This is a list of file formats used by archivers and compressors used to create archive files.

Archive formats by purpose

Archive formats are used for backups, mobility, and archiving. Many archive formats compress the data to consume less storage space and result in quicker transfer times as the same data is represented by fewer bytes. Another benefit is that files are combined into one archive file which has less overhead for managing or transferring. There are numerous compression algorithms available to losslessly compress archived data; some algorithms are designed to work better (smaller archive or faster compression) with particular data types. Archive formats are used by most operating systems to package software for easier distribution and installation than binary executables.

Archiving only

Compression only

Archiving and compression

Data recovery

Comparison

Containers and compression

Software packaging and distribution

Features