZIP PKZIP is an archiving tool originally written by Phil Katz and marketed by his company PKWARE, Inc. The common "PK" prefix used in both PKZIP and PKWARE stands for "Phil Katz".-History:... |
Software package | |||||
There are many popular computer data archive format
Archive format
An archive format is the file format of an archive file. The archive format is determined by the file archiver. Some archive formats are well-defined by their authors and have become conventions supported by multiple vendors and/or open-source communities....
s for creating and maintaining archive file
Archive file
An archive file is a file that is composed of one or more files along with metadata that can include source volume and medium information, file directory structure, error detection and recovery information, file comments, and usually employs some form of lossless compression. Archive files may be...
s. The tables below compare many popular archive formats.
Purpose
The earliest use of archive formats was for backup, mobility, and archiving.Improved versions of archive formats added the ability to compress
Compress
Compress is a UNIX compression program based on the LZC compression method, which is an LZW implementation using variable size pointers as in LZ78.- Description of program :Files compressed by compress are typically given the extension .Z...
the data to consume less storage space and network bandwidth. There are multiple compression algorithms available to statistically compress data. Some kinds of data can be highly compressed and some kinds of data do not benefit from compression.
Currently, archive formats are also used to package
Package
Package can refer to:* Packaging and labeling* Package testing* Mail item larger than a letter* Chip package or chip carrier, in electronics, the material added around a component or integrated circuit to allow it to be handled without damage and incorporated into a circuit* Automotive package, in...
software files for distribution, installation, and execution.
Filename extension
The DOSDOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
and Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
operating systems required filenames to include a three-character extension to identify the file type and use. Filename extensions must be unique for each type of file. Many operating systems identify a file's type from its contents without the need for an extension in its name. However, the use of three-character extensions has been embraced as a useful and efficient shorthand for identifying file types—both for computer software, and for humans.
Integrity check
Archive files are often stored on magnetic media, which is subject to data storage errors. Early tape mediaMagnetic tape data storage
Magnetic tape data storage uses digital recording on to magnetic tape to store digital information. Modern magnetic tape is most commonly packaged in cartridges and cassettes. The device that performs actual writing or reading of data is a tape drive...
had a higher rate of errors than is expected for magnetic media today. Many archive formats contain extra data embedded in the files in order to detect data storage or transmission errors, and the software used to read the archive files contain logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
to detect errors.
Recovery record
Many archive formats contain redundant data embedded in the files in order to detect data storage or transmission errors, and the software used to read the archive files contain logic to detect and correct errors.Encryption
In order to protect the data being stored or transferred from being read if intercepted, many archive formats include the capability to encrypt the data. There are multiple mathematical algorithms available to encrypt data.Comparison
| Format | Filename extension | Created by | Introduced in | Based on | Purpose | Integrity check | Recovery record | Encryption supported | Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... filenames |
Modification date resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archiving only | ||||||||||
| Archive Ar (Unix) The archiver is a Unix utility that maintains groups of files as a single archive file. Today, ar is generally used only to create and update static library files that the link editor or linker uses; it can be used to create archives for any purpose, but has been largely replaced by tar for... (ar) |
.a | CSRG | Original | Archive | ||||||
| cpio Cpio cpio is a general file archiver utility and its associated file format. It is primarily installed on Unix-like computer operating systems. The software utility was originally intended as a tape archiving program as part of the Programmer's Workbench , and has been a component of virtually every... |
.cpio | Bell Labs Bell Labs Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its... |
Unix System V UNIX System V Unix System V, commonly abbreviated SysV , is one of the first commercial versions of the Unix operating system. It was originally developed by American Telephone & Telegraph and first released in 1983. Four major versions of System V were released, termed Releases 1, 2, 3 and 4... (1983) |
Archive | , select formats only | |||||
| Shell Archive Shar In the Unix operating system, shar is an archive format. A shar file is a shell script, and executing it will recreate the files. This is a type of self-extracting archive file. It can be created with the Unix shar utility... (shar and makeself) |
