libarchive
A portable C library for reading and writing streaming archives in multiple formats, with command-line tools.
What is libarchive?
Libarchive is a portable C library that provides a unified interface for reading and writing streaming archives in numerous formats, including tar, cpio, ZIP, and 7-Zip. It solves the problem of handling diverse archive and compression types programmatically, with automatic format detection and support for on-the-fly processing. The project also includes command-line tools like bsdtar and bsdcpio that leverage the library for robust archiving operations.
System developers, software engineers, and tool creators who need to integrate archive reading/writing capabilities into applications, especially those dealing with large or streaming data sources.
Developers choose libarchive for its extensive format support, stream-oriented efficiency, and portable C implementation, which allows seamless integration into various environments without bloating binary sizes. Its consistent API simplifies handling multiple archive types, and the included command-line tools offer reliable replacements for traditional utilities.
Overview
Multi-format archive and compression library
Use Cases
Best For
- Processing large archives that cannot fit entirely on disk
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