Open PK3 File
The PK3 is a type of compressed game data file used by games based on the Quake III (id Tech 3) engine, developed by id Software.
About id Tech 3
id Tech 3, popularly known as the Quake III Arena Engine, is a game engine developed by id Software for its popular Quake III Arena video game.
Although it was designed for Quake III, this engine has been adopted by numerous games.
Being a competitor to the Unreal Engine, both engines were widely licensed.
The PK3 file may contain maps, textures, audio clips, or other data used for gameplay, and may also be modified to create custom game content.
PK3 files are similar to PAK extension game data files, but are based on a newer format.
Since PK3 files are compressed, they can be renamed with a ZIP file extension and extracted using any file unzip program like WinZip or PKZIP.
Quake III PK3 files must be saved in a very game-specific directory for it to work, such as: quake3/q3ut3, quake3/baseq3, or quake3arena/q3ut3.
Games that take advantage of the id Tech 3 engine and therefore the PK3 file:
- Quake III Arena
- Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
- Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix
- Return to Castle Wolfenstein
- Call of Duty Classic.