[frainfreeze]

Point is that SEE exists, and so do free alternatives.

> In my understanding SQLite's support for sqlar and ZIP occurred at the same time

I believe so too.

I agree with you on SQLAR being poor general-purpose archive or compression format compared to ZIP; what I'm arguing is that its very good file format for certain applications, offering structured, modifiable, and searchable file storage. We had great success using it as db/file format for PLM solution packed both as desktop and web app. Same database can then be used to power the web ui (single tenant SaaS deployments), and for desktop app (web export is simply a working file for desktop app). This file being just a simple sqlite db lets users play with data, do their own imports, migrations etc., while having all files & docs in one place.