ar
What is a .ar file?
application/x-archive
The Unix ar archive (.ar/.a) is a simple concatenation format with a magic header and 60-byte member headers, used mainly for static libraries (libfoo.a) and Debian .deb packages. It stores files without compression.
How to use a .ar file
Use an example .ar archive to test ar/static-library tooling, member extraction, and .deb/ar parsers.
Download example .ar files
- Unix ar ArchiveA Unix ar archive with three members — the simple format that backs static libraries (.a) and Debian packages (.deb). Hand-written to spec; for testing ar extractors and archive tooling.
- AR - Empty Archive (magic only)The smallest valid archive in this catalog: the 8-byte ar magic and nothing after it. ar has no trailer record, so end-of-file is the only end marker, and this is what an empty static library or an empty .deb control archive looks like on disk.