.shar, .run | 4.4BSD (1994) | Original | Archive | , commonly MD5 | |||||
| Tape Archive Tar (file format) In computing, tar is both a file format and the name of a program used to handle such files... (tar) |
.tar | Bell Labs Bell Labs Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its... |
Version 6 Unix Version 6 Unix Sixth Edition Unix, also called Version 6 Unix or just V6, was the first version of the Unix operating system to see wide release outside Bell Labs. It was released in May 1975 and, like its direct predecessor, targeted the DEC PDP-11 family of minicomputers... (1975) |
Archive | , metadata only, by itself, but yes if used with gzip | 1 s | ||||
| Extended TAR format (pax) | .tar | OpenGroup | 2001 | Sun proposal + TAR | Archive | metadata | arbitrary (typically 1 ns) | |||
| BagIt BagIt BagIt is a hierarchical file packaging format designed to support disk-based storage and network transfer of arbitrary digital content. A "bag" consists of a "payload" and "tags", which are metadata files intended to document the storage and transfer of the bag... |
- | The Library of Congress | 2007 | file system | Archive | |||||
| Archiving and Compression | ||||||||||
| 7z 7z 7z is a compressed archive file format that supports several different data compression, encryption and pre-processing algorithms. The 7z format initially appeared as implemented by the 7-Zip archiver. The 7-Zip program is publicly available under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public... |
.7z | Igor Pavlov | 2000 | LZMA | Compressed archive | , AES | 1 ms (maybe better?) | |||
| ACE ACE (file format) In computing, ACE is a proprietary data compression archive file format developed by Marcel Lemke, and later bought by e-merge GmbH. The peak of its popularity was 1999—2001, when it provided slightly better compression rates than RAR, which has since become more popular.-WinAce:WinAce, maintained... |
.ace | Marcel Lemke | Compressed archive | , Blowfish | ||||||
| AFA | .afa | Vicente Sánchez-Alarcos | 2009 | Original | Compressed archive | , AES and CAST | ||||
| ARC ARC (file format) ARC is a lossless data compression and archival format by System Enhancement Associates . It was very popular during the early days of networked dial-up BBS. The file format and the program were both called ARC... |
.arc | Thom Henderson (SEA) | 1985 | Compressed archive | 2s | |||||
| ARJ ARJ ARJ is a software tool designed by Robert K. Jung for creating high-efficiency compressed file archives. ARJ is currently on version 2.85 for DOS and 3.15 for Windows and supports 16-bit and 32-bit Intel architectures.ARJ was one of two mainstream archivers for DOS and Windows during early and... |
.arj | Robert Jung | 1991 | AR001 and AR002 | Compressed archive | |||||
| Cabinet Cabinet (file format) In computing, CAB is the Microsoft Windows native compressed archive format. It supports compression and digital signing, and is used in a variety of Microsoft installation engines: Setup API, Device Installer, AdvPack and Windows Installer.Though Cabinet was originally called Diamond, its .CAB... |
.cab | Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions... |
Windows 3.1 (1992) | Compressed archive | PKCS7 Authenticode signature | (with SDK) | 2s | |||
| Compact File Set CFS (Compact File Set file format) Compact File Set is an open archive file format and software distribution container file format.- Overview :The Compact File Set is an open archive file format and software distribution container file format.... |
.cfs | Joe Lowe (Pismo Technic Inc.) | April 1, 2008 | ZIP/LZMA | Compressed archive | |||||
| Compact Pro Compact Pro Compact Pro is a software data compression utility for archiving and compressing files on the Apple Macintosh platform. It was a major competitor to StuffIt in the early 1990s, producing smaller archives in less time, as well as being distributed via shareware which greatly helped its popularity... |
.cpt | Bill Goodman | May 5, 1990 (as "Compactor") | Original | Compressed archive | |||||
| Disk Archive DAR (Disk Archiver) DAR is a command-line archiving tool and a replacement for tar.It features:*Support for slices, archives split over multiple files of a particular size.*Option of deleting files from the system which are removed in the archive.... (DAR) |
.dar | Denis Corbin | 2002 | Original | Compressed encrypted archive | 1 s | ||||
| DGCA | .dgc | Shin-ichi Tsuruta | 2001 | GCA GCA (file format) In computing, GCA is a freeware compression utility created in 2000 by . GCA is a compressed archive format. It has higher compression capabilities than ZIP, especially with binary files. The next generation of GCA is 'DGCA'. It is not widely used other than by some Japanese programmers for... |
Compressed archive | |||||
| Format | Filename extension | Created by | Introduced in | Based on | Purpose | Integrity check | Recovery record | Encryption supported | Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... filenames |
Modification Date Resolution |
| LHA LHA (file format) LHA is a freeware compression utility and associated file format. It was created in 1988 by , and originally named LHarc. A complete rewrite of LHarc, tentatively named LHx, was eventually released as LH. It was then renamed to LHA to avoid conflicting with the then-new MS-DOS 5.0 LH command... (also LZH) |
.lzh, .lha | Haruyasu Yoshizaki | 1988 | Frozen | Compressed archive | Only on recent LHA releases | 1–2 s | |||
