How to open a .ARC file online
No extra software to download or install.
Pick your .ARC file
Drag it in or click to choose it. We read its contents list first, so it opens right away without unpacking everything.
Browse what's inside
See every file with its size, how much it's compressed and its date, and search by name across all the folders.
Preview or download
Click a file to preview text or images, or save just that one. Need everything? Download it all as a single ZIP.
About .ARC files
What a .ARC file is, and what's inside it.
An ARC file is a compressed archive - multiple files bundled into one container. The classic .arc is a 1985 format by System Enhancement Associates (SEA). On Windows, use PeaZip or IZArc (both free); on Mac, use The Unarchiver. Do not use 7-Zip - it does not reliably support classic ARC. If the file still won't open, .arc may belong to an unrelated format such as a game data container.
Programs that open .ARC files
| Full name | ARC Compressed Archive |
|---|---|
| Developer | System Enhancement Associates (SEA), 1985 |
| First released | 1985 (SEA ARC, the BBS-era archiver) |
| Category | Archives |
| MIME type | application/x-arc |
| Signature | 1A Classic SEA ARC begins with byte 0x1A followed by a compression-method byte (e.g. 0x1A 0x08). |
Related viewers
Found something inside the archive? Open it here.
Do I have to unpack the whole .ARC file?
No. The viewer reads its table of contents first and only unpacks a file when you click it. That works even with multi-gigabyte archives, because we read just the bytes we need.
Can I open password-protected archives?
Yes, for ZIP (ZipCrypto and AES) and 7Z. You'll be asked for the password,. We can't recover forgotten passwords.
Is my .ARC file uploaded anywhere?
No. The code that unpacks the file is downloaded once and then reused.
Why does a .docx or .apk open as an archive?
Because they are ZIP archives under the hood. Office documents, Android apps, Java programs and EPUB books all use ZIP as their container.
What about split archives (.001, .z01, .part1.rar)?
Multi-part archives need all their parts. Today you can open the first part to see the file list; joining parts is on our roadmap.
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