file extension SEA

The Unarchiver

The Unarchiver is a much more capable replacement for "BOMArchiveHelper.app", the built-in archive unpacker program in Mac OS X. The Unarchiver is designed to handle many more formats than BOMArchiveHelper, and to better fit in with the design of the Finder. It can also handle filenames in foreign character sets, created with non-English versions of other operating systems. I personally find it useful for opening Japanese archives, but it should handle many other languages just as well.

It is very simple to use and install - simply copy it into your Applications folder or whereever you prefer, and then set archive filetypes to open using it. This can either be done the usual way, or by double-clicking the icon to show The Unarchiver's preferences.

Supported file formats include Zip, Tar-GZip, Tar-BZip2, Rar, 7-zip, LhA, StuffIt and many other more or less obscure formats

ShrinkIt is a utility program for archiving files and disks. "Archiving", in this usage, refers to the process of placing files or disks "within" another file -- the archive file. Archiving is usually done to prepare the files/disks for transmission via modem, or for storage purposes. Thus, an archive file, whether created with ShrinkIt or another archiving utility, will be a file which serves as an envelope, containing one or more other files, or complete disks. There are a number of reasons for archiving files before transmitting them with a modem. The principal reason is that an archive provides a means of sending the "attributes" of a file -- its filetype and other information -- along with the file itself. An archive also allows several related files (or an entire disk) to be packed together into a single file. True archiving utilities will also have the capability of compressing the files they contain to minimize the transmission time and disk space the archive requires.

ShrinkIt uses a highly efficient compression algorithm known as dynamic LZW, and creates archive files with a format called NuFX. For technical documentation of the format of NuFX archives, refer to the File Type Note for filetype $E0, auxtype $8002. (File Type Notes are available from Apple Programmers and Developers Association.) ShrinkIt and ShrinkIt-GS are currently the standard archiving utilities for Apple II telecommunications. ShrinkIt can unpack files which have been archived with ShrinkIt, as well as those which have been packed with certain other file-packing utilities, such as BLU and ACU.