| LZX <-- Watch for anchor name changes --> | .lzx | Jonathan Forbes and Tomi Poutanen | 1995 | LZ77 | Compressed archive | Only on recent LZX releases | ||||
| Sparc SPARC SPARC is a RISC instruction set architecture developed by Sun Microsystems and introduced in mid-1987.... |
.arc | David Pilling | 1989 | Compressed archive | ||||||
| WinMount format | .mou | ? | 2007 | ? | Compressed archive | |||||
| Macintosh Disk Image | .dmg | Apple Computer Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad... |
Macintosh System 7 System 7 (Macintosh) System 7 is a single-user graphical user interface-based operating system for Macintosh computers. It was introduced on May 13, 1991 by Apple Computer. It succeeded System 6, and was the main Macintosh operating system until it was succeeded by Mac OS 8 in 1997... (1991) |
Original | Compressed archive | |||||
| Partition Image Partimage Partimage is a disk cloning utility for Linux/UNIX environments. Partimage can save partitions in many formats to a disk image. Utilities such as Partimage are useful in a number of situations which are commonly encountered by network administrators as well as advanced computer users who maintain... (PartImage) |
? | François Dupoux and Franck Ladurelle | 2000 | Compressed archive | ||||||
| PAQ PAQ PAQ is a series of lossless data compression archivers that have evolved through collaborative development to top rankings on several benchmarks measuring compression ratio . Specialized versions of PAQ have won the Hutter Prize and the Calgary Challenge... (Several formats) |
? | Matt Mahoney | 2002–2006 | Original | Compressed archive | |||||
| PEA | .pea | Giorgio Tani | 2006 | Original, Deflate based compression | Compressed archive | Adler32, CRC32, CRC64, MD5, SHA1, RIPEMD-160, SHA256, SHA512, Whirlpool | Authenticated Encryption, AES128 and AES256 in EAX mode | system dependent | arbitrary | |
| PIM | .pim | Ilia Muraviev | 2004–2008 | Original | Compressed archive | |||||
| Quadruple D Quadruple D Quadruple D is a DirectX library for Delphi developed by a Japanese programmer named "SANDMAN"... |
.qda | Taku Hayase (aka sandman) | 1997 | Compressed archive | ||||||
| RAR RAR (file format) RAR stands for Roshal ARchive. It is a proprietary archive file format that supports data compression, error recovery, and file spanning... |
.rar | Eugene Roshal | 1993 | Original | Compressed archive | , AES | 0.1 µs or 2 s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... |
|||
| RK | .rk | M Software, Ltd. | 2004 | Original | Compressed archive | , AES, Square, Twofish | 1s | |||
| StuffIt StuffIt StuffIt is a family of computer software utilities for archiving and compressing files on the Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms: it was originally produced for the Macintosh. An old version for Linux and Sun Solaris 2.7 or later is also available... (also SIT) |
.sit | Raymond Lau | 1987 | Compressed archive | ||||||
| StuffIt X (also SITx) | .sitx | Aladdin/Allume Systems Allume Systems Allume Systems was a software developer, originally founded in 1988 by David Schargel and Jonathan Kahn in New York City as Aladdin Systems to develop, publish and distribute software for personal computers. Allume was incorporated in January 1989... |
2002 | Compressed archive | , RC4,Blowfish,AES,DES | |||||
| UltraCompressor II | .uc .uc0 .uc2 .ucn .ur2 .ue2 | Nico de Vries | 1992–1996 | LZ77 and Huffman coding Huffman coding In computer science and information theory, Huffman coding is an entropy encoding algorithm used for lossless data compression. The term refers to the use of a variable-length code table for encoding a source symbol where the variable-length code table has been derived in a particular way based on... |
Compressed archive | , triple DES | ? | |||
| Windows Image | .wim | Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions... |
Original | Compressed archive | ||||||
| ZIP ZIP (file format) Zip is a file format used for data compression and archiving. A zip file contains one or more files that have been compressed, to reduce file size, or stored as is... (also PKZIP) |
.zip | Phil Katz | 1989 | DEFLATE | Compressed archive | , AES | 1 s | |||
| Format | Filename extension | Created by | Introduced in | Based on | Purpose | Integrity check | Recovery record | Encryption supported | Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... filenames |
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| Debian package Deb (file format) deb is the extension of the Debian software package format and the most often used name for such binary packages. Like the "Deb" part of the term Debian, it originates from the name of Debra, erstwhile girlfriend and now ex-wife of Debian's founder Ian Murdock.Debian packages are also used in... (deb) |
.deb | Debian Debian Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential... |
Debian Debian Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential... 0.91 (1994) |
ar Ar (Unix) The archiver is a Unix utility that maintains groups of files as a single archive file. Today, ar is generally used only to create and update static library files that the link editor or linker uses; it can be used to create archives for any purpose, but has been largely replaced by tar for... , tar Tar (file format) In computing, tar is both a file format and the name of a program used to handle such files... , and gzip Gzip Gzip is any of several software applications used for file compression and decompression. The term usually refers to the GNU Project's implementation, "gzip" standing for GNU zip. It is based on the DEFLATE algorithm, which is a combination of Lempel-Ziv and Huffman coding... |
