Comparison of archive formats
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The following tables compare the various archive formats used for computer backups or transferring files.
[edit] General information
| Format | Filename extension | Created by | Introduced in | Based on | Purpose | Integrity check | Recovery record | Encryption supported |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archiving only | ||||||||
| Archive (ar) | .ar | ? | ? | Original | Archive | No | No | No |
| cpio | .cpio | ? | Unix System V (1983) | ? | Archive | ? | ? | ? |
| Shell Archive (shar) | .shar | ? | 4.4BSD (1994) | Original | Archive | ? | ? | ? |
| Tape Archive (tar) | .tar | ? | Version 6 Unix (1975) | ? | Archive | Partial, metadata only | ? | No |
| Archiving and Compression | ||||||||
| 7z | .7z | Igor Pavlov | 2000 | ? | Compressed archive | Yes | No | Yes, AES |
| ARC | .arc | ? | 1985 | ? | Compressed archive | ? | ? | ? |
| ARJ | .arj | Robert Jung | 1991 | AR001 and AR002 | Compressed archive | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cabinet | .cab | Microsoft Corp. | Windows 3.1 (1992) | ? | Compressed archive | ? | ? | ? |
| Compact Pro | .cpt | Bill Goodman | May 5, 1990 (as "Compactor") | Original | Compressed archive | Yes | No | Yes |
| Disk Archive (DAR) | .dar | Denis Corbin | 2002 | tar | Compressed archive | Yes | No | Yes |
| DGCA | .dgc | Shin-ichi Tsuruta | 2001 | GCA | Compressed archive | ? | ? | ? |
| LHA (also LZH) | .lzh, .lha | Haruyasu Yoshizaki | 1988 | ? | Compressed archive | ? | ? | ? |
| LZX | .lzx | Jonathan Forbes and Tomi Poutanen | 1995 | LZ77 | Compressed archive | ? | ? | ? |
| Macintosh Disk Image | .dmg | Apple Computer | Macintosh System 7 (1991) | Original | Compressed archive | Yes | ? | Yes |
| Partition Image (Partimage) | ? | François Dupoux and Franck Ladurelle | 2000 | ? | Compressed archive | |||
| PAQ (Several formats) | ? | Matt Mahoney | 2002–2006 | Original | Compressed archive | ? | ? | ? |
| Quadruple D | ? | ? | ? | ? | Compressed archive | ? | ? | ? |
| RAR | .rar | Eugene Roshal | 1993 | Original | Compressed archive | Yes | Yes | Yes, AES |
| RK | .rk | M Software, Ltd. | ? | ? | Compressed archive | ? | ? | ? |
| StuffIt (also SIT) | .sit | Raymond Lau | 1987 | ? | Compressed archive | ? | ? | ? |
| ZIP (also PKZIP) | .zip | Phil Katz | 1989 | DEFLATE | Compressed archive | Yes | ? | ? |
| Software Packaging and Distribution | ||||||||
| Debian package (deb) | .deb | Debian GNU/Linux | ? | ar, tar, and gzip | Software package | Yes | No | No |
| Macintosh Installer | ? | NeXT | NeXTSTEP 1.0 (1989) | ? | Software package | ? | ? | ? |
| RPM Package Manager (RPM) | .rpm | Red Hat Linux | ? | cpio and gzip | Software package | Yes | ? | ? |
| Slackware Package | .tgz | Patrick Volkerding | Slackware 1.0 (1993) | tar and gzip | Software package | Yes | No | No |
| Windows Installer (also MSI) | .msi | Microsoft Corp. | Windows 2000 (2000) | ? | Software package | ? | ? | ? |
| Java Archive (JAR) | .jar | Sun Microsystems | ? | PKZIP | Software package | Yes | ? | ? |
