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zarf archive format

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 a Persian word for ‘container’.

File Format

A zarf file is a single file that contain multiple other files.

Or said more formally, the zarf format is an archive format and container format that can combine multiple files into a single aggregate file.

One of the main points of the zarf format 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.

The common way to store and think about multiple files is as part of a directory system. For example:

readme.xhtml
LICENSE
images/logo.png
images/banner.png
images/figures/figure1.jpeg
images/figures/figure2.jpeg
images/figures/figure3.png

This type of thing (and the files' contents) is what is inside of a zarf file.

One way of thinking about this is that, it is a hierarchical key-value format similar to (but not the same as) JSON, INI, and other similar formats.

For example, in JSON the preceding file system would probably look like:

{
	"readme.xhtml": "...",
	"LICENSE": "...",
	"images": {
		"logo.png": "...",
		"banner.png": "...",
		"figures": {
			"figure1.jpeg": "...",
			"figure2.jpeg": "...",
			"figure3.png": "..."
		}
	}
}

(Note that we are using "..." in the examples because we aren't listing the contents of the files.)

Also for example, in INI the preceding file system would look like:

readme.xhtml = ...

LICENSE = ...

[images]

logo.png = ...

banner.png = ...

[images.figures]

figure1.jpeg = ...

figure2.jpeg = ...

figure3.png = ...

(Again note that we are using "..." in the examples because we aren't listing the contents of the files.)

The same as a zarf file would be: