The .tar archive file format has been around for decades, but GNOME / free software developer Jussi Pakkanen suggests that it's time for a modern solution.

In particular, Jussi is suggesting an alternative where it can handle random file access and parallel decompression better than Tar. Jussi in his blog post also points out currently limitations in using PKZIP.

For those interested in data compression and wanting to learn more, Jussi has posted about it on his blog, including some basic benchmarks, and an approach he is working on with JPAK.