What is a .MAFF file?
A .MAFF file is a type of compressed file specifically used to save webpages for offline viewing. It stands for Mozilla Archive Format File and was created using an add-on for the Mozilla Firefox or Mozilla SeaMonkey web browsers. This add-on, known as the Mozilla Archive Format (MAF), allowed users to save not just a single webpage, but potentially multiple webpages in one go. This was particularly useful for saving content to be viewed later without needing an internet connection.
The content inside a MAFF file includes all the elements of the webpages such as text, images, audio, and video files. Additionally, it also saves metadata which provides information about the saved webpages. Since MAFF files are essentially Zip-compressed files, you can open them using any program that can handle Zip files to see their contents.
To create a MAFF file, users with the MAF add-on installed in their Firefox or SeaMonkey browser could simply choose to save their current webpage or all open tabs by selecting options like "Save Tabs As..." or "Save All Tabs As..." from the browser's file menu.
Although the MAF add-on was discontinued and is not supported in Mozilla Firefox versions later than 56, you can still use older versions of Firefox or SeaMonkey with the MAF add-on to open or create MAFF files. Alternatively, you can use other programs like PeaZip, B1 Archiver, 7-Zip, or even the Apple Archive Utility (included with macOS) to open these files.
In summary, .MAFF files are useful for archiving webpages and their associated media for offline access, and they can be opened using specific older browser setups or various general archiving software.
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