Bundle is an archive format present in all of Criterion Games' 7th generation titles, excluding Burnout Revenge for Xbox 360. It is used to store nearly every asset in these games and, as a result, is the most common file type in them.

Each asset, or resource, in a bundle archive is stored with information about the asset, including its type and flags. Flags include compression, where resources may be uncompressed or compressed using zlib level 9 (maximum compression).

Versions

Bundle

Main article: Bundle (original)

The original bundle format was Criterion's first attempt at a custom archive format. The earliest known examples are in Black 2 (2006-06-29 build), while the latest are in Burnout 5 (2007-02-22 build). Because there were no releases during this time frame, it only saw use during development of the aforementioned games and Black 2.

This format is overall more complicated than its successor, supporting some features that saw no use (such as 5 memory types) and lacking other features (early versions even lacked compression). Much of this was optimized for performance and ease of use in Bundle 2.

Bundle 2

Main article: Bundle 2

Since at least August 2007, Bundle 2 was in use, and it remained in use throughout the rest of the console generation. Though the version in Burnout Paradise focuses primarily on simplification of the original bundle format and performance improvements, its most updated form supports features such as GeneSys integration and delta bundles.