The ".ARC" file format is similar to the ZIP or RAR file formats in that they usually are archives containing various other files. Though not commonly used today, you may see older software or software packages for Unix machine compressed using this format.

Though very few utilities may exist on the Internet to create these archives (and using such utilities is not recommended as better archive formats are available), if you need to decompress ARC files, try the following (listed for informational purposes only):

* StuffIt - versions for Macintosh, Windows, Linux, and Solaris

* WinZip for Windows supports ARC but requires external software - more information can be found here.

The history of the .ARC file format is an interesting one, involving lawsuits and the eventual creation of the ZIP file format. The Wikipedia .ARC entry has more information.

NOTE that some software packages may use .files ending in ARC for their own means, thus those files may not actually be archives. This is true for virtually any file type, however.

Windows users: NOTE that unless you have configured your computer with the file extension viewing tweak, it is possible that a filename that looks like it ends with ".arc", especially one attached to an e-mail message, actually has a hidden OTHER extension, meaning that if you double-click the file, it may actually run a computer virus!

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