An ARH file does not have one fixed meaning, so determining its purpose requires examining where it came from; frequently it’s linked to Siemens ProTool in industrial automation, where it’s a compressed HMI project package used for backups or transfers—likely if seen alongside Siemens or PLC-related terms—whereas in archaeological work an ARH file may be an ArheoStratigraf project capturing stratigraphy data and Harris Matrix diagrams, often found in folders related to contexts, trenches, layers, or site documentation.
To identify the ARH type accurately, the most straightforward test is opening it with 7-Zip or WinRAR, because some ARH files are essentially archives; if the tool opens it and displays internal folders or files, you can extract them and inspect elements like images, configs, or database items—usually signaling a packaged Siemens/ProTool-style project—while a failure to open means the file might still be valid but proprietary, requiring ProTool or ArheoStratigraf, and you can also try copying and renaming the file to `.zip` or `.rar` in case it’s a simple archive under another name, with the real "correct" method depending on your needs: extraction works if you only want assets, but full project editing needs the original software.
Because many ARH files function similarly to ZIP-based bundles, tools like 7-Zip and WinRAR are handy even when you don’t know the program yet; if they open, the internal files—configs, images, logs, databases—instantly reveal the file’s nature and let you extract assets, but if they can’t, the ARH may just be a proprietary project format, and renaming a copy to `. If you have any sort of inquiries concerning where and ways to use
ARH file compatibility, you can call us at our own web site. zip` or `.rar` can sometimes expose a normal archive underneath, making this quick test a simple, low-effort way to understand the ARH and extract anything useful.
An ARH file serves different roles depending on context since ".ARH" is a reused, non-standard extension; determining its type depends on its origin—industrial automation environments use ARH for
packaged HMI/PLC projects, and archaeology uses it for ArheoStratigraf data—and checking whether it extracts in 7-Zip helps confirm if it’s an archive or proprietary.
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 determine an ARH file’s nature by checking the *context around it*—folder names, neighboring files, and workflow—since ".ARH" can mean different things; when it sits in automation-related folders with Siemens, ProTool, WinCC, STEP7/S7, PLC, or alarm/tag references, it’s likely a Siemens ProTool compressed project, but when stored in archaeology folders referencing trench, stratigraphy, layers, or context numbers and surrounded by drawings, photos, or excavation spreadsheets, it’s probably ArheoStratigraf, and if still unclear, trying 7-Zip helps: archive-like behavior suggests a packaged project, and failure to open implies proprietary software is needed.