Editing List of archive formats (section)

=== Archiving and compression ===
{{sort-under}}
{| class="wikitable sortable sort-under"
|-
![[File extension]](s){{efn|name="file extensions"}}
![[MIME]] type{{efn|name="MIME type"}}
!Official name{{efn|name="official name"}}
!Creation platform{{efn|name="platform"}}
!Restoration platform{{efn|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.}}
!Restorable with [[free software]]{{efn|"Restorable with free software" indicates whether the format can be restored using an extraction tool that is [[free software]].}}
!Description
|-
|.7z
| application/{{nowrap|x-7z-compressed}}
|[[7z (file format)|7z]]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Open source file format. Used by [[7-Zip]].
|-
|.s7z
| application/{{nowrap|x-7z-compressed}}
|7zX
|[[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/{{nowrap|octet-stream}}
|Apple Archive
|[[macOS]]
|[[macOS]]
|{{No}}
|Created by [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] introduced with iOS 14 in 2020.
|-
|.ace
| application/{{nowrap|x-ace-compressed}}
|[[ACE (compression file format)|ACE]]
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Proprietary format
|-
|.afa
| application/{{nowrap|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 format)|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/{{nowrap|x-alz-compressed}}
|[[ALZip]]
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|A mainly Korean format designed for very large archives.
|-
|.apk
| application/{{nowrap|vnd.android.package-archive}}
|[[APK (file format)|APK]]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|[[Android (operating system)|Android]] application package (variant of [[JAR file format]]).
|-
|.arc, .ark
| application/{{nowrap|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/{{nowrap|x-freearc}}
|[[FreeArc]]
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[Linux]]
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[Linux]]
|{{yes}}
|Open source file format developed by Bulat Ziganshin. A "FreeArc Next"  version is under development which includes [[Zstandard]] support.
|-
|.arj
| application/{{nowrap|x-arj}}
|[[ARJ]]
|Originally [[DOS]], now multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Competitor to PKZIP in the 1990s, offered better multi-part archive handling.
|-
|.b1
| application/{{nowrap|x-b1}}
|[[B1 (archive format)|B1]]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Open archive format, used by [[B1 Free Archiver]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dev.b1.org/standard/archive-format.html|title=Overview|website=dev.b1.org|access-date=2014-03-03|archive-date=2023-04-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404000148/http://dev.b1.org/standard/archive-format.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
|.b6z
|
|B6Z
|[[macOS]]
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Compressed archive format [[B6Zip]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://b6zip.com/|title=B6Zip - Extract .B6Z and .B6 files - Download|website=B6Zip|access-date=2017-10-06|archive-date=2024-05-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523053624/http://b6zip.com/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
|.ba
|
|Scifer
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Binary Archive with external header
|-
|.bh
|
|BlakHole
|
|
|{{yes}}
|Proprietary format from the ZipTV Compression Components
|-
|.cab
| application/{{nowrap|vnd.ms-cab-compressed}}
|[[Cabinet (file format)|Cabinet]]
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|The [[Microsoft Windows]] native archive format, which is also used by many proprietary installers such as [[Wise Solutions, Inc.|WISE]].
|-
|.car
|
|Compressia archive
|Originally [[DOS]], now DOS and [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|Originally [[DOS]], now DOS and [[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/{{nowrap|x-cfs-compressed}}
|[[CFS (Compact File Set file format)|Compact File Set]]
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[Unix-like]] including [[macOS]]
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Open source file format.
|-
|.cpt
|
|[[Compact Pro]]
|[[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/{{nowrap|x-dar}}
|[[DAR (Disk Archiver)|'''D'''isk '''Ar'''chiver]]
|[[Unix-like]] including [[macOS]]
|[[Unix-like]] including [[macOS]], [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{yes}}
|Open source file format.  Files are compressed individually with either gzip, bzip2 or lzo.
