.PHAR File Extension

File packaged in the PHAR (PHP Archive) format, which can be created using the Phar PHP class; stores a collection of files and supports bzip2 and gzip compression as well as a checksums for the archive; used for distributing and running PHP applications using a single file.

PHAR files are similar to Java's .JAR files and can be run using PHP. An example of a common PHP application that is distributed as a PHAR archive is PEAR (PHP Extension and Application Repository), a package manager for PHP extensions.

PHP Archive files are compatible with APC (Alternative PHP Cache), an "opcode cache" that optimizes application performance by caching the compiled versions of code. phpMyAdmin, a commonly-used front end for MySQL, has been measured with a 6x speedup when run as a PHAR file.

NOTE: Phar, the PHP component that reads and writes PHAR files, is included with PHP 5.3.