--- title: Arcana: One Pure-Java Library for (Almost) Every Archive... description: Arcana is an open-source, pure-Java library that lists, extracts and identifies more than 40 archive, compression and disk image formats with no native code... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/arcana-one-pure-java-library-for-almost-every-archive-format-f4fn2yje6 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Arcana: One Pure-Java Library for (Almost) Every Archive Format | daily.dev og:description: Arcana is an open-source, pure-Java library that lists, extracts and identifies more than 40 archive, compression and disk image formats with no native code... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/arcana-one-pure-java-library-for-almost-every-archive-format-f4fn2yje6 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/F4fN2yjE6.png og:image:alt: Arcana: One Pure-Java Library for (Almost) Every Archive Format og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Arcana: One Pure-Java Library for (Almost) Every Archive Format **[Foojay.io](https://daily.dev/sources/foojayio)** · 8 min read · 5 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Arcana is an open-source, pure-Java library that lists, extracts and identifies more than 40 archive, compression and disk image formats with no native code and no external dependencies. It runs on Java 8 or later, fits in a 1.2 MB JAR, and is published on Maven Central as io.github.realburst:arcana under Apache 2.0. It handles ZIP, 7z, RAR 4/5, Zstandard, MSI, ISO and DMG among others, with AES-256 encryption support and protections against zip slip and decompression bombs. Writing is limited to a smaller set of formats like ZIP, 7z and TAR variants, and its pure-Java Zstandard decoder runs at about 60% of native zstd speed. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Is there a pure Java library that can extract RAR 5 archives without native dependencies? Yes, Arcana is a pure-Java library that extracts RAR 4 and RAR 5 archives, including solid archives, volumes and encrypted headers, with no native code. It supports AES-128 and AES-256 encryption for RAR, runs on Java 8 or later, fits in a 1.2 MB JAR, and is published on Maven Central as io.github.realburst:arcana under Apache 2.0. _Developers handling untrusted RAR uploads in Java can track libraries like this on daily.dev._ ### How fast is a pure Java Zstandard decoder compared to the native zstd library? In benchmarks run for the Arcana project, its pure-Java Zstandard decoder reaches about 60% of the speed of the native zstd library. The decoder keeps only the window of the current frame, limited to 128 MiB like the native zstd tool, so a multi-gigabyte .tar.zst file decodes using just a few dozen MB of heap. _Engineers weighing native bindings against pure-Java decoders for zstd follow benchmarks like this on daily.dev._ ### How do you protect a Java application from zip slip and decompression bomb attacks when extracting user-uploaded archives? Sanitize entry names before writing anything, rejecting absolute paths, '..' segments and characters forbidden on Windows, and enforce extraction limits such as an output/input size ratio cap (for example 1000 once 1 GiB has been written), an optional total size cap, and a minimum free disk space requirement. Decoders should also cap memory a header can request, such as limiting the Zstandard window to 128 MiB. _Teams hardening archive handling against zip slip and bomb attacks track approaches like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Arcan 0.7.1 – Minutes To Midnight](https://daily.dev/posts/arcan-0-7-1-minutes-to-midnight-fi7gghtvk) · Lobsters · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [OpenZL 0.2 Released For Meta's Content-Aware Compression Software](https://daily.dev/posts/openzl-0-2-released-for-meta-s-content-aware-compression-software-tngdxllko) · Phoronix · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Announcing Magika 1.0: now faster, smarter, and rebuilt in Rust](https://daily.dev/posts/announcing-magika-1-0-now-faster-smarter-and-rebuilt-in-rust-cuvhevgag) · Google Open Source Blog · 24 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#java](https://daily.dev/tags/java), [#compression](https://daily.dev/tags/compression) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/arcana-one-pure-java-library-for-almost-every-archive-format-f4fn2yje6) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Arcana: One Pure-Java Library for (Almost) Every Archive Format","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/arcana-one-pure-java-library-for-almost-every-archive-format-f4fn2yje6","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/arcana-one-pure-java-library-for-almost-every-archive-format-f4fn2yje6"},"datePublished":"2026-10-26T06:35:50.475Z","dateModified":"2026-10-26T06:36:25.951Z","description":"Arcana is an open-source, pure-Java library that lists, extracts and identifies more than 40 archive, compression and disk image formats with no native code...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/dd7efd385d135ee29228ecb07c562e45?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/dd7efd385d135ee29228ecb07c562e45?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Foojay.io","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Foojay.io","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/1820f6a6ae944760aa322b67ed85f848","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/foojayio"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/arcana-one-pure-java-library-for-almost-every-archive-format-f4fn2yje6","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":5},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"open-source,java,compression","timeRequired":"PT8M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Foojay.io","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/foojayio"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Arcana: One Pure-Java Library for (Almost) Every Archive Format"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/arcana-one-pure-java-library-for-almost-every-archive-format-f4fn2yje6#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Is there a pure Java library that can extract RAR 5 archives without native dependencies?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes, Arcana is a pure-Java library that extracts RAR 4 and RAR 5 archives, including solid archives, volumes and encrypted headers, with no native code. 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