What is .arc files?

.arc files are archive files that contain one or more compressed files. They were originally used on the MS-DOS platform, but are still used on some modern operating systems.

.arc files were developed by SEA (Software Enhancement Associates) in the 1980s, and were one of the most popular archive formats of the time. They were widely used for distributing software and data files on bulletin board systems (BBS) and early online services.

Today, .arc files are less commonly used than other archive formats like .zip and .tar. However, they are still supported by some software, like the file archiver utility in Unix-based systems.

The compression algorithm used in .arc files is based on the LZ77 algorithm, which is also used in other compression formats like .gzip and .zip.