ARC extension designates the native
archive format developed for FreeArc , a modern
open source file archiver created by Bulat Ziganshin, featuring high
level of compression (11 lossless data compression algorithms and
filtes are supported, including LZMA and PPMD) with good efficiency (Tom's
Hardware comparative)
comparable or better than rar format
and in many cases also of 7z format,
strong
encryption (AES, Blowfish, and AES contest finalist
algorithms Twofish, and Serpent), and ability to create
recovery records (option which is notably featured by proprietary RAR
format but not by open format 7Z). The file format is also known with WRC extension.
Maximum size of ARC file
format
The max size of ARC
files is 2^63 bytes (8 exabytes of
total size of the archive), filesize field represented by a signed 64
bit integer, exceeding current needs and
limitations of common filesystems.
Maximum number of files in a
single ARC archive
The maximum
number of input files allowed into a singe ARC package is limited to
2^31 (max 2 billion files), file number filed represented by a signed
32
bit integer, which - like maximum archive size limit - practically
exceeds current needs.
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FreeArc's
format must not be
confused
with 1985 SEA's ARC
format, using same .arc file extension. The
company pionereed the data
compression in BBS era, but ARC program fell in popularity after the
introduction of more efficient Phil Katz's PKARC, which later developed
largely modified and improved ZIP format for PKZIP program, in response
to the notorious lawsuit ensued between SEA and PKWARE. |
PeaZip features creation and
extraction of ARC files: create, open, browse, and extract ARC
archives, convert any supported archive to .arc format and vice-versa.
Also, the application supports creation of arc-format self extracting
archives (SFX), so
recipient
will not need a FreeArc compatible extractor when receiving one of
those self-extracting files.
PeaZip currently does not support reading, nor writing, the unrelated
SEA's ARC format.
Read more .arc
file type FreeArc Wikipedia entry,
PPMd and LZMA/LZMA2 data
compression algorithms, AES, Twofish, Serpent ciphers.
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.ARC
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Author
Bulat Ziganshin, 2007
8 EB max total archive size limit
2 billions files limit in a single archive
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SPEED 
Arc format features good speed. Very efficient implementation makes it
significantly faster than
7Z
compression and extraction (and marginally faster than RAR), with
comparable compression ratio.
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COMPRESSION
RATIO 
Arc archives features very good compression ratio. Comparable to 7-Zip
with LZMA / LZMA2 compression,
consistently better than
RAR format, but inferior
to PAQ compressors family. |
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ADVANCED
OPTIONS
Arc format features a very good selection of advanced functions.
Built-in support for AES, Twofish and Serpent encryption,
and optional creation of recovery records - ARC is one of the few file
types alongside RAR providing error recovery feature.
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Synopsis: What is ARC
file format, native FreeArc archives type extension. What are ARC files
compression ratio and speed performances, encryption features,
specifications, max size limit for files and archives.
PeaZip > FAQ
> What is ARC file format (FreeArc archives)
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