1.8 KiB
OpenAsar FAQ
What is an asar?
An asar is a format for Electron, commonly used for the first part of apps as app.asar. Discord's app.asar includes various parts like:
- Updater
- Bootstrapping main part of the app
- Some crash and error reporting
- Splash screen
OpenAsar is an open-source alternative / rewrite / etc of Discord's app.asar which hopes to bring the various features outlined in the readme.
How is this so fast?
The main speed increase (default options) is mostly accidental / coincidental (not intended) as it is mostly a side effect of rewriting it.
How is this so small?
Compared to Discord's original, OpenAsar is <2% of the size. This is because when rewriting we remove NPM dependencies with our own custom code for more performance and efficiency. These are replaced with custom polyfills (compatible replacements).
What is Quickstart?
Quickstart skips a few Discord features like the splash screen and waiting for updates in favour of speed. It is currently experimental and not fully recommended for normal use.
Does OpenAsar support X mod?
Most likely, yes! OpenAsar is known to widely support BD, PC, GM, and others. It's very unlikely to cause any issues with your mods.
This didn't speed up Discord that much for me?
If OpenAsar wasn't that much faster (in term of startup time) you likely already have a good PC. OpenAsar speeds up most for lower-end PCs, especially those without an SSD. You will likely still notice a subtle (~1.2x) difference.
Is this 100% original?
No, and depends on your definition. By original if you mean all of this is rewritten, not containing any original Discord code - not yet but we hope for v2.0. If you mean original by design, etc. - no, as we have to follow Discord APIs to maintain compatibility.