Compact Pro

File Format
Name	Compact Pro
Ontology	Electronic File Formats Archiving Compact Pro
Extension(s)	.cpt, .sea
Type Code	PACT
Wikidata ID	Q5155295

Compact Pro (originally named Compactor) was an archiver for the Mac platform in the 1990s, competing with StuffIt. A PC version called ExtractorPC was also released.

Compact Pro could decode BinHex, split archives over multiple floppy disks, and display text or images when an archive was opened. It was also able to produce self-extracting archives, which were saved with a .sea extension.

When attempting to obtain Compact Pro, be sure you don't mistakenly end up with a makeup organizer, a cultivator, or a lawnmower.

File Identification

• The only magic number in a Compact Pro file header is the first byte 01. The rest is offsets for the file directory and data, along with CRC-32 values.
• The type code is PACT, and the creator code is CPCT which sometimes can be found in the file if the file has been encoded as a MacBinary file.

Software

• The Unarchiver
• macutil
• ExtractorPC (DOS software)

Sample files

• http://cd.textfiles.com/garbo/MAC/ → .../*.CPT
• dexvert samples — archive/compactPro

Links

• Wikipedia article
• Official site (no longer supported; not OS X compatible)
• Compact Pro Users Guide
• Compact Pro Header Information