zarf archive format

by Charles Iliya Krempeaux

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 — but is designed to be easier to understand and implement than all of the other archive formats and container formats.

In fact, one of the main points of the zarf format existing, is that it was designed to be easy to understand and implement for programmers. The zarf format is meant to be both programmer-legible and programmer-friendly.

Extension

Although zarf does not require an extension (since it has magic-bytes), if a file-extension is used for a zarf file, it should use the .zarf extension (on systems where file-extensions are necessary). For example:

stuff.zarf

MIME Type

Although zarf does not require a MIME-type (since it has magic-bytes), f a MIME-type is used for a zarf file, it should use the multipart/zarf extension (on systems where file-extensions are necessary). For example:

Content-Type: multipart/zarf

Name

The name “zarf” has 2 meanings:

• it is an acronym “Zarf ARchive Format”, and
• it also happens to be the Persian word for ‘container’.