|-
|.dd
|
|[[DiskDoubler]]
|[[Classic Mac OS]]
|
|
| Obsolete
|-
|.dgc
| application/{{nowrap|x-dgc-compressed}}
|[[DGCA (Computing)|DGCA]]
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|
|
|-
|[[.dmg]]
| application/{{nowrap|x-apple-diskimage}}
|[[Apple Disk Image]]
|[[macOS]]
|[[macOS]], [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[Linux]]
|{{yes}}
|Supports "Internet-enabled" disk images, which, once downloaded, are automatically decompressed, mounted, have the contents extracted, and thrown away.  Currently, [[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/{{nowrap|x-gca-compressed}}
|GCA
|
|
|
|The predecessor of DGCA.
|-
|.genozip
|
|[[Genozip]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://genozip.com/|title=Genozip &#124; Compression for FASTQ, BAM, VCF|website=Genozip|access-date=2021-07-22|archive-date=2024-05-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527111733/https://www.genozip.com/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|[[Linux]], [[macOS]], [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Linux]], [[macOS]], [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{no}}
|Optimized for (but not limited to) genomic file types such as FASTQ, BAM, VCF
|-
|.ha
|
|<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/utils/compress/ha0999p-linux.tar.gz |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-03-05 |archive-date=2024-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240417222855/http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/utils/compress/ha0999p-linux.tar.gz |url-status=live }}</ref>
|Originally [[DOS]], now multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}, but may be covered by patents
|[[DOS]] era format; uses arithmetic/Markov coding
|-
|.hki
|
|[[WinHKI]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.winhki.com/ |title=WinHKI |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205050249/http://www.winhki.com/|archivedate=2006-12-05}}</ref>
|MS Windows
|MS Windows
|{{no}}
|HKI
|-
|.ice
|
|ICE
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{yes}}
|Produced by [[ICEOWS]] program. Excels at text file compression.
|-
|.jar
| application/{{nowrap|java-archive}}
|[[JAR (file format)|JAR]]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Java archive, compatible with [[ZIP (file format)|ZIP]] files
|-
|.kgb
|
|[[KGB Archiver]]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Open sourced archiver with compression using the PAQ family of algorithms and optional encryption.
|-
|.lzh, .lha
| application/{{nowrap|x-lzh}}
|[[LHA (file format)|LHA]]
|Originally [[DOS]], now multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|The standard format on [[Amiga]].
|-
|.lzx
| application/{{nowrap|x-lzx}}
|[[LZX]]
|[[Amiga]]
|
|
|Archiver originally used on The [[Amiga]]. Now copied by Microsoft to use in their .cab and .chm files.
|-
|.pak
|
|[[PAK (file format)|PAK]]
|[[HP NonStop]]
|[[HP NonStop]]
|{{Yes}}<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://sybond.web.id/project/?p=8 |title=Tandem Unpak GUI |access-date=2013-09-16 |archive-date=2020-09-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922005725/http://sybond.web.id/blog// |url-status=live }}</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 [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Unix-like]] and [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{yes}}
|An experimental open source packager<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mattmahoney.net/dc|title=Data Compression Programs|website=mattmahoney.net|access-date=2010-09-29|archive-date=2024-05-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240528214732/https://mattmahoney.net/dc/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
|.pea
|
|[[Peazip|PeaZip]]
|[[Linux]] and [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Linux]] and [[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 (algorithm)|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
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[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
|
|[[PackIt]]
|[[Classic Mac OS]]
|
|
| obsolete
|-
|.qda
|
|Quadruple D
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|
|Used for data in games written using the Quadruple D library for [[Embarcadero Delphi|Delphi]]. Uses [[byte pair compression]].
