Archiver Format
Writablearchive
Archiver Format (.ar) is a non-compressed archive format associated with the archiver utility for Unix-style operating systems. It has largely been replaced by .tar for general archiving use, but persists in use for specialized applications involving statically-linked libraries for development. The format has never been standardised with modern archives based on a common format with two main variants - BSD and System V (previously known as COFF). There are other known past variants such as V6, V7, AIX (small), AIX (big) and Coherent.
Identify it
| Extensions | .a.ar.lbr.lib |
|---|---|
| MIME types | application/x-archive |
| Signatures | 213c617263683e at byte 0 (Archiver Format) |
| PRONOM | fmt/1835 |
| Wikidata | Q105854561 |
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Open it
- libarchiveOpen source
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0Sources
From PRONOM, Wikidata. Updated 2026-10-20.