Files with rar extension are compressed archives using RAR or WinRAR compression utilities. Along with the ZIP format, the RAR format is one of the most common formats used and can be extracted by almost every archiving tool.

There is one other file type using
the RAR file extension!

rar icon.rar - Java JCA Resource Adapter module

Detailed description

Software that open rar file

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RAR file extension - WinRAR RAR compressed archive

What is rar file? How to open rar files?

File type specification:

Archive and compressed file type icon Archive and compressed file type

Backup file type icon Backup file type

rar file icon: rar filetype icon

File extension rar is most likely best known for its use in a compressed archive format created by RAR and its successor WinRAR file archiver.

The original program was available for MS-DOS only. Still, the newer versions are available for every version of Windows and even for some other platforms, such as Linux or Mac.

Like 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 or multiple split files (e.g., archive.rar, archive.r01, archive.r02, etc.).

In WinRAR, you can split a huge archive into a few smaller files called volumes. If you need to unpack rar multi-volumes, place all of them in the same folder and start extraction from the first volume.

RAR archives can also be password protected.

MIME types used for WinRar rar archives:
application/rar
application/x-rar-compressed

Updated: November 7, 2023

The default software associated to open rar file:

WinRAR icon

win.rar GmbH logoWinRAR  Microsoft Windows software

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.

RAR for Mac icon

win.rar GmbH logoRAR for Mac  Apple macOS / Mac OS X software

Company or developer:
win.rar GmbH

RAR for Mac is command line tool used to create and extract RAR archives.

RAR for Linux icon

win.rar GmbH logoRAR for Linux  Linux/Unix software

Company or developer:
win.rar GmbH

Rar for Linux is command line utility used to create and extract RAR archives.

Related articles:

Useful information about multi-volume archives

How to open RAR files on Mac

How to open and extract RAR file

Help how to open:

Most modern file archivers support the RAR format on all operating systems. The default program for RAR archive format is WinRAR or RAR for Mac.

How to convert:

You can extract *.rar archives and repack RAR format to a different archive format simply by extracting the archive's contents and compressing them to a different format.

Find conversions from rar file:

rar to doc

rar to epub

rar to exe

rar to iso

rar to jpg

rar to mkv

rar to mp4

Find converter to rar file type:

b1 to rar

bin to rar

dmg to rar

enc to rar

exe to rar

isz to rar

pdf to rar

File identification strings:

HEX code: 52 61 72 21 1A 07 00
ASCII code: Rar!

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:

Main software associated with rar file by default:
WinRAR small icon WinRAR
Other suggested software:
7-zip small icon 7-zip
WinZip small icon WinZip
B1 Free Archiver small icon B1 Free Archiver
ALZip small icon ALZip
PeaZip small icon PeaZip
IZArc small icon IZArc
FilZip

Apple macOS / Mac OS X:

Main software associated with rar file by default:
RAR for Mac small icon RAR for Mac
Other suggested software:
sArchiver small icon sArchiver
StuffIt Expander for Mac small icon StuffIt Expander for Mac
The Unarchiver small icon The Unarchiver
ALZip for Mac small icon ALZip for Mac
Decompressor small icon Decompressor

Linux/Unix:

Main software associated with rar file by default:
RAR for Linux small icon RAR for Linux
Other suggested software:
Xarchiver small icon Xarchiver

Apple iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch devices):

Google Android:

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