View source for List of archive formats

{{Short description|none}}
This is a list of [[File format|file format]]s used by [[File archiver|archiver]]s and [[Data compression|compressor]]s used to create archive files.

==Archiving only==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!File extension(s)<ref name="file extensions">File extensions may differ across platforms.  The case of these extensions may differ on case-insensitive platforms.</ref>
!MIME type<ref name="MIME type">MIME media types may be conjectural. Very few have been officially registered with the [[Organization:Internet Assigned Numbers Authority|IANA]]. Compression-only formats should often be denoted by the media type of the decompressed data, with a content coding indicating the compression format.</ref>
!Official name<ref name="official name">Official names may be disputed.</ref>
!Platform<ref name="platform">Creation platform indicates the platform(s) under which a format can be created.</ref>
!Description
|-
|.a, .ar
|application/x-archive
|[[Software:Ar (Unix)|Unix Archiver]]
|Unix-like
|The traditional archive format on [[Unix-like]] systems, now used mainly for the creation of [[Static library|static libraries]].
|-
|.cpio
|application/x-cpio
|[[Software:Cpio|cpio]]
|Unix-like
|[[Software:RPM Package Manager|RPM]] files consist of metadata concatenated with (usually) a cpio archive. Newer RPM systems also support other archives, as cpio is becoming obsolete. cpio is also used with initramfs.
|-
|.shar
|application/x-shar
|Shell archive
|Unix-like
|A self-extracting archive that uses the [[Software:Bourne shell|Bourne shell]] (sh).
|-
|.LBR
| 
|[[LBR (file format)|.LBR]]
|CP/M
DOS
|A system for storing multiple files.  LBR archives typically contained files processed by SQ, or the archive itself was compressed with SQ.  LBR archives that were compressed with SQ ended with the extension .LQR
|-
|.iso
|application/x-iso9660-image
|ISO-9660 image
|(Various; cross platform)
|An archive format originally used mainly for archiving and distribution of the exact, nearly-exact, or custom-modified contents of an optical storage medium such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM.  However, it can be used to archive the contents of other storage media, selected partitions, folders, and/or files.  The resulting archive is typically optimized for convenient rendering to (re-)writable CD or DVD media.  
|-
|.lbr
|
|
|Commodore 64/128
|A library format used primarily on the Commodore 64 and 128 lines of computers.  This bears no resemblance to the DOS LBR format.  While library files were quick to implement (a number of programs exist to work with them) they are crippled in that they cannot grow with use: once a file has been created it cannot be amended (files added, changed or deleted) without recreating the entire file.
|-
|.mar
|
|[https://wiki.mozilla.org/Software_Update:MAR Mozilla ARchive]
|(Various; cross platform)
|An archive format used by Mozilla for storing  binary [[Software:Diff|diff]]s. Used in conjunction with [[Software:Bzip2|bzip2]].
|-
|.sbx
|application/x-sbx
|[https://github.com/MarcoPon/SeqBox SeqBox]
|(Various; cross platform)
|A single file container/archive that can be reconstructed even after total loss of file system structures.
|-
|.tar
|application/x-tar
|Tape archive
|Unix-like
|A common archive format used on Unix-like systems. Generally used in conjunction with compressors such as [[Software:Gzip|gzip]], [[Software:Bzip2|bzip2]], [[Software:Compress|compress]] or [[Software:XZ Utils|xz]] to create .tar.gz, .tar.bz2, .tar.Z or tar.xz files.
|}

