An artpack is an archive of computer artwork which is distributed in a compressed format such as ZIP or RAR. While most artpacks today contain either

ANSI The American National Standards Institute (ANSI ) is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organi ...

and ASCII art or ''hirez''

VGA Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the PC industry within three years. The term can no ...

, they may also include a combination of RIPscrip art, tracked or otherwise digital music,

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

and editorials, 3D computer animation and related software utilities. The first artpack ever was ''The Acquisition'', released by

ACiD Productions ACiD Productions (ACiD) is a digital art group. Founded in 1990, the group originally specialized in ANSI artwork for BBSes. More recently, they have extended their reach into other graphical media and computer software development. During the BB ...

in the early 1990s. BBS: The Documentary, Episode 5: ARTSCENE. Artpacks were originally released on a monthly basis by competing groups in the artscene, naming their files accordingly, i.e. . Very few groups still carry on the tradition of monthly releases in this day, rather they opt to numbering their artpacks in sequence rather than by date, i.e. , releasing their artpacks without any defined schedule. In retrospect, artpacks are recognized as one of the primary reasons that the early

computer art scene The computer art scene, or simply artscene, is the community interested and active in the creation of computer-based artwork. Early computer art The history of computer art predates the computer art scene for several decades, with the first expe ...

is so well preserved and documented in relation to other underground computer scenes at the time.

Notes

{{reflist, 2 Artscene Computer art