The U.S. state of Arkansas first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1911. Prior to 1911, plates were issued by cities.
, plates are issued by the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Only rear plates have been required since 1944.
In 1956, the United States, Canada, and Mexico came to an agreement with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, the Automobile Manufacturers Association and the National Safety Council that standardized the size for license plates for vehicles (except those for motorcycles) at in height by in width, with standardized mounting holes. The 1956 (dated 1957) issue was the first Arkansas license plate that fully complied with these standards: the 1947 (dated 1948), 1952 (dated 1953) and 1955 (dated 1956) issues were all 6 inches in height by 12 inches in width, but had non-standard mounting holes.
Beginning in 2000, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has released one wildlife-themed plate design each year, to be issued for one calendar year, although remaining stock is sometimes issued past the end of a particular plate design's year of release. Note that some plates that were originally issued without prefixes now have them, and that prefixes now include , and .