==Compression only==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!File extension(s)<ref name="file extensions" />
!MIME type<ref name="MIME type" />
!Official name<ref name="official name" />
!Platform<ref name="platform" />
!Description
|-
|.br
|application/x-brotli
|[[Software:Brotli|Brotli]]
|all
|Brotli is a compression algorithm developed by Google for textual web content, and typically achieves higher compression ratios than other algorithms for this use case.
|-
|.bz2
|application/x-bzip2
|[[Software:Bzip2|bzip2]]
|Unix-like
|An [[Open-source license|open source]], [[Social:Patent|patent]]- and royalty-free compression format. The compression algorithm is a [[Burrows–Wheeler transform]] followed by a [[Move-to-front transform|move-to-front transform]] and finally [[Huffman coding]].
|-
|.F, .?XF<ref name="freeze_xf">If attaching <code>.F</code> to the file name is not possible with the DOS operating system, the second and third character of the filename extension are replaced by <code>XF</code>.</ref>
|
|{{anchor|freeze_command}}Freeze/melt [http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/utils/compress/freeze-2.5.0.tar.gz]
|[[QNX]]4, [[Unix-like]] and [[Engineering:DOS|DOS]]
|Old compressor for QNX4 OS. The compression algorithm is a modified LZSS, with an adaptive [[Huffman coding]].
|-
|.genozip
|application/vnd.genozip
|genozip
|Linux, macOS, Windows
|Genozip, a compressor for genomic file formats such as FASTQ, BAM, VCF and others.<ref>Genozip - A Universal Extensible Genomic Data Compressor https://academic.oup.com/bioinformatics/article/37/16/2225/6135077</ref>
|-
|-
|.gz
|application/gzip<ref>{{cite IETF|title=The 'application/zlib' and 'application/gzip' Media Types|rfc=6713|access-date=2016-05-03}}</ref>
|[[Software:Gzip|gzip]]
|Unix-like
|[[Software:GNU|GNU]] Zip, the primary compression format used by [[Unix-like]] systems. The compression algorithm is [[Deflate]], which combines LZSS with [[Huffman coding]].
|-
|.lz
|application/x-lzip
|[[Software:Lzip|lzip]]
|Unix-like
|An alternate LZMA algorithm implementation, with support for checksums and ident bytes.
|-
|.lz4
|
|[[Software:LZ4 (compression algorithm)|LZ4]]
|Unix-like
|Algorithm developed by Yann Collet, designed for very high (de)compression speeds. It is an LZ77 derivative, without [[Entropy encoding|entropy encoding]].
|-
|.lzma
|application/x-lzma
|lzma
|Unix-like
|The LZMA compression algorithm as used by [[Software:7-Zip|7-Zip]].
|-
|.lzo
|application/x-lzop
|[[Software:Lzop|lzop]]
|Unix-like
|An implementation of the [[Software:Lempel–Ziv–Oberhumer|LZO]] data compression algorithm.
|-
|.rz
|
|[[Software:Rzip|rzip]]
|Unix-like
|A compression program designed to do particularly well on very large files containing long distance redundancy.
|-
|.sfark
|
|sfArk
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]] compress/decompress- [[Software:Linux|Linux]] and [[Software:MacOS|macOS]] decompress only
|A compression program designed to do high compression on SF2 files ([[SoundFont]]).
|-
|.sz
|application/x-snappy-framed
|[[Software:Snappy (compression)|Snappy]]
|Unix-like
|A compression format developed by [[Company:Google|Google]], and open-sourced in 2011. [[Software:Snappy (compression)|Snappy]] aims for very high speeds, reasonable compression, and maximum stability rather than maximum compression or compatibility with any other compression library. It is an LZ77 derivative, without [[Entropy encoding|entropy encoding]].
|-
|.?Q?
|
|[[SQ (program)|SQ]]
|CP/M and [[Engineering:DOS|DOS]]
|Squeeze: A program which compressed files using [[Huffman coding]].  A file which was "squeezed" had the middle initial of the name changed to "Q", so that a squeezed text file would end with .TQT, a squeezed executable would end with .CQM or .EQE.  Typically used with .LBR archives, either by storing the squeezed files in the archive, or by storing the files decompressed and then compressing the archive, which would have a name ending in ".LQR".
|-
|.?Z?
|
|CRUNCH
|CP/M and [[Engineering:DOS|DOS]]
|A compression program written by Steven Greenberg<!-- not any Steven Greenberg currently in wikipedia --> implementing the LZW algorithm. For several years in the CP/M world when no implementation was available of ARC, CRUNCHed files stored in .LBR archives were very popular. CRUNCH's implementation of LZW had a somewhat unusual feature of modifying and occasionally clearing the code table in memory when it became full, resulting in a few percent better compression on many files.
|-
|.xz
|application/x-xz
|[[Software:XZ Utils|xz]]
|Unix-like
|A compression format using LZMA2 to yield high compression ratios. The LZMA algorithm is an LZ77 derivative, with [[Entropy encoding|entropy encoding]] in the form of [[Range encoding|range encoding]].
|-
|.z
|application/x-compress
|[[Software:Pack (compression)|pack]]
|Unix-like
|The traditional [[Huffman coding]] compression format.
|-
|.Z
|application/x-compress
|[[Software:Compress|compress]]
|Unix-like
|The traditional LZW compression format.
|-
|.zst
|application/zstd
|[[Software:Zstandard|Zstandard]]
|Cross-platform
|Algorithm developed by Yann Collet at [[Company:Facebook|Facebook]], combining high speed and high compression. It is an LZ77 derivative, with [[Entropy encoding|entropy encoding]] in the form of finite-state entropy and [[Huffman coding]].
|-
|.??_
|
|
|MS-DOS/Windows
|Compression format(s) used by some DOS and Windows install programs. MS-DOS includes expand.exe to decompress its install files.  The compressed files are created with a matching compress.exe command. The compression algorithm is LZSS.
|}

==Archiving and compression==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!File extension(s)<ref name="file extensions" />
!MIME type<ref name="MIME type" />
!Official name<ref name="official name" />
!Creation platform<ref name="platform" />
!Restoration platform<ref>Restoration platform indicates the platform(s) under which a format can be restored/extracted.  Most file formats can be understood by more than one platform.</ref>
!Restorable with [[Free software|free software]]<ref>"Restorable with free software" indicates whether the format can be restored using an extraction tool that is [[Free software|free software]].</ref>
!Description
|-
|.7z
|application/x-7z-compressed
|7z
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Open source file format. Used by [[Software:7-Zip|7-Zip]].
|-
|.s7z
|application/x-7z-compressed
|7zX
|[[Software:MacOS|macOS]]
|[[Software:MacOS|macOS]], restoration on different platforms is possible although not immediate
|{{yes}}
|Based on 7z. Preserves Spotlight metadata, resource forks, owner/group information, dates and other data which would be otherwise lost with compression.

