diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 65376ef..c777f24 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ or appending the tag. Usage of padding can be configured:
 
 However, it is also possible to force rewriting the entire file.
 
-Taking advantage of padding is currently not supported when dealing with Ogg stream.
+Taking advantage of padding is currently not supported when dealing with Ogg streams.
 
 ## Additional features
 The library can also display technical information such as the ID, format, language, bitrate,
diff --git a/mediafileinfo.cpp b/mediafileinfo.cpp
index 18b424d..b2b4264 100644
--- a/mediafileinfo.cpp
+++ b/mediafileinfo.cpp
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ startParsingSignature:
             goto startParsingSignature;
         }
         if(m_paddingSize) {
-            addNotification(NotificationType::Warning, ConversionUtilities::numberToString(m_paddingSize) + " zero-bytes skipped at the beginning of the file.", context);
+            addNotification(NotificationType::Warning, numberToString(m_paddingSize) + " zero-bytes skipped at the beginning of the file.", context);
         }
 
         // parse signature
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ startParsingSignature:
             stream().read(buff, 5);
 
             // set the container offset to skip ID3v2 header
-            m_containerOffset += ConversionUtilities::toNormalInt(ConversionUtilities::BE::toUInt32(buff + 1)) + 10;
+            m_containerOffset += toNormalInt(BE::toUInt32(buff + 1)) + 10;
             if((*buff) & 0x10) {
                 // footer present
                 m_containerOffset += 10;
@@ -208,17 +208,19 @@ startParsingSignature:
             goto startParsingSignature;
 
         case ContainerFormat::Mp4: {
+            // EBML/Matroska is handled using Mp4Container instance
             m_container = make_unique<Mp4Container>(*this, m_containerOffset);
             NotificationList notifications;
             try {
                 static_cast<Mp4Container *>(m_container.get())->validateElementStructure(notifications, &m_paddingSize);
-            } catch (Failure &) {
+            } catch(const Failure &) {
                 m_containerParsingStatus = ParsingStatus::CriticalFailure;
             }
             addNotifications(notifications);
             break;
 