|-
|.rar
| application/{{nowrap|x-rar-compressed}}
|[[RAR (file format)|RAR]]
|Originally [[DOS]], now [[WinRAR]]
|Multiple
|{{Partial}}{{efn|name="RAR"|RARLAB [[UnRAR]] is proprietary. The free unar has partial unpacking support for RAR1.3, RAR1.5, RAR2, RAR3 & RAR5 <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MacPaw/XADMaster/master/XADRARParser.m |access-date=2024-09-11 | title=unar RAR parsing implementation}}</ref> and the free libarchive has partial unpacking support for RAR3<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/libarchive/libarchive/master/libarchive/archive_read_support_format_rar.c |access-date=2024-09-11 | title=libarchive RARv3 parsing implementation}}</ref> & RAR5<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/libarchive/libarchive/master/libarchive/archive_read_support_format_rar5.c |access-date=2024-09-11 | title=libarchive RARv5 parsing implementation}}</ref>.}}
|A popular [[Proprietary format|proprietary]] archive format.
|-
|.rk
|
| RK and WinRK<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.msoftware.biz/products/winrk |title=Archived copy |access-date=2011-03-08 |archive-date=2018-03-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180320183715/http://www.msoftware.biz/products/winrk |url-status=live }}</ref>
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{no}}
|The format from a [[Proprietary format|proprietary]] archiving package. Odd among proprietary 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
|[[Classic Mac OS]]
|[[Classic Mac OS]] (implicitly)
|
|A pre-[[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/{{nowrap|x-stuffit}}
|[[StuffIt]]
|Originally [[Classic Mac OS]], now multiple
|Originally [[Classic Mac OS]], now multiple
|{{yes}}
|A compression format common on [[Apple Macintosh]] computers. The free StuffIt Expander is available for Windows and macOS.
|-
|.sitx
| application/{{nowrap|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]]
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[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/{{nowrap|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. [[Xarchiver]] supports the .tar.zst Archive/Compression format on Unix-like platforms.
|-
|.uc .uc0 .uc2 .ucn .ur2 .ue2
|
|UltraCompressor II
|[[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>
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[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
|[[DOS]]/[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[DOS]]/[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{yes}}
| A high compression rate archive format originally for [[DOS]].
|-
|.war
|
|[[WAR (file format)|WAR]]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Web Application archive (Java-based web app)
|-
|.wim
| application/{{nowrap|x-ms-wim}}
|[[Windows Imaging Format|Windows Image]]
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{Yes}}
|File-based disk image format developed to deploy [[Microsoft Windows]].
|-
|.xar
| application/{{nowrap|x-xar}}
|[[Xar (archiver)|XAR]]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|
|-
|.xp3
|
|[[KiriKiri]]
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]
|{{yes}}
|Native format of the Open Source [[KiriKiri]] [[Visual Novel]] engine. Uses combination of block splitting and [[zlib]] compression. The filenames and pathes are stored in [[UTF-16]] format. For integrity check, the [[Adler-32]] hashsum is used. For many proprietary games, the files are encrypted (and decoded on runtime) via so-called "cxdec" module, which implements xor-based encryption.
|-
|.yz1
|
|[[Yz1 (file format)|YZ1]]
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[DOS]], [[Linux]]
|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[DOS]], [[Linux]]
|{{yes}}
|Yamazaki zipper archive. Compression format used in [[DeepFreezer]] archiver utility created by Yamazaki Satoshi.<ref>[[:ja:DeepFreezer|DeepFreezer]]{{Circular reference|date=July 2024}}</ref> Read and write support exists in [[TUGZip]], IZArc and [[ZipZag]]
|-
|.zip, .zipx
| application/{{nowrap|zip}}
|[[ZIP (file format)|ZIP]]
|Originally [[DOS]], now multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|The most widely used compression format on [[Microsoft Windows]]. Commonly used on [[Apple Macintosh|Macintosh]] and [[Unix]] systems as well.
|-
|.zoo
| application/{{nowrap|x-zoo}}
|[[zoo (file format)|zoo]]
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|
|-
|.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]] formats. [[Open-source license|Open source]].
|-
|.zz
|
|[[Zzip]]<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090201134403/http://debin.net/zzip/ Zzip]</ref>
|Multiple
|Multiple
|{{yes}}
|Archiver with a compression algorithm based on the [[Burrows–Wheeler transform]] method.
|}