Files with rar file extension are compressed archives made using any of the RAR or WinRAR compression utilities. Along with ZIP format, RAR format is one of the most common formats used and as such can be extracted by almost every archiving tool.
There is one other file type using
the RAR file extension!
.rar - Java JCA Resource Adapter module
Software that open rar file
RAR file extension - WinRAR RAR compressed archive
What is rar file? How to open rar files?
The rar file extension is most likely best known for for its use for a compressed archive format created by RAR as well as it's successor WinRAR file archiver.
The original program was available for MS-DOS only, but the never versions are available for every version of Windows and even for some other platforms, such as Linux or Mac.
Similar to other compressed file archive formats, .rar files are data containers, that store one or several files and folders in compressed form. Compressed data can be in one single file or multiple splitted files (eg. archive.rar, archvie.r01,archive.r02 etc.).
In WinRAR you can split a huge archive to a few smaller files, which are called volumes. If you need to unpack rar multi-volumes, place all them to the same folder and start extraction from the first volume.
RAR archives can be also password protected.
MIME types used for WinRar rar archives:
application/rar
application/x-rar-compressed
Updated: July 17, 2019
The default software associated to open rar file:
Company or developer:
win.rar GmbH
A file compression and archive utility. Along with WinZip and 7-Zip is one of the most common compression programs for Windows. Its native format is as the name implies RAR and uses rar file extension.
WinRAR is a powerful archive manager. It can backup your data and reduce the size of email attachments, decompress RAR, ZIP and other files downloaded from Internet and create new archives in RAR and ZIP file format.
WinRAR is also able to unpack CAB, ARJ, LZH, TAR, GZ, ACE, UUE, BZ2, JAR, ISO, 7Z, Z archives. It consistently makes smaller archives than the competition, saving disk space and transmission costs. WinRAR offers a graphic interactive interface utilizing mouse and menus as well as the command line interface.
Company or developer:
win.rar GmbH
RAR for Mac is command line tool used to create and extract RAR archives.
Company or developer:
win.rar GmbH
Rar for Linux is command line utility used to create and extract RAR archives.
List of software applications associated to the .rar file extension
Recommended software programs are sorted by OS platform (Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android etc.)
and possible program actions that can be done with the file: like open rar file, edit rar file, convert rar file, view rar file, play rar file etc. (if exist software for corresponding action in File-Extensions.org's database).
Hint:
Click on the tab below to simply browse between the application actions, to quickly get a list of recommended software, which is able to perform the specified software action, such as opening, editing or converting rar files.
Software that open rar file - WinRAR RAR compressed archive
Programs supporting the exension rar on the main platforms Windows, Mac, Linux or mobile. Click on the link to get more information about listed programs for open rar file action.
Microsoft Windows:
Apple macOS / Mac OS X:
Main software associated with rar file by default:
RAR for Mac
Other suggested software:
sArchiver
StuffIt Expander for Mac
The Unarchiver
ALZip for Mac
Decompressor
Linux/Unix:
Main software associated with rar file by default:
RAR for Linux
Other suggested software:
Xarchiver
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