Made obsolete by the introduction of AppleDouble-encoded 7z archives (Macintosh only).
|-
|.aar
|application/octet-stream
|Apple Archive
|[[Software:MacOS|macOS]]
|[[Software:MacOS|macOS]]
|{{No}}
|Created by [[Company:Apple Inc.|Apple]] introduced with iOS 14 in 2020.
|-
|.ace
|application/x-ace-compressed
|ACE
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Proprietary format
|-
|.afa
|application/x-astrotite-afa
|AFA
|UNIX-like
|UNIX-like
|{{no}}
|A format that compresses and doubly encrypt the data (AES256 and CAS256) avoiding brute force attacks, also hide files in an AFA file. It has two ways to safeguard data integrity and subsequent repair of the file if has an error (repair with AstroA2P (online) or Astrotite (offline)).
|-
|.alz
|application/x-alz-compressed
|[[Software:ALZip|ALZip]]
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|A mainly Korean format designed for very large archives.
|-
|.apk
|application/vnd.android.package-archive
|APK
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|[[Software:Android (operating system)|Android]] application package (variant of JAR file format).
|-
|.arc, .ark
|application/octet-stream
|[[ARC (file format)|ARC]]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Very popular in the early days of [[Bulletin board system|BBSes]], one of the first to offer compression and archiving in a single program. Largely replaced by PKZIP.
|-
|.arc, .cdx
|application/x-freearc
|[[Software:FreeArc|FreeArc]]
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[Software:Linux|Linux]]
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[Software:Linux|Linux]]
|{{yes}}
|Open source file format developed by Bulat Ziganshin. A "FreeArc Next"  version is under development which includes [[Software:Zstandard|Zstandard]] support.
|-
|.arj
|application/x-arj
|[[ARJ]]
|Originally [[Engineering:DOS|DOS]], now multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Competitor to PKZIP in the 1990s, offered better multi-part archive handling.
|-
|.b1
|application/x-b1
|[[B1 (archive format)|B1]]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Open archive format, used by [[Software:B1 Free Archiver|B1 Free Archiver]] (http://dev.b1.org/standard/archive-format.html)
|-
|.b6z
|
|B6Z
|[[Software:MacOS|macOS]]
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Compressed archive format [http://b6zip.com/ B6Zip]
|-
|.ba
|
|Scifer
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Binary Archive with external header
|-
|.bh
|
|BlakHole
|
|
|{{yes}}
|Proprietary format from the ZipTV Compression Components
|-
|.cab
|application/vnd.ms-cab-compressed
|[[Cabinet (file format)|Cabinet]]
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|The [[Software:Microsoft Windows|Microsoft Windows]] native archive format, which is also used by many commercial installers such as WISE.
|-
|.car
|
|Compressia archive
|Originally [[Engineering:DOS|DOS]], now DOS and [[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|Originally [[Engineering:DOS|DOS]], now DOS and [[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{yes}}
|Created by Yaakov Gringeler; released last in 2003 (Compressia 1.0.0.1 beta), now apparently defunct. Free trial of 30 days lets user create and extract archives; after that it is possible to extract, but not to create.
|-
|.cfs
|application/x-cfs-compressed
|Compact File Set
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[Unix-like]] including [[Software:MacOS|macOS]]
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Open source file format. 
|-
|.cpt
|
|[[Software:Compact Pro|Compact Pro]]
|[[Software:Classic Mac OS|Classic Mac OS]]
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
| Compact Pro archive, a common archiver used on Mac platforms until about Mac OS 7.5.x. Competed with StuffIt; now obsolete.
|-
|.dar
|application/x-dar
|'''D'''isk '''Ar'''chiver
|[[Unix-like]] including [[Software:MacOS|macOS]]
|[[Unix-like]] including [[Software:MacOS|macOS]], [[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{yes}}
|Open source file format.  Files are compressed individually with either gzip, bzip2 or lzo.
|-
|.dd
|
|[[Software:DiskDoubler|DiskDoubler]]
|[[Software:Classic Mac OS|Classic Mac OS]]
|
|
| Obsolete
|-
|.dgc
|application/x-dgc-compressed
|DGCA
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|
|
|-
|.dmg
|application/x-apple-diskimage
|[[Apple Disk Image]]
|[[Software:MacOS|macOS]]
|[[Software:MacOS|macOS]], [[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[Software:Linux|Linux]]
|{{yes}}
|Supports "Internet-enabled" disk images, which, once downloaded, are automatically decompressed, mounted, have the contents extracted, and thrown away.  Currently, [[Software:Safari (web browser)|Safari]] is the only browser that supports this form of extraction; however, the images can be manually extracted as well. This format can also be password-protected or encrypted with 128-bit or 256-bit AES encryption.
|-
|.ear
|
|[[EAR (file format)|EAR]]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Enterprise Java Archive archive 
|-
|.gca
|application/x-gca-compressed
|GCA
|
|
|
|The predecessor of DGCA.
|-
|.genozip
|
|[https://genozip.com/ Genozip]
|[[Software:Linux|Linux]], [[Software:MacOS|macOS]], [[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Software:Linux|Linux]], [[Software:MacOS|macOS]], [[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{no}}
|Optimized for (but not limited to) genomic file types such as FASTQ, BAM, VCF
|-
|.ha
|
|[http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/utils/compress/ha0999p-linux.tar.gz]
|Originally [[Engineering:DOS|DOS]]
|Originally [[Engineering:DOS|DOS]]
|{{yes}}, but may be covered by patents
|[[Engineering:DOS|DOS]] era format; uses arithmetic/Markov coding
|-
|.hki
|
|[http://www.winhki.com/ WinHKI] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205050249/http://www.winhki.com/ |date=2006-12-05 }}
|MS Windows
|MS Windows
|{{no}}
|HKI
|-
|.ice
|
|ICE
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{yes}}
|Produced by ICEOWS program. Excels at text file compression.
|-
|.jar
|application/java-archive
|[[JAR (file format)|JAR]]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Java archive, compatible with [[ZIP (file format)|ZIP]] files
|-
|.kgb
|
|[[Software:KGB Archiver|KGB Archiver]]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Open sourced archiver with compression using the PAQ family of algorithms and optional encryption.
|-
|.lzh, .lha
|application/x-lzh
|[[Software:LHA (file format)|LHA]]
|Originally [[Engineering:DOS|DOS]], now multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|The standard format on [[Engineering:Amiga|Amiga]].
|-
|.lzx
|application/x-lzx
|[[LZX]]
|[[Engineering:Amiga|Amiga]]
|
|
|Archiver originally used on The [[Engineering:Amiga|Amiga]]. Now copied by Microsoft to use in their .cab and .chm files.
|-
|.pak
|
|PAK
|HP NonStop
|HP NonStop
|{{Yes}}<ref>Tandem Unpak GUI http://sybond.web.id/project/?p=8</ref>
|file format from NoGate Consultings, a rival from ARC-Compressor.
.pak was also briefly used by the short lived MSDOS PKPAK program.
|-
|.partimg
|
|PartImage
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|A disk image archive format that supports several compression methods as well as splitting the archive into smaller pieces.
|-
|.paq6, .paq7, .paq8 and variants
|
|[[PAQ]]
|[[Unix-like]] and [[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Unix-like]] and [[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{yes}}
|An experimental open source packager (http://mattmahoney.net/dc)
|-
|.pea
|
|PeaZip
|[[Software:Linux|Linux]] and [[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Software:Linux|Linux]] and [[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{yes}}
|Open source archiver supporting authenticated encryption, cascaded encryption, volume spanning, customizable object level and volume level integrity checks (form [[Cyclic redundancy check|CRC]]s to SHA-512 and Whirlpool hashes), fast deflate based compression
|-
|.phar
|
|[[PHAR (file format)|PHAR]]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|A package format to enable distribution of applications and libraries by bundling many PHP code files and other resources (e.g. images, stylesheets, etc.) into a single archive file
