For other uses see PKG.
| Filename extension | .pkg |
|---|---|
| Developed by | Apple Inc., Sony Computer Entertainment, Symbian Ltd. |
| Container for | applications |
.pkg is a file format used by Apple Inc. on its Macintosh line of computers, and the iPhone. It's also used by Sony's PlayStation 3 on downloadable content over PlayStation Network.
.pkg files are built on the xar format. The contents of a .pkg file can be installed by Apple's Installer application. The .pkg file format allows easy installation of software by end users, and is commonly used by both Apple and third-party developers.
.pkg files are also used as instruction sets to compile Symbian .sis installer files and contain data such as the vendor name, software dependencies, and application files that must be copied.
In the 90's, the .pkg file suffix was also used in BeOS. Be bought a company called StarCode and acquired their packaging tools.
During the 90's, Apple's Newton operating system also used files ending in .pkg for Newton applications and software. As a result, when seen from a Mac OS X computer, Newton applications appear the same as Mac OS X Installer packages, however they do not share their file format.
The .pkg extension is used also by PTC/CoCreate 3D Modeling application.