What is an ARH file?
An .ARH file is primarily a compressed archive or backup file. Multiple software programs use this extension for different purposes. The most common use is an Electrical CAD project archive created by SEE Electrical. Another common use is a well log data archive used by Emerson Paradigm Echos software. You might also encounter an .ARH file as a SQL Server database backup for Microsoft SQL Server, or as a ProTool Compressed Project File created by Siemens.
How to open ARH files?
Because an .ARH file can serve multiple functions, you must know its origin to open it locally. If it is a SEE Electrical archive, you need that specific CAD software. If it is a ProTool Compressed Project File, you need Siemens ProTool. However, many of these .ARH files actually use standard ZIP compression under the hood. You can often rename the file extension to .ZIP and extract the contents using standard archive tools like 7-Zip or WinRAR.
Best practices and troubleshooting
Since the .ARH extension has multiple possible meanings, do not guess the format. Incorrectly opening a database backup as a CAD archive will cause errors. Instead, viewer.online/arh analyzes .ARH files to identify their exact format and creator software, shows which programs can open the file, and usually previews it directly in your browser.
Summary
An .ARH file stores important project data, database backups, or well logs. Because .ARH files use the known ZIP format, viewer.online/arh can safely open and display them online, eliminating compatibility problems.