Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your ARC file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.
Convert ARC to another file type
To convert ARC Archives to another format, you need PeaZip or other Compressed software.
Convert a file to ARC
To convert other file formats to the "Multi-purpose Archive File" file type, you need software like PeaZip or a similar tool.
About ARC files
The .ARC file extension is notoriously fragmented and lacks a single universal standard. It is primarily used as a compressed archive format, either dating back to the legacy System Enhancement Associates (SEA) compression utility or the more modern FreeArc archiver. However, it is also heavily utilized as a proprietary game resource archive by developers like Capcom (MT Framework engine) and Nintendo (often compressed with Yaz0 or RARC) to package 3D models, textures, and audio files. In corporate environments, it appears as machine backups for Siemens SINUMERIK CNC controllers or legacy Nokia Symbian OS phone backups. Because of this massive fragmentation, managing an .ARC file is inherently difficult. Standard operating system utilities will usually fail to open them because they cannot recognize the internal headers. Depending on the file's origin, you might need PeaZip for FreeArc files, ARCTool for Capcom games, or Wiimms SZS Tools for Nintendo assets. Using outdated legacy formats like SEA ARC also poses a risk for long-term archiving due to weak compression and lack of modern encryption. To ensure long-term accessibility and ease of use, you should extract and convert .ARC files to standardized formats. For general archives, convert the container to ZIP or 7Z for universal, cross-platform support. For extracted game assets, convert the internal files to PNG for web use, or WAV for audio playback.
Convert.Guru analyzes your ARC file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert ARC file to PDF, BAK, BACKUP, OLD, TMP, TEMP, ZIP, TAR, GZ, 7Z, RAR or ISO, you can use PeaZip or similar software from the "Compressed Archive & Game Container" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert SNAPSHOT, OLD, IMG, RESTORE, ISO, COPY, VMDK, TMP, VHD, BAK, ARCHIVE or BACKUP files to ARC, try PeaZip or another comparable tool in the "Compressed Archive & Game Container" category.
The ARC Converter Story
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our ARC converter.