|-
|.pim
|
|PIM
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{yes}}
|{{anchor|PIM}}The format from the PIM - a freeware compression tool by Ilia Muraviev. It uses an LZP-based compression algorithm with set of filters for executable, image and audio files.
|-
|.pit
|
|[[Software:PackIt|PackIt]]
|[[Software:Classic Mac OS|Classic Mac OS]]
|
|
| obsolete
|-
|.qda
|
|Quadruple D
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|
|Used for data in games written using the Quadruple D library for Delphi. Uses byte pair compression.
|-
|.rar
|application/x-rar-compressed
|[[RAR (file format)|RAR]]
|Originally [[Engineering:DOS|DOS]], now multiple
|Multiple
|{{Yes}}
|A popular [[Proprietary format|proprietary]] archive format.
|-
|.rk
|
| RK and WinRK [http://www.msoftware.biz/products/winrk]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{no}}
|The format from a commercial archiving package. Odd among commercial packages in that they focus on incorporating experimental algorithms with the highest possible compression (at the expense of speed and memory), such as [[PAQ]], [[Prediction by partial matching|PPMD]] and PPMZ (PPMD with unlimited-length strings), as well as a proprietary algorithms.
|-
|.sda
|
|Self Dissolving ARChive
|Commodore 64, Commodore 128
|Commodore 64, Commodore 128
|{{yes}}
|SDAs refer to Self Dissolving ARC files, and are based on the Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 versions of ARC, originally written by Chris Smeets.  While the files share the same extension, they are not compatible between platforms.  That is, an SDA created on a Commodore 64 but run on a Commodore 128 in Commodore 128 mode will crash the machine, and vice versa.  The intended successor to SDA is SFX.
|-
|.sea
|
|Self Extracting Archive
|[[Software:Classic Mac OS|Classic Mac OS]]
|[[Software:Classic Mac OS|Classic Mac OS]] (implicitly)
|
|A pre-[[Software:Mac OS X|Mac OS X]] Self-Extracting Archive format. StuffIt, Compact Pro, Disk Doubler and others could create .sea files, though the StuffIt versions were the most common.
|-
|.sen
|
|Scifer
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Scifer Archive with internal header
|-
|.sfx
|
|Self Extracting Archive
|Commodore 64, Commodore 128
|Commodore 64, Commodore 128
|{{yes}}
|SFX is a Self Extracting Archive which uses the LHArc compression algorithm.  It was originally developed by Chris Smeets on the Commodore platform, and runs primarily using the CS-DOS extension for the Commodore 128.  Unlike its predecessor SDA, SFX files will run on both the Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 regardless of which machine they were created on.
|-
|.shk
|
|[[ShrinkIt|NuFX]]
|Originally Apple II, now multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|An archive format designed for the Apple II series of computers.  The canonical implementation is ShrinkIt, which can operate on disk images as well as files.  Preferred compression algorithm is a combination of RLE and 12-bit LZW.  Archives can be manipulated with the command-line NuLib tool, or the Windows-based CiderPress.
|-
|.sit
|application/x-stuffit
|[[Software:StuffIt|StuffIt]]
|Originally [[Software:Classic Mac OS|Classic Mac OS]], now multiple
|Originally [[Software:Classic Mac OS|Classic Mac OS]], now multiple
|{{yes}}
|A compression format common on [[Software:Apple Macintosh|Apple Macintosh]] computers. The free StuffIt Expander is available for Windows and macOS.
|-
|.sitx
|application/x-stuffitx
|StuffIt X
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|The replacement for the .sit format that supports more compression methods, UNIX file permissions, long file names, very large files, more encryption options, data specific compressors (JPEG, Zip, PDF, 24-bit image, MP3). The free StuffIt Expander is available for Windows and OS X.
|-
|.sqx
|
|[[SQX]]
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{yes}}
|A royalty-free compressing format
|-
|.tar.gz, .tgz, .tar.Z, .tar.bz2,<br />.tbz2, .tar.lz, .tlz, .tar.xz, .txz, .tar.zst
|application/x-gtar
|tar with gzip, compress, bzip2, lzip, xz, or zstd
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|The "tarball" format combines tar archives with a file-based compression scheme (usually gzip). Commonly used for source and binary distribution on Unix-like platforms, widely available elsewhere. [[Software:Xarchiver|Xarchiver]] supports the .tar.zst Archive/Compression format on Unix-like platforms.
|-
|.uc .uc0 .uc2 .ucn .ur2 .ue2
|
|UltraCompressor II
|[[Engineering:DOS|DOS]]
|[[Engineering:DOS|DOS]]
|
|UltraCompressor 2.3 was developed to act as an alternative to the then popular PKZIP application. The main feature of the application is its ability to create large archives. This means that compressed archives with the UC2 file extension can hold almost 1 million files. 
|-
|.uca
|
|PerfectCompress<ref>{{cite web|url=http://moises-studios.110mb.com/perfectcompress |title=PerfectCompress |access-date=2009-11-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723164918/http://moises-studios.110mb.com/perfectcompress |archive-date=2012-07-23 }}</ref>
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{no}}
|Based on PAQ, RZM, CSC, CCM, and 7zip. The format consists of a PAQ, RZM, CSC, or CCM compressed file and a manifest with compression settings stored in a 7z archive.
|-
|.uha
|
|UHarc
|[[Engineering:DOS|DOS]]/[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Engineering:DOS|DOS]]/[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{yes}}
| A high compression rate archive format originally for [[Engineering:DOS|DOS]].
|-
|.war
|
|[[WAR (file format)|WAR]]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Web Application archive (Java-based web app)
|-
|.wim
|application/x-ms-wim
|[[Windows Imaging Format|Windows Image]]
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{Yes}}
|File-based disk image format developed to deploy [[Software:Microsoft Windows|Microsoft Windows]].
|-
|.xar
|application/x-xar
|[[Xar (archiver)|XAR]]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|
|-
|.xp3
|
|[[Software:KiriKiri|KiriKiri]]
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{yes}}
|Native format of the Open Source [[Software:KiriKiri|KiriKiri]] Visual Novel engine. Uses combination of block splitting and [[Software:Zlib|zlib]] compression. The filenames and pathes are stored in [[UTF-16]] format. For integrity check, the [[Adler-32]] hashsum is used. For many commercial games, the files are encrypted (and decoded on runtime) via so-called "cxdec" module, which implements xor-based encryption.
|-
|.yz1
|
|YZ1
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[Engineering:DOS|DOS]], [[Software:Linux|Linux]]
|[[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[Engineering:DOS|DOS]], [[Software:Linux|Linux]]
|{{yes}}
|Yamazaki zipper archive. Compression format used in DeepFreezer archiver utility created by Yamazaki Satoshi. Read and write support exists in [[Software:TUGZip|TUGZip]], IZArc and ZipZag
|-
|.zip, .zipx
|application/zip
|[[ZIP (file format)|ZIP]]
|Originally [[Engineering:DOS|DOS]], now multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|The most widely used compression format on [[Software:Microsoft Windows|Microsoft Windows]]. Commonly used on [[Software:Apple Macintosh|Macintosh]] and [[Software:Unix|Unix]] systems as well.
|-
|.zoo
|application/x-zoo
|[[Zoo (file format)|zoo]]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|
|-
|.zpaq
|
|[[Software:ZPAQ|ZPAQ]]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Journaling (append-only) archive format with rollback capability. Supports [[Data deduplication|deduplication]] and incremental update based on last-modified dates. Multi-threaded. Compresses in LZ77, [[Burrows–Wheeler transform|BWT]], and [[Context mixing|context mixing]] formats. [[Open-source license|Open source]].
|-
|.zz
|
|[https://web.archive.org/web/20090201134403/http://debin.net/zzip/ Zzip]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Archiver with a compression algorithm based on the [[Burrows–Wheeler transform]] method.
|}

