An ARH file is not tied to one specific software ecosystem, so identifying it depends on where it appeared; many ARH files are Siemens ProTool HMI project packages used to store or move automation configurations—likely if associated with Siemens, ProTool, WinCC, STEP7, S7, or factory equipment—whereas others belong to ArheoStratigraf in archaeology, where they store stratigraphy and Harris Matrix information, usually found in documentation folders mentioning layers, trench, matrix, or contexts.

To identify your ARH file correctly, the quickest check is opening it with 7-Zip or WinRAR because some ARH files function as archives; if it opens and lists files or folders, you can extract and examine items like images, configs, project data, or databases—often indicating a Siemens/ProTool package—while if it doesn’t open, the file may still be valid but proprietary to ProTool or ArheoStratigraf, and you can further test by copying the file and renaming it to `.zip` or `. If you treasured this article and you simply would like to get more info with regards to ARH file online tool i implore you to visit the web-site. rar` to see if it extracts, with the proper approach depending on your goal: extracted assets may be all you need, but full project access requires the original software.

Because many ARH files function as bundled project containers, they’re sometimes stored as compressed containers similar to ZIP files, which is why trying 7-Zip or WinRAR is useful even before you know the source program; if 7-Zip opens it, you’ll usually see folders and files—configs, databases, images, logs—that reveal the file’s purpose and let you extract assets without the original software, while a failure to open simply suggests a proprietary format, and a good trick is renaming a copy to `.zip` or `.rar` to test whether it extracts, making this quick archive test an easy way to identify the ARH type and possibly recover what you need right away.

An ARH file isn’t a fixed-format document because many developers reuse ".ARH" for unrelated purposes, so the extension alone tells you little; instead, the source matters—industrial automation work (Siemens/HMI/PLC) points toward a packaged project, while archaeological stratigraphy work points toward an ArheoStratigraf file—and checking how it behaves in tools like 7-Zip helps determine whether it’s an archive or a proprietary project.

What this means day-to-day is that ".ARH" is merely a reused extension, so an ARH from automation circles might be a Siemens/ProTool package containing screens, tag sets, alarms, and configs, while an archaeology ARH might instead be an ArheoStratigraf project with stratigraphy and diagram structure, and even matching filenames can hide unrelated data, which is why checking its origin, nearby files, and behavior in 7-Zip is the safest method to determine if it’s an archive or a proprietary project needing the original software.

You can usually identify what kind of ARH file you have by examining the *company it keeps*—the folder, nearby filenames, and the type of work it came from—because ".ARH" itself doesn’t define the format; when the ARH appears in industrial automation or HMI backup folders alongside terms like Siemens, ProTool, WinCC, STEP7/S7, PLC, HMI, tags, or alarms, it’s almost always the Siemens ProTool compressed project type, but when it’s found in archaeology folders labeled trench, context, stratigraphy, matrix, layers, or excavation and surrounded by dig photos, drawings, or context sheets, it’s more likely an ArheoStratigraf project, and if context still isn’t obvious, opening it with 7-Zip is a quick test—an archive-like structure suggests a packed project, while a "not an archive" message points toward a proprietary file requiring the original software.