An ABL (Advanced Business Language) archive library is a collection of r-code combined in a single file. Archive libraries are similar to procedure libraries, but they also support the signing and validation of r-code. The r-code files in a library are known as members. An archive library is similar to an object library in Windows or an archive file on Linux. However, object libraries and Linux archive files are used solely for efficient storage. ABL archive files allow you to manage and execute r-code more efficiently.

Note: OpenEdge can only make use of r-code and images within an archive library. While it is technically possible to include other types of files in an archive library, the user would need to extract them from the library before making use of them.