Linux/Unix command library
File type: System file
Files with the .ar file extension are archives created or managed by the Unix ar utility. An ar archive stores multiple files in a single archive.
Found 3 different file type records with the same ar filename suffix.
File type category:
System file
Date updated: October 12, 2026
The ar file extension is associated with ar, a Unix utility that maintains groups of files as a single archive. The archive contains individual member files that can be listed, extracted, added, replaced, or removed.
GNU ar, part of GNU Binutils, creates, modifies, and extracts files from ar archives. The utility is available on Linux and other Unix-like systems, although compatible implementations are also provided with some Unix systems.
On Linux or Unix, use the ar command to inspect or extract the archive. For example, ar t lists its contents and ar x extracts the member files. GNU ar and compatible Unix ar implementations can open this format.
An ar archive is not normally converted to another format. Extract its member files with ar, then create a new archive with the appropriate archiving program if a different format is required.
Software applications that handle other tasks involving ar files:
Linux/Unix
File type category:
Various data file
Date updated: July 21, 2018
Record marked as obsolete and not updated for a long time.
The ar file extension probably used in Java Runtime Environment 1.3, a runtime environment for programs written in JAVA programming language, available for various platforms.
The ar file contains JAVA library.
Software applications that handle other tasks involving ar files:
Multiplatform
File type category:
Archive and compressed file
Date updated: July 19, 2025
File extension ar is also related to Midtown Madness computer game and used for one of the default file type.
Many areas of the game are open to modification and thus a modding community usually produces a lot of addons. These additions can easily be added to the game, as they are compressed in the zip file format but have their file extension changed to AR.
You can load these files to the game to take advantage of the add-on. You can also extract the content with any ZIP archiver.
Add-ons are not meant to be converted to anything else, but you can decompress them like any other ZIP file and possibly convert the content.
Software applications that can open ar files:
Microsoft Windows
Software apps that extract ar files:
Microsoft Windows
Software applications that handle other tasks involving ar files:
Microsoft Windows
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