How to Make a DMG File on a Mac. One way to store or group files on a Mac is to create a Disk Image. A Disk Image is a file which has the properties of a separate hard drive or CD and allows for greater password protection and compression.
xar (short for eXtensible ARchive) is an open source file archiver and the archiver¡¯s file format. It was created within the OpenDarwin project and is used in Mac OS X 10.5 for software installation routines, as well as browser extensions in Safari 5.0. Xar replaced the use of gzipped pax files.
pkg is just .xar archives with a different extension and a specified file hierarchy. pkg is an OS X Installer file. This file format is used by Apple Inc. on its Macintosh line of computers and on the iPhone. It is also used by Sony PlayStation 3 on downloadable content over PlayStation Network. The contents of a PKG file can be installed using the Apple Installer application.
The XAR project aims to provide an easily extensible archive format. Important design decisions include an easily extensible XML table of contents for random access to archived files, storing the toc at the beginning of the archive to allow for efficient handling of streamed archives, the ability to handle files of arbitrarily large sizes, the ability to choose independent encodings for individual files in the archive, the ability to store checksums for individual files in both compressed and uncompressed form, and the ability to query the table of content's rich meta-data.
The XAR file format has three main regions, The Header, The Table of Contents, and The Heap. The header is a small binary data structure that identifies the file format (file magic). The table of contents is parsed as an XML document. The heap occupies the remainder of the file. Files' data are stored in the heap.
Files in xar are individually compressed. This allows for quick extraction of individual files without the extra disk space requirements and CPU usage of extracting the entire archive, as compared to a compressed tar archive. This makes xar useful for quick restores of accidentally deleted or overwritten files, from a backup archive. Additionally, this means xar can use different compression methods for each file in the archive. For instance, it might not be a good idea to try to try to compress an already compressed file, but a large file might benefit greatly from using bzip2, whereas a small text file would be better served to use gzip.
Open/Extract xar/pkg File on Windows
Easy 7-Zip opens/extracts xar/pkg file easily on Windows. The Easy 7-Zip was developed based on 7-Zip. 7-Zip is a famous open source file archiver. The Easy 7-Zip is an easy-to-use version of 7-Zip. The open source freeware keeps all features of 7-Zip and adds a few useful features that makes the software more user-friendly.
Easy 7-Zip works on Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/2008/2003/XP/2000 (both 32-bit and 64-bit compatible).
- Free Download Easy 7-Zip
- Install Easy 7-Zip by step-by-step instructions
- The installation will associate xar/pkg with Easy 7-Zip automatically
- Double-click on xar/pkg file to open xar/pkg file with Easy 7-Zip
- Alternatively, Right-click on xar/pkg file on Windows Explorer
- Done
You will see files or folders within the xar/pkg file then, click button Extract to extract the xar/pkg file.
And then, choose Extract files..., Extract Here, or Extract to 'folder' to extract the xar/pkg file.
Easy 7-Zip Download Links:
Open/Extract xar/pkg File on Mac
You can open pkg file directly on Mac. If you want to extract xar/pkg you need to install extra software. B1 Free Archiver opens/extracts xar/pkg file on Mac. B1 Free Archiver is a free software for creating archive folder and extracting archive file. B1 Archiver works on all platforms - Windows, Linux, Mac and Android. The freeware supports most popular formats including xar/pkg.
B1 Free Archiver is compatible with:
- Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks
- Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
- Mac OS X 10.7 Lion
- Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
Open/Extract xar/pkg File on Linux
You need to install xar on Linux.
# wget https://xar.googlecode.com/files/xar-1.5.2.tar.gz # tar zxvf xar-1.5.2.tar.gz # cd xar-1.5.2 # ./configure # make # make install |
If an error 'configure: error: Cannot configure without xml2-config' occurs when running configure, please install libxml2-dev. On Debian, type:
# apt-get install libxml2-dev |
List folders and files in xar/pkg:
$ xar -tf archive.xar $ xar -tf archive.pkg |
Open/Extract xar/pkg file with xar on Linux:
$ xar -xvf archive.xar $ xar -xvf archive.pkg |
xar command options:
- -t: Lists an archive
- -x: Extracts an archive
- -v: Print filenames as they are archived
- -f: Specifies an archive to operate on
Alternatively, you can use p7zip to extract xar/pkg file. p7zip is the Unix command-line port of 7-Zip.
Install p7zip-full on CentOS and Fedora
# yum install p7zip-full |
Install p7zip-full on Debian and Ubuntu
$ sudo apt-get install p7zip-full |
List directories and files in xar/pkg file
$ 7z l archive.xar $ 7z l archive.pkg |
Extract xar/pkg file with p7zip on Linux
$ 7z x archive.xar $ 7z x archive.pkg |
- 1.Symbian Package File
- 2.PlayStation Store Downloaded Package
- 3.Mac OS X Installer Package
- 4.Midtown Madness 2 Model File
- 5.CoCreate OneSpace Modeling Package File
File Type 1Symbian Package File
Developer | Nokia |
Popularity | |
Category | Settings Files |
Format | Text |
What is a PKG file?
A PKG file is a package created for Symbian OS devices. It contains instructions in plain text format that are required to create a .SIS file, including the vendor name, software dependencies, and application files to copy.
PKG files are used to build a SIS file with the 'makesis' command, which is part of the CreateSIS utility.
Unknown files on your Mac? Try File Viewer.Programs that open PKG files
File Type 2PlayStation Store Downloaded Package
Developer | Sony |
Popularity | |
Category | Game Files |
Format | N/A |
.PKG File Association 2
A PKG file is a file downloaded from Sony's PlayStation Store, an online store with games, movies, and demos for PS3 and PSP devices. It is saved in an encrypted format that is only recognized by compatible Sony devices and is used specifically for downloadable games, game updates, and demos.
Packages downloaded from the PlayStation Store can be transferred to a PSP or PS3 via USB, Memory Stick, or a network connection.
Mac |
|
Windows |
|
File Type 3Mac OS X Installer Package
Developer | Apple |
Popularity | |
Category | Compressed Files |
Format | Binary |
.PKG File Association 3
A PKG file is a package of compressed installer files used to install a software program. It is commonly used for installing software in Mac OS X and may be installed individually or referenced by an installer script included with the software.
Double-click the package to install the files. Right-click (Control-click) and select 'Show Package Contents' to view the files stored in the package. Apple Installer is the built-in utility for opening PKG files included with Mac OS X.
Mac |
|
Updated 5/24/2016
File Type 4Midtown Madness 2 Model File
Developer | Microsoft |
Popularity | |
Category | 3D Image Files |
Format | Binary |
.PKG File Association 4
Game data file used by Midtown Madness 2 (MM2), a 3D racing game; saves a 3D model of a car; located within .AR game archives and can be edited with ZModeler.
Windows |
|
Updated 1/29/2013
File Type 5CoCreate OneSpace Modeling Package File
Developer | Parametric Technology |
Popularity | |
Category | 3D Image Files |
Format | Zip |
.PKG File Association 5
File created by CoCreate software programs, which are used for 3D modeling; contains the files for a 3D model in a compressed format; used to reduce the size of a model design for transferring over the Internet.
PKG files in Modeling 2005 or earlier use proprietary and CPIO (.CPIO files) compression. PKG files in Modeling 2006 and later use Zip compression.
NOTE: CoCreate OneSpace Modeling is now known as CoCreate Modeling. It was also previously known as OneSpace Designer Modeling and SolidDesigner.
Mac |
|
Windows |
|