ARC
ARC may refer to any of the following:
1. Short for Advanced RISC Computing, ARC is MIPS (microprocessor without interlocked pipelined stages), RISC-based computer hardware and firmware environment standard. The ARC standard was developed in the 1990s by the Advanced Computing Environment project, but was never fully realized. Although some older systems may use portions of the standard, it is considered obsolete.
ARC should not be confused with ARM (Advanced RISC Machine).
2. With a file extension, .arc or .ark was an early compressed file encoded from SEA (System Enhanced Associates). The format was replaced when the ZIP format was introduced because it has a higher compression rate.
3. When describing HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), ARC (Audio Return Channel) is a feature (starting with version 1.4) that allows the TV to function as an audio hub. For example, a cable box, console, and DVD (digital versatile disc) player connected to the TV can get surround sound from a soundbar connected to the HDMI ARC port.
In 2017, HDMI version 2.1 introduced eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel), which added support for higher-end surround sound options.
4. With the Lisp programming language, Arc was one of its dialects.
5. When describing a mouse, ARC describes the Microsoft ARC mouse.
6. As a verb or in mathematics, an arc describes anything that moves in a curve. For example, when you throw a ball, it has an arc in its trajectory due to the gravitational pull of Earth.