How to Open a RAR File, For Free

December 7, 2008 · Filed Under Tutorials

The RAR is one of the most popular compression formats out there. In fact, it has become the standard for sharing files on BitTorrent, RapidShare, and MegaUpload. People mainly prefer RAR because its compression algorithm is better than ZIP, so it creates smaller archives, and it allows you to split your file into multiple archives.

Unfortunately, Windows (or any other OS, for that matter) doesn’t support the RAR format natively. Fortunately, a few good free programs allow you to open RAR archives.

PeaZip

If you just want to open RAR archives, then PeaZip is the best choice. Its interface is neat and intuitive, and it supports all of the important (and the not so important) compression formats out there, including RAR. And it’s free!

A good alternative to PeaZip is IZArc.

WinRAR

Since the RAR format is proprietary, the only compression client that can actually make RAR archives is WinRAR. If you want to create RAR files, then you should get WinRAR. WinRAR is shareware and a pop-up window will nag you every time you open the application, until you buy it. Unless you really want to create RAR files, I suggest you don’t get WinRAR as it supports only a few formats except RAR, and its interface is downright ugly.

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Tags: compression, rar, Software, Tutorials

Comments

9 Responses to “How to Open a RAR File, For Free”

christo on December 7th, 2008 7:03 pm

I’d recommend uniextractor http://legroom.net/software/uniextract
It will extract anything, but it is not a compressor
(anything includes rar, msi, iso, zip, etc)
Philip May on December 8th, 2008 1:57 pm

I would like to add 7-Zip to your list. The question ist: Can PeaZip unextract rar archives that are splitted into more then one file? 7-Zip can’t do that.
Can you maybe test that?
Ruchir on December 8th, 2008 2:07 pm

@ Philip - Yeah it can.
Second Principle - Managing RAR Files on December 22nd, 2008 4:33 pm

[...] How to Open a RAR File, For Free [...]
Winrar on December 27th, 2008 7:34 am

W artykule wszystko si? zgadza, ale chyba by? t?umaczony jakim? automatem…
mary on January 6th, 2009 8:26 pm

thanksssssss
mary on January 6th, 2009 8:27 pm

winrarrrrr
sikk on February 11th, 2009 2:18 am

Winrar is for free from rarlabs.com
Dexter on March 14th, 2009 1:18 am

is it possible to extract from a rar file that has not yet been fully downloaded yet? (say its stuck at 90% and won’t go ahead).