Reference

RAR

RAR 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).

Files & formatsGeneral

RAR

Also known as: .rar file, how to open RAR, WinRAR archive

Proprietary; strong compression
Opens in 7-Zip, WinRAR, The Unarchiver
Creating RAR needs WinRAR specifically

How to open a RAR file

RAR is read by almost every archive utility even though the format is owned by RARLAB. On Windows, WinRAR or 7-Zip extracts it; on Mac, The Unarchiver or Keka; on Linux, the `unrar` package. Most just need a right-click and Extract Here or Extract to….

Creating a RAR is the catch: only WinRAR and the official `rar` command can pack one. Free tools can open RAR but will offer ZIP or 7z when you make a new archive.

Why people use RAR

RAR tends to compress slightly tighter than ZIP and supports handy features like splitting a large archive into numbered parts (.part1.rar, .part2.rar) and adding recovery data to survive minor corruption. That makes it popular for large downloads.

For storage, the rules are the same as any archive: extracting writes full-size copies, so once your files are unpacked and verified you can delete the .rar to avoid storing the data twice.

Related terms

Keep reading the reference.

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 & formats7Z (7-Zip)7z is an open archive format from the free 7-Zip tool, known for a very high compression ratio thanks to LZMA/LZMA2. It typically packs tighter than ZIP, but the recipient needs a 7z-capable app to open it.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 Storage conceptsCompression (lossy vs lossless)Compression shrinks a file by encoding its data more efficiently. Lossless compression rebuilds the original exactly, while lossy compression permanently discards detail the eye or ear is least likely to notice in exchange for much smaller files.General