         } case ContainerFormat::Ebml: {
+            // EBML/Matroska is handled using MatroskaContainer instance
             auto container = make_unique<MatroskaContainer>(*this, m_containerOffset);
             NotificationList notifications;
             try {
@@ -234,16 +236,28 @@ startParsingSignature:
                     container->validateElementStructure(notifications, &m_paddingSize);
                     container->validateIndex();
                 }
-            } catch(Failure &) {
+            } catch(const Failure &) {
                 m_containerParsingStatus = ParsingStatus::CriticalFailure;
             }
             m_container = move(container);
             addNotifications(notifications);
             break;
         } case ContainerFormat::Ogg:
+            // Ogg is handled using OggContainer instance
             m_container = make_unique<OggContainer>(*this, m_containerOffset);
             static_cast<OggContainer *>(m_container.get())->setChecksumValidationEnabled(m_forceFullParse);
             break;
+        case ContainerFormat::Unknown:
+            // container format is still unknown -> check for magic numbers at odd offsets
+            // -> check for tar (magic number at offset 0x101)
+            if(size() > 0x107) {
+                stream().seekg(0x101);
+                stream().read(buff, 6);
+                if(buff[0] == 0x75 && buff[1] == 0x73 && buff[2] == 0x74 && buff[3] == 0x61 && buff[4] == 0x72 && buff[5] == 0x00) {
+                    m_containerFormat = ContainerFormat::Tar;
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
         default:
             ;
         }
@@ -306,10 +320,10 @@ void MediaFileInfo::parseTracks()
             m_singleTrack->parseHeader();
         }
         m_tracksParsingStatus = ParsingStatus::Ok;
-    } catch (NotImplementedException &) {
+    } catch(const NotImplementedException &) {
         addNotification(NotificationType::Information, "Parsing tracks is not implemented for the container format of the file.", context);
         m_tracksParsingStatus = ParsingStatus::NotSupported;
-    } catch (Failure &) {
+    } catch(const Failure &) {
         addNotification(NotificationType::Critical, "Unable to parse tracks.", context);
         m_tracksParsingStatus = ParsingStatus::CriticalFailure;
     }
@@ -349,9 +363,9 @@ void MediaFileInfo::parseTags()
         try {
             m_id3v1Tag->parse(stream(), true);
             m_actualExistingId3v1Tag = true;
-        } catch(NoDataFoundException &) {
+        } catch(const NoDataFoundException &) {
             m_id3v1Tag.reset(); // no ID3v1 tag found
-        } catch(Failure &) {
+        } catch(const Failure &) {
             m_tagsParsingStatus = ParsingStatus::CriticalFailure;
             addNotification(NotificationType::Critical, "Unable to parse ID3v1 tag.", context);
         }
@@ -364,9 +378,9 @@ void MediaFileInfo::parseTags()
         try {
             id3v2Tag->parse(stream(), size() - offset);
             m_paddingSize += id3v2Tag->paddingSize();
-        } catch(NoDataFoundException &) {
+        } catch(const NoDataFoundException &) {
             continue;
-        } catch(Failure &) {
+        } catch(const Failure &) {
             m_tagsParsingStatus = ParsingStatus::CriticalFailure;
             addNotification(NotificationType::Critical, "Unable to parse ID3v2 tag.", context);
         }
@@ -375,13 +389,13 @@ void MediaFileInfo::parseTags()
     if(m_container) {
         try {
             m_container->parseTags();
-        } catch (NotImplementedException &) {
+        } catch(const NotImplementedException &) {
             if(m_tagsParsingStatus == ParsingStatus::NotParsedYet) {
                 // do not override parsing status from ID3 tags here
                 m_tagsParsingStatus = ParsingStatus::NotSupported;
             }
             addNotification(NotificationType::Information, "Parsing tags is not implemented for the container format of the file.", context);
-        } catch (Failure &) {
+        } catch(const Failure &) {
             m_tagsParsingStatus = ParsingStatus::CriticalFailure;
             addNotification(NotificationType::Critical, "Unable to parse tag.", context);
         }
diff --git a/signature.cpp b/signature.cpp
index 579b932..7859d22 100644
--- a/signature.cpp
+++ b/signature.cpp
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ namespace Media {
  */
 enum Sig64 : uint64
 {
+    Ar = 0x213C617263683E0A,
     Asf1 = 0x3026B2758E66CF11ul,
     Asf2 = 0xA6D900AA0062CE6Cul,
     Png = 0x89504E470D0A1A0Aul,
@@ -109,6 +110,8 @@ ContainerFormat parseSignature(const char *buffer, int bufferSize)
     }
     // return corresponding container format
     switch(sig) { // check 64-bit signatures
+    case Ar:
+        return ContainerFormat::Ar;
     case Asf1:
         return ContainerFormat::Asf;
     case Asf2:
@@ -223,6 +226,7 @@ ContainerFormat parseSignature(const char *buffer, int bufferSize)
 const char *containerFormatAbbreviation(ContainerFormat containerFormat, MediaType mediaType, unsigned int version)
 {
     switch(containerFormat) {
+    case ContainerFormat::Ar: return "a";
     case ContainerFormat::Asf: return "asf";
     case ContainerFormat::Elf: return "elf";
     case ContainerFormat::Gif87a:
@@ -273,6 +277,7 @@ const char *containerFormatAbbreviation(ContainerFormat containerFormat, MediaTy
     case ContainerFormat::Riff: return "riff";
     case ContainerFormat::RiffWave: return "wav";
     case ContainerFormat::RiffAvi: return "avi";
+    case ContainerFormat::Tar: return "tar";
     case ContainerFormat::TiffBigEndian:
     case ContainerFormat::TiffLittleEndian: return "tiff";
     case ContainerFormat::WindowsBitmap: return "bmp";
@@ -296,6 +301,8 @@ const char *containerFormatName(ContainerFormat containerFormat)
     switch(containerFormat) {
     case ContainerFormat::Adts:
         return "Audio Data Transport Stream";
+    case ContainerFormat::Ar:
+        return "Archive (GNU ar)";
     case ContainerFormat::Asf:
         return "Advanced Systems Format";
     case ContainerFormat::Elf:
@@ -337,6 +344,8 @@ const char *containerFormatName(ContainerFormat containerFormat)
         return "RIFF/WAVE";
     case ContainerFormat::RiffAvi:
         return "RIFF/Audio Video Interleave";
+    case ContainerFormat::Tar:
+        return "TAR archive";
     case ContainerFormat::TiffBigEndian:
     case ContainerFormat::TiffLittleEndian:
         return "Tagged Image File Format";
@@ -356,10 +365,10 @@ const char *containerFormatName(ContainerFormat containerFormat)
         return "gzip compressed file";
     case ContainerFormat::Lzip:
         return "lzip compressed file";
-    case ContainerFormat::Zip:
-        return "ZIP archive";
     case ContainerFormat::SevenZ:
         return "7z archive";
+    case ContainerFormat::Zip:
+        return "ZIP archive";
     default:
         return "unknown";
     }
diff --git a/signature.h b/signature.h
index a7a5f10..1cb3e51 100644
--- a/signature.h
+++ b/signature.h
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ enum class ContainerFormat
 {
     Unknown, /**< unknown container format */
     Adts, /** < Audio Data Transport Stream */
+    Ar, /** < "GNU ar" archive */
     Asf, /**< Advanced Systems Format */
     Bzip2, /** bzip2 compressed file */
     Elf, /**< Executable and Linkable Format */
@@ -39,6 +40,7 @@ enum class ContainerFormat
     Riff, /**< Resource Interchange File Format */
     RiffWave, /**< WAVE (subset of RIFF) */
     RiffAvi, /**< Audio Video Interleave (subset of RIFF) */
+    Tar, /** < Tar archive */
     TiffBigEndian, /**< Tagged Image File Format (big endian) */
     TiffLittleEndian, /**< Tagged Image File Format (little endian) */
     Utf16Text, /**< UTF-16 text */