Software package | 1s | ||||
| Macintosh Installer Installer (Mac OS X) Installer is an application included in Mac OS X which extracts and installs files out of .pkg packages. It was created by NeXT, and is now maintained by Apple Inc... |
.pkg, .mpkg (metapackage) | NeXT NeXT Next, Inc. was an American computer company headquartered in Redwood City, California, that developed and manufactured a series of computer workstations intended for the higher education and business markets... |
NeXTSTEP NEXTSTEP NeXTSTEP was the object-oriented, multitasking operating system developed by NeXT Computer to run on its range of proprietary workstation computers, such as the NeXTcube... 1.0 (1989) |
pax and gzip Gzip Gzip is any of several software applications used for file compression and decompression. The term usually refers to the GNU Project's implementation, "gzip" standing for GNU zip. It is based on the DEFLATE algorithm, which is a combination of Lempel-Ziv and Huffman coding... |
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| RPM Package Manager RPM Package Manager RPM Package Manager is a package management system. The name RPM variously refers to the .rpm file format, files in this format, software packaged in such files, and the package manager itself... (RPM) |
.rpm | Red Hat Red Hat Red Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide.... |
Red Hat Linux Red Hat Linux Red Hat Linux, assembled by the company Red Hat, was a popular Linux based operating system until its discontinuation in 2004.Red Hat Linux 1.0 was released on November 3, 1994... 1.0 (1995) |
cpio Cpio cpio is a general file archiver utility and its associated file format. It is primarily installed on Unix-like computer operating systems. The software utility was originally intended as a tape archiving program as part of the Programmer's Workbench , and has been a component of virtually every... and gzip Gzip Gzip is any of several software applications used for file compression and decompression. The term usually refers to the GNU Project's implementation, "gzip" standing for GNU zip. It is based on the DEFLATE algorithm, which is a combination of Lempel-Ziv and Huffman coding... |
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| Slackware Slackware Slackware is a free and open source Linux-based operating system. It was one of the earliest operating systems to be built on top of the Linux kernel and is the oldest currently being maintained. Slackware was created by Patrick Volkerding of Slackware Linux, Inc. in 1993... Package |
.tgz | Patrick Volkerding Patrick Volkerding Patrick Volkerding is the founder and maintainer of the Slackware Linux distribution. He is the "Slackware Benevolent Dictator for Life." Volkerding earned a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Minnesota State University Moorhead in 1993.For a short while, Chris Lumens and others assisted... |
Slackware Slackware Slackware is a free and open source Linux-based operating system. It was one of the earliest operating systems to be built on top of the Linux kernel and is the oldest currently being maintained. Slackware was created by Patrick Volkerding of Slackware Linux, Inc. in 1993... 1.0 (1993) |
tar Tar (file format) In computing, tar is both a file format and the name of a program used to handle such files... and gzip Gzip Gzip is any of several software applications used for file compression and decompression. The term usually refers to the GNU Project's implementation, "gzip" standing for GNU zip. It is based on the DEFLATE algorithm, which is a combination of Lempel-Ziv and Huffman coding... |
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| Windows Installer Windows Installer The Windows Installer is a software component used for the installation, maintenance, and removal of software on modern Microsoft Windows systems... (also MSI) |
.msi | Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions... |
Windows 2000 Windows 2000 Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the... (2000) |
OLE Structured Storage, Cabinet Cabinet (file format) In computing, CAB is the Microsoft Windows native compressed archive format. It supports compression and digital signing, and is used in a variety of Microsoft installation engines: Setup API, Device Installer, AdvPack and Windows Installer.Though Cabinet was originally called Diamond, its .CAB... and SQL SQL SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems .... |
Software package | PKCS7 Authenticode Signature | 2s | |||
| Java Archive JAR (file format) In software, JAR is an archive file format typically used to aggregate many Java class files and associated metadata and resources into one file to distribute application software or libraries on the Java platform.JAR files are built on the ZIP file format and have the .jar file extension... (JAR) |
.jar | Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982... |
JDK 1.1 (1997) | PKZIP PKZIP PKZIP is an archiving tool originally written by Phil Katz and marketed by his company PKWARE, Inc. The common "PK" prefix used in both PKZIP and PKWARE stands for "Phil Katz".-History:... |
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