==Data recovery==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!File extension(s)<ref name="file extensions" />
!MIME type<ref name="MIME type" />
!Official name<ref name="official name" />
!Platform<ref name="platform" />
!Description
|-
|.ecc
|
|[[Software:Dvdisaster|dvdisaster]] error-correction file
|Multiple
|File format used by dvdisaster to be used for data recovery when discs become damaged or partially unreadable.
|-
|.ecsbx
|
|[https://github.com/darrenldl/blockyarchive Error-correcting SeqBox]
|Multiple
|Archive with forward error correction and sector level recoverability. Error-correcting version of [https://github.com/MarcoPon/SeqBox SeqBox].
|-
|.par<br />.par2
|application/x-par2
|[[Parchive]] file
|Multiple
|File format used in conjunction with any archive format to provide [[Error correction code|error correction]] and file recovery, most often in [[Usenet|newsgroup]] distribution of binary files.
|-
|.rev
|
|[[Software:WinRAR|WinRAR]] recovery volume
|Multiple
|File format used with [[Software:WinRAR|WinRAR]] rar volumes. The data recovery is error correction data which is provided in the form of open recovery records and/or recovery volumes, allowing reconstruction of good archives (including reconstruction of entirely volumes)
|}

==Comparison==
===Containers and compression ===
<!-- 
BEFORE ADDING A FORMAT:
Make sure that it has a page on Wikipedia and something is known about it!
-->
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: auto; text-align: center; font-size: smaller; table-layout: fixed;"
! Format 
! Filename<br /> extension 
! Created<br /> by 
! Introduced in 
! Based on 
! Compression
! Integrity check 
! Recovery record 
! Encryption supported 
! [[Unicode]] filenames 
! Modification date resolution 
! Pre-processing
! License
|-
! [[Software:Ar (Unix)|Archive]] (ar)
| .a, .ar
| CSRG
| 1971 <!-- *portable* ar format first appeared in BSD, and was later adopted by SysV -->
| Original
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| 1 s
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Software:Cpio|cpio]]
| .cpio
| [[Organization:Bell Labs|Bell Labs]]
| 1983 [[Software:UNIX System V|Unix System V]]
| {{dunno}} <!-- Probably Original -->
| {{no}}
| {{partial}}, select formats only
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| 1 s
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Software:Shar|Shell Archive]] (shar and makeself)
| .shar, .run
| [[Biography:James Gosling|James Gosling]], Alan Hewett
| 1994 4.4BSD
| Original
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}, commonly MD5
| {{partial}} <!-- sh scripts can do about anything -->
| {{partial}} <!-- it is just that it is not always implemented -->
| {{partial}}
| arbitrary (typically 1 s)
| {{no}}
| {{free|[[Social:Public domain|Public domain]] (shar 1.x - 3.x), {{br}} [[GPL]] (shar 4.x)}}
|-
! Tape Archive (tar)
| .tar
| [[Organization:Bell Labs|Bell Labs]]
| 1975 [[Software:Version 6 Unix|Version 6 Unix]]
| {{dunno}} <!-- Probably Original -->
| {{no}}
| {{partial}}, metadata only. Full integrity providable by filters such as gzip.
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{optional}}{{ref|1|1}}
| 1 s
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! Extended TAR format (pax)
| .tar
| OpenGroup
| 2001
| Sun proposal + TAR
| {{no}}
| metadata
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}
| arbitrary (typically 1 ns)
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[BagIt]]
| –
| The Library of Congress
| 2007
| file system
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! 7z
| .7z
| Igor Pavlov
| 2000
| LZMA, [[Lempel–Ziv–Markov chain algorithm|LZMA2]], [[Software:Bzip2|Bzip2]], [[Prediction by partial matching|PPMd]], [[Deflate]] 
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}},<br /> CRC32
| {{no}}
| {{yes}},<br /> AES-256
| {{yes}}
| 100 [[Nanosecond|ns]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sourceforge.net/p/sevenzip/discussion/45797/thread/3964f1db/#cbcb/7556|title=7-Zip / Discussion / Open Discussion: File times: creation, access - precision|website=sourceforge.net}}</ref>
| {{yes}}
| {{free|LGPL, [[Social:Public domain|Public domain]]}}
|-
! ACE
| .ace
| Marcel Lemke
| 1998<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lemke |first=Marcel |date=1998 |title=Technical Information on the archiver ACE V1.2 |url=http://www.hugi.scene.org/online/coding/hugi%2012%20-%20coace.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404010928/https://www.hugi.scene.org/online/coding/hugi%2012%20-%20coace.htm |archive-date=4 April 2023 |access-date=22 May 2023 |website=hugi.scene.org}}</ref>
| LZ77
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}, Blowfish
| {{yes}}
| 2s
| {{dunno}}
| {{nonfree|[[Proprietary software]]}}
|-
! AFA
| .afa
| Vicente Sánchez-Alarcos
| 2009
| Original
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}, AES and CAST
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[ARC (file format)|ARC]]
| .arc
| Thom Henderson (SEA)
| 1985
| {{dunno}} <!-- Probably Original -->
| {{yes}}
| {{yes|CRC16}}
| {{no}}
| {{bad|weak XOR only}}
| {{no}}
| 2s
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[ARJ]]
| .arj
| Robert Jung
| 1991
| AR001 and AR002
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{bad|weak XOR with initial constant}}
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{nonfree|[[Proprietary software]]}}
|-
! [[B1 (archive format)|B1]]
| .b1
| Catalina Group Ltd
| 2011
| LZMA
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}, AES
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Cabinet (file format)|Cabinet]]
| .cab
| [[Company:Microsoft|Microsoft]]
| 1992 [[Software:Windows 3.1|Windows 3.1]]
| [[Deflate]]
| {{yes}}
| {{optional}} PKCS7 Authenticode signature
| {{no}}
| {{optional}} (with SDK)
| {{yes}}
| 2 s
