Each archive type supports different sets of (de)compression settings. Some of these settings include:
How strong or fast the compression should be when creating/updating archives,
Passwords to be used when compressing/extracting archives,
How to store and extract file/folder names inside archives.
To make managing these settings easier, profiles are used. A (de)compression profile is essentially a collection of (de)compression settings for an archive type. Different types of archive tasks may require different (de)compression settings. Creating and keeping multiple sets of profiles enables easily performing each of the tasks without having to manually specify how to (de)compress archives each time.
CompreXX mark4 already ships with many pre-set profiles that are used during standard archive operations. You may also create new profiles suitable for your own archive operations, but this is not generally needed.
See also: