Reference

CBR

CBR is a comic-book file format that is a RAR archive of image files — one image per page — renamed with a .cbr extension. Comic readers open it, sort the pages by filename, and display them in order.

Files & formatsGeneral

CBR

Also known as: .cbr file, comic book RAR, comic book archive

A RAR archive of page images, renamed .cbr
Pages display in filename order
RAR-based counterpart to ZIP-based CBZ

How CBR works

A .cbr file is a RAR archive holding the page images (usually JPEG or PNG) in reading order. Rename it to .rar and an unarchiver such as WinRAR or The Unarchiver will open it; comic apps read it natively.

As with any comic archive, the size is simply the total of its page images. High-resolution color scans take far more space than compressed or black-and-white pages.

CBR vs CBZ

CBR wraps the pages in RAR, while CBZ uses ZIP. Functionally they are the same kind of file; the difference is the archive format. RAR is proprietary and not built into every system, so many readers and tools handle CBZ more reliably.

If you want a more portable comic, converting CBR to CBZ (re-archiving the same images as ZIP) keeps the pages identical while using an open format. To shrink the file, re-compress the images themselves.

Related terms

Keep reading the reference.

Files & formatsCBZCBZ is a comic-book file format that is simply a ZIP archive of image files — one image per page — renamed with a .cbz extension. Comic readers open it, sort the pages by filename, and display them in order.General Files & formatsRARRAR is a proprietary archive format with strong compression, created by the WinRAR tool. You can extract .rar files with WinRAR, 7-Zip, or The Unarchiver, but creating new RAR archives requires WinRAR (or its command-line tool).General Files & formatsArchive fileAn archive file bundles many files and folders into one container — for example a ZIP, RAR, or 7z. Most archives also compress their contents to save space, but some (like plain TAR) only bundle without shrinking anything.General Files & formatsZIP archiveA ZIP archive bundles one or more files into a single compressed .zip file that is smaller and easier to share. Unzipping it creates a second, full-size copy of the contents — so an archive and its extracted files can both take up space at once.General