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! Compact File Set
| .cfs
| Joe Lowe (Pismo Technic Inc.)
| 2008
| ZIP/LZMA 
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{free|[[Free software]]}}
|-
! [[Software:Compact Pro|Compact Pro]]
| .cpt
| Bill Goodman
| 1990 (as "Compactor")
| Original
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{nonfree|[[Proprietary software]]}}
|-
! Disk Archive (DAR)
| .dar
| Denis Corbin
| 2002
| Original
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}{{ref|2|2}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| 1 µs
| {{yes}}
| {{free|[[GPL#Version 2|GPLv2]]}}
|-
! DGCA
| .dgc
| Shin-ichi Tsuruta
| 2001
| GCA
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Software:FreeArc|FreeArc]]
| .arc
| Bulat Ziganshin
| 2006
| LZMA, [[Prediction by partial matching|PPMd]], TTA
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}, AES, Blowfish, Twofish and Serpent
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{free|[[GPL#Version 2|GPLv2]]}}
|-
! [[Software:LHA (file format)|LHA]] (also LZH)
| .lzh, .lha
| Haruyasu Yoshizaki
| 1988
| Frozen
| {{yes}}
| Only on recent LHA releases
| {{no}}
| {{No}}
| {{no}}
| 1–2 s
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[LZX#Amiga LZX|LZX]] <!-- Watch for anchor name changes -->
| .lzx
| Jonathan Forbes and Tomi&nbsp;Poutanen
| 1995
| LZ77
| {{yes}}
| Only on recent LZX releases
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[ISO image]]
| .iso, .img, .ima
| [[ISO 9660]]
| 1988
| [[High Sierra Format]]
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! Spark
| .arc
| David Pilling
| 1989
| [[ARC (file format)|ARC]]
| {{yes}}
| {{yes|CRC16}}
| {{no}}
| {{bad|weak XOR only}}
| {{no}}
| 1 cs
| {{no}}
| {{free|[[Software:Common Development and Distribution License|CDDL 1.0]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gitlab.riscosopen.org/RiscOS/Sources/FileSys/ImageFS/SparkFS/Codecs/SparkSpark/-/blob/master/LICENCE |title=LICENCE · master · RiscOS / Sources / FileSys / ImageFS / SparkFS / Codecs / SparkSpark · GitLab |date=28 January 2023 |access-date=2023-03-26}}</ref>}}
|-
! WinMount format 
| .mou
| ?
| 2007
| ?
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{nonfree|[[Proprietary software]]}}
|-
! Macintosh Disk Image
| .dmg
| Apple Computer
| 2001 [[Software:MacOS|Mac OS X]]
| Original
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! Partition Image (PartImage)
| .partimg
| François&nbsp;Dupoux and Franck&nbsp;Ladurelle
| 2000 <!-- Date of registration of Sourceforge project -->
| {{dunno}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{free|[[GPL#Version 2|GPLv2]]}}
|-
! [[PAQ]] Family (Several formats){{ref|a4|4}}
| .paq#*, .lpaq#*
| Matt Mahoney
| 2002–2006
| Original
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Software:PeaZip#Native archive format|PEA]]
| .pea
| Giorgio Tani
| 2006
| Original, Deflate based compression
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}} Adler32, CRC32, CRC64, MD5, SHA1, RIPEMD-160, SHA256, SHA512, Whirlpool
| {{no}}
| {{yes}} Authenticated Encryption, AES128 and AES256 in EAX mode
| {{yes}} system dependent
| {{yes}} arbitrary
| {{dunno}}
| {{free|[[Social:Public domain|Public domain]]}}
|-
! PIM
| .pim
| Ilia Muraviev
| 2004–2008
| Original
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! Quadruple D
| .qda
| Taku Hayase (aka sandman)
| 1997 <!-- According to date on website -->
| {{dunno}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[RAR (file format)|RAR]]
| .rar
| Eugene Roshal
| 1993 <!-- According to copyright info -->
| Original
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}},<br /> CRC32,<br /> [[BLAKE2]]
| {{yes}},<br /> [[Reed–Solomon error correction|Reed–Solomon]]
| {{yes}},<br /> AES-256 for RAR 5.0 archives
| {{yes}},<br /> [[UTF-8]]
| 2 [[Second|s]], 1 [[Second|s]], 6.5536 [[Millisecond|ms]], 25.6 [[Microsecond|µs]] or 100 [[Nanosecond|ns]]{{ref|3|3}}
| {{dropped}}
| {{nonfree|[[Proprietary software]]}}
|-
! RK
| .rk
| M Software, Ltd.
| 2004
| Original
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}, AES, Square, Twofish
| {{yes}}
| 1 s
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! NuFX
| .shk
| Andy Nicholas
| 1989
| Original
| {{yes}}
| {{yes|CRC16}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| 1 s
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Software:StuffIt|StuffIt]] (also SIT)
| .sit
| Raymond Lau
| 1987
| {{dunno}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{nonfree|[[Proprietary software]]}}
|-
! StuffIt X (also SITx)
| .sitx
| Aladdin/Allume Systems
| 2002
| {{dunno}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{optional}}
| {{yes}}, RC4,Blowfish,<br />AES,DES
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{nonfree|[[Proprietary software]]}}
|-
! UltraCompressor II
| .uc .uc0 .uc2<br /> .ucn .ur2 .ue2
| Nico de Vries<!--http://www.nicodevries.com/nico/professional.php -->
| 1992–1996
| LZ77 and [[Huffman coding]]
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}, triple DES
| {{dunno}}
| ?
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Windows Imaging Format|Windows Image]]
| .wim, .swm, .esd
| [[Company:Microsoft|Microsoft]]
| 2006
| Original
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{partial}}{{ref|5|5}}
| {{yes}}
| 100 ns
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[ZIP (file format)|ZIP]]
| .zip
| Phil Katz
| 1989
| [[Deflate]]
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}, AES
| {{yes}}
| 1–2 s, depending on version
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Software:ZPAQ|ZPAQ]]
| .zpaq
| Matt Mahoney
| 2009
| [[PAQ]]
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}, SHA-1
| {{no}}
| {{Yes}}, AES-256
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{free|[[Software:MIT License|MIT]], [[Social:Public domain|Public domain]]}}
|}

