About Executable File Formats
Compressed
archives combine multiple files into a single file to make them easier
to transport or save on diskspace. Archiving software may also provide
options for encryption, file spanning, checksums, self-extraction, and
self-installation. Zip is the most-widely used format, used by the
Windows operating system and more recently by OSX as well. RAR is also a
very popular and flexible format. Unix uses the tar file format, while
Linux uses the tar and gz format.
