Self-extracting archive

A self-extracting archive (SFX or SEA) is a computer executable program which contains compressed data in an combined with machine-executable program instructions to extract this information on a compatible operating system and without the necessity for a suitable extractor to be already installed on the target computer. The executable part of the file is known as a decompressor stub. Self-extracting files are used to share compressed files with a party that may not necessarily have the software to decompress a regular archive. Users can also use self-extracting to distribute their own software. For example, the WinRAR installation program is made using the graphical GUI RAR self-extracting module Default.sfx. Self-extracting archives contains an executable file module, a module used to run uncompressed files from compressed files. Such a compressed file does not require an external program to decompress the contents of the self-extracting file, and it can run the operation itself. However, file archivers like WinRAR can still treat self-extracting files as any other compressed files. By using a file archiver, users can view or decompress self-extracting files they received without running executable code (for example, if they are concerned about viruses). A self-extracting archive is extracted and stored on a disk when executed under an operating system that supports it. Many embedded self-extractors support a number of command line arguments, such as specifying the target location or selecting only specific files. Unlike self-extracting archives, non-self-extracting archives only contain archived files and must be extracted with a program that is compatible with them. While self-extracting archives cannot be extracted under another operating system, they can usually still be opened using a suitable extractor as this tool will disregard the executable part of the file and extract only the archive resource. The self-extracting executable may need to be renamed to contain a file extension associated with the corresponding packer; archive file formats known to support this include ARJ and .