==== Notes ====
{{note|1|1}} While the original tar format uses the [[ASCII]] character encoding, current implementations use the [[UTF-8]] (Unicode) encoding, which is backwards compatible with ASCII.<br />
{{note|2|2}} Supports the external Parchive program (par2).<br />
{{note|3|3}} From 3.20 release RAR can store modification, creation and last access time with the precision up to 0.0000001 second (= 0.1 µs). [https://web.archive.org/web/20110718054505/http://www.win-rar.com/index.php?id=24&kb_article_id=85 WinRAR download and support: Knowledge Base] [https://archive.today/20130209062109/http://www.winrar-tr.com/WinRAR/Help/ENG/html/HELPSwTS.htm]<br />
{{note|a4|4}} The PAQ family (with its lighter weight derivative LPAQ) went through many revisions, each revision suggested its own extension. For example: ".paq9a".<br />
{{note|5|5}} WIM can store the [[Ciphertext|ciphertext]] of encrypted files on an [[NTFS]] volume, but such files can only by decrypted if an administrator extracts the file to an NTFS volume, and the decryption key is available (typically from the file's original owner on the same Windows installation). Microsoft has also distributed some download versions of the Windows operating system as encrypted WIM files, but via an external encryption process and not a feature of WIM.

*'''Purpose''': Archive formats are used for backups, mobility, and archiving. Many archive formats  [[Data compression|compress]] the data to consume less storage space and result in quicker transfer times as the same data is represented by fewer bytes. Another benefit is that files are combined into one archive file which has less overhead for managing or transferring. There are numerous compression algorithms available to losslessly compress archived data; some algorithms are designed to work better (smaller archive or faster compression) with particular data types. Archive formats are used by most operating systems to package software for easier distribution and installation than binary [[Executable|executable]]s.
*'''Filename extension''': The [[Engineering:DOS|DOS]] and [[Software:Microsoft Windows|Windows]] operating systems required filenames to include an [[Filename extension|extension]] (of at least one, and typically 3 characters) to identify the file type. Such 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.
*'''Integrity check''': Archive files are often stored on magnetic or other media subject to storage errors. Many archive formats contain extra error detection or correction information which can be used by the software used to read the archive files to detect and possibly correct 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 contains logic to detect and correct errors.
*'''Encryption''': Many archive formats include the capability to encrypt contents to prevent unauthorised access, using one of many available encryption methods.

