ARC File Documentation

Overview

Feature Value
Format Name ARC (Archive)
Type Lossless data compression and archive format
Developer SEA (System Enhancement Associates)
Initial Release 1985
Filename Extension .arc
MIME Type application/x-arc-compressed
Compression Method LZSS (Lempel-Ziv-Storer-Szymanski)
Mode of Operation Stream
Maximum File Size Limited by the operating system
Archive File Structure Linear, files concatenated one after another
Multi-file Archive Supported
Checksum CRC-32 checksum for integrity verification
Compression Ratio Varies with data type
Portability High across different operating systems
Encryption Not natively supported
Recovery Record Not supported
Open Format Yes
Meta-data Storage Limited (file name, size, time)
File System Support Not specific, depends on the underlying OS
Usage Historically popular in early computing, now less common
Successor ZIP format