# zarf archive format
by [Charles Iliya Krempeaux](http://changelog.ca/)

The **zarf format** is an **archive format** and **container format** that can combine multiple files into a single aggregate file.

The **zarf format** is similar to other **archive formats**, such as the  **ar format**, the **cpio format**, the **shar format**, the **tar format**, and the **WARC format**.

The **zarf format** is made to be easy to understand and implement for programmers.

The name “zarf” has 2 meanings:

* it is an acronym “**Zarf** **AR**chive **F**ormat”, and
* it also happens to be the Persian word for ‘container’.