Portability As an archive file stores
file system information, including file content and metadata, it can be leveraged for file system content portability across heterogeneous systems. For example, a
directory tree can be sent via
email, files with unsupported names on the target system can be renamed during extraction,
timestamps can be retained rather than lost during
data transmission. Also, transfer of a single archive file may be faster than processing multiple files due to per-file overhead, and even faster if compressed.
Software distribution Beyond archiving, archive files are often used for
software distribution. When used in connection with a
package manager, an archive must conform to a
package format and is called a
package. In particular, the format usually requires a
manifest file. Examples include
deb for
Debian,
JAR for
Java,
APK for
Android, and
self-extracting Windows Installer executables. ==Features==