The archlute (Spanish: archilaúd, Italian: arciliuto, German: Erzlaute) is a European plucked string instrument developed around 1600 as a compromise between the very large theorbo,[1] the size and re-entrant tuning of which made for difficulties in the performance of solo music,[2] and the Renaissance tenor lute, which lacked the bass range of the theorbo.

The theorbo had been commonly used as the melodic bass instrument in trio sonatas from the beginning of the Baroque and the archlute took over that function too, with the most famous example being Corelli's Opus 1 and 3 trio sonatas which have partbooks for 1st and 2nd violin, 'violone o arciliuto' and a continuo part for organ, a simplified version of the 'violone o arciliuto' book.

The archlute was used in Handel's operas and like repertoire;[1] Giulio Cesare (1724) has continuo parts labelled both arciliuto and tiorba.

Any late Italian Baroque music with a part labelled 'liuto' will mean 'arciliuto', the classic Renaissance lute being in disuse by this time.

Some living players are Edin Karamazov, Axel Wolf, Luca Pianca (the founder of Il Giardino Armonico), and Javier Mas who predominantly play archlutes, and Paolo Cherici, Massimo Lonardi, Luciano Contini, Paul O'Dette, Jakob Lindberg, David Tayler and Nigel North, who use archlutes extensively.