===Software packaging and distribution===

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: auto; text-align: center; font-size: smaller; table-layout: fixed;"
! Format 
! Filename<br /> extension 
! Created<br /> by 
! Introduced in 
! Based on 
! Integrity check 
! Recovery record 
! Encryption supported 
! [[Unicode]] filenames 
! Modification date resolution 
|-
! [[Deb (file format)|Debian package]] (deb)
| .deb
| [[Software:Debian|Debian]]
| 1994 [[Software:Debian|Debian]] 0.91 <!-- Correct version? -->
| [[Software:Ar (Unix)|ar]], tar, and [[Software:Gzip|gzip]], [[Software:XZ Utils|xz]]
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}
| 1 s
|-
! [[Software:Installer (macOS)|Macintosh Installer]]
|.pkg, .mpkg (metapackage)
| [[Company:NeXT|NeXT]]
| 1989 [[Software:NeXTSTEP|NeXTSTEP]] 1.0 <!-- Correct version? -->
| [[Software:Pax (command)|pax]] and [[Software:Gzip|gzip]] <!-- The payload file in any .pkg is always called Archive.pax.gz -->
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Software:RPM Package Manager|RPM Package Manager]] (RPM)
| .rpm
| [[Company:Red Hat|Red Hat]]
| 1995 [[Software:Red Hat Linux|Red Hat Linux]] 1.0 <!-- Version of RHL -->
| [[Software:Cpio|cpio]] and [[Software:Gzip|gzip]]
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
| 1 s
|-
! [[Software:Slackware|Slackware]] Package
| .tgz
| Patrick Volkerding
| 1993 [[Software:Slackware|Slackware]] 1.0 <!-- Version of Slackware -->
| tar and [[Software:Gzip|gzip]]
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Software:Windows Installer|Windows Installer]] (also MSI)
| .msi
| [[Company:Microsoft|Microsoft]]
| 2000 [[Software:Windows 2000|Windows 2000]]
| OLE Structured Storage, [[Cabinet (file format)|Cabinet]] and [[SQL]]
| {{optional}} PKCS7 Authenticode Signature
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| 2 s
|-
! MSIX
|  .appx, .appxbundle, .emsix, .emsixbundle, .msix, .msixbundle
| [[Company:Microsoft|Microsoft]]
| 2012 [[Software:Windows 8|Windows 8]]
| Zip
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| 1 s
|-
! [[JAR (file format)|Java Archive]] (JAR{{ref|b1|1}})
| .jar
| [[Company:Sun Microsystems|Sun Microsystems]]
| 1997 JDK 1.1
| [[Software:PKZIP|PKZIP]]
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Software:Google Chrome|Google Chrome]] [[Software:Chrome Web Store|extension]] package
| .crx
| [[Company:Google|Google]]
| 2009 (Chrome 4.0)
| Zip
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Software:Arch Linux#Pacman|Pacman]] 
| .pkg.tar.zst, .pkg.tar (no compression)
| Judd Vinet
| 2001 (before ArchLinux 0.1)
| tar and [[Software:Zstandard|zstd]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archlinux.org/news/now-using-zstandard-instead-of-xz-for-package-compression/|title=Arch Linux - News: Now using Zstandard instead of xz for package compression|website=archlinux.org}}</ref> (formerly [[Software:XZ Utils|xz]])
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}
| 1 s
|}

==== Notes ====
{{note|b1|1}} Not to be confused with the archiver [[Software:JAR|JAR]] written by Robert K. Jung, which produces ".j" files.

===Features===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: auto; text-align: center; font-size: smaller; table-layout: fixed;"
|-
! Archive format
! Built-in compression
! Self-extracting
! Directory structure
! POSIX attributes
! ACLs
| Alternate data streams
|-
! [[Software:Cpio|cpio]]
| {{no}}{{ref|c1|1}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! tar
| {{no}}{{ref|c1|1}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{some}}
| {{partial|(in Solaris implementation)}}
|-
! dar
| {{yes}}{{ref|c3|3}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
|-
! [[Software:Ar (Unix)|ar]]
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Software:Pax (command)|pax]]
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Software:Dump (Unix)|dump]]
| {{no}}{{ref|c1|1}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Software:Shar|shar]]
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! makeself
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Zip (file format)|zip]]
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}{{ref|c2|2}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[RAR (file format)|rar]]
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}{{ref|c2|2}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{yes}}
|-
! ace
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! arj
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}{{ref|c2|2}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Zoo (file format)|zoo]]
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[ISO 9660]] (CD-ROM)
| {{no}}{{ref|c1|1}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}
| {{maybe|(with [[Rock Ridge]] extension)}}
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Cabinet (file format)|cab]]
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}{{ref|c2|2}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Software:RPM Package Manager|rpm]]
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! [[Deb (file format)|deb]]
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! 7z
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{yes}}
| {{no}}
| {{dunno}}
| {{dunno}}
|-
! Archive format
! Built-in compression
! Self-extracting
! Directory Structure
! POSIX attributes
! ACLs
| Alternate data streams
|}

=== Notes ===
{{note|c1|1}} Compression is not a built-in feature of the formats, however, the resulting archive can be compressed with any algorithm of choice. Several implementations include functionality to do this automatically<br />
{{note|c2|2}} Most implementations can optionally produce a self-extracting executable<br />
{{note|c3|3}} Per-file compression with [[Software:Gzip|gzip]], [[Software:Bzip2|bzip2]], lzo, [[Software:XZ Utils|xz]], lzma (as opposed to compressing the whole archive). An individual can choose not to compress already compressed filenames based on their suffix as well.

==See also==
*[[Archive file]]
*[[Software:Comparison of file archivers|Comparison of file archivers]]
*[[Software:Comparison of file systems|Comparison of file systems]]
*[[List of file systems]]
*[[Solid compression]]
*[[Software:Zlib|zlib]]

==Footnotes==
<references />


{{DEFAULTSORT:Archive Formats}}
[[Category:Lists of file formats]]
[[Category:Archive formats|*]]

{{Sourceattribution|List of archive formats}}