An ARH file isn’t limited to a single definition, so context is the most reliable clue; one common source is Siemens ProTool, where ARH acts as a packaged HMI project for storage, transfer, or backup—typical if it originated from factory systems or directories referencing Siemens, ProTool, WinCC, STEP7, S7, or HMI—while another possibility is ArheoStratigraf, an archaeology tool where ARH files store stratigraphy documentation and diagrams like Harris Matrices, usually found in excavation folders labeled contexts, trench, layers, or matrix.

To figure out the ARH type without guessing, the simplest technique is using 7-Zip or WinRAR, since some ARH files are container archives; if the tool opens it and reveals internal structure, you can extract and check for project folders, configs, images, or databases—often tied to Siemens/ProTool—while an inability to open it doesn’t imply corruption but rather that it’s a proprietary project format requiring the original application, and an additional trick is renaming a copied version to `. For more information about ARH file description visit our web site. zip` or `.rar` to test whether it extracts, with the correct opening method depending on your purpose: extraction may be enough for asset recovery, but full project access needs the creating software.

Because many ARH files are structured as multi-file project bundles, they’re often saved in compressed form, so checking them with 7-Zip or WinRAR is worthwhile even without knowing the program; if the archive opens, you’ll see internal folders containing configs, images, logs, or databases that reveal what created it, and you can extract assets immediately, while a failure to open usually means it’s a proprietary format, with a useful trick being to copy and rename the extension to `.zip` or `.rar` to see if it extracts, making this a quick, low-effort way to identify the ARH and possibly retrieve needed content.

An ARH file cannot be defined purely by its extension 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 tell what an ARH file represents by observing the *environment it lives in*—the folder structure, companion files, and domain—because the extension doesn’t dictate the format; ARH files appearing in automation engineering folders with Siemens, ProTool, WinCC, STEP7/S7, PLC, panels, tags, or alarms are commonly Siemens ProTool project packages, while ARH files inside archaeology folders marked trench, stratigraphy, matrix, layers, or excavation data typically correspond to ArheoStratigraf projects, and in ambiguous cases, a 7-Zip “Open archive” test reveals whether it’s a browsable container or a proprietary file requiring the original tool.