Supporting the MAFF web archive format, based on ZIP

[Paolo Amadini]

Hello,

I'm the current maintainer of the Mozilla Archive Format extension
for Firefox, which among other things provides the ability to open
and save complete web pages inside MAFF files, which are simple ZIP
files that contain all the resources required to render a web page.

MAFF is similar to the WAR web archive format used by Konqueror.
One of the key differences is that, since it's based on ZIP, it
allows storing compressed video and audio efficiently, and can
also allow seeking inside the media files if they are stored
without recompression. This makes it ideal for storing web pages
containing HTML 5 video and audio elements. MAFF also specifies
a way to store metadata in the archive for providing information
like the original location a page was saved from, outside of
the page itself. A more detailed overview of the file format
is available here:

  <http://maf.mozdev.org/maff-file-format.html>

I'd like to know if there is interest in supporting the MAFF file
format in Konqueror. The format is based on open standards and is
not specific to a particular browser, and the draft specification
is currently maintained by the MAF project. If you want to have a
look at the specification, which is still in its initial stages
even though the format has been in use for several years now,
you can find it at this address:

  <http://maf.mozdev.org/maff-specification.html>

Feedback on the specification itself is always welcome, either here
or on the MAF mailing list. I hope you'll find this initiative
to promote open standards useful!

If you're interested, I can also lend a hand with coding, though
it will be some time before I'll be able to start working on the
project actively.

I look forward to your positive responses!

Regards,
Paolo Amadini