What is RAR?
RAR is the native format of WinRAR archiver. Like other archives, RAR files are data containers, they store one or several files in the compressed form. After you downloaded RAR file from Internet, you need to unpack its contents in order to use it.
The RAR file type is primarily associated with 'WinRAR' by RarLab. Spanned archives can come in two forms: the original .R00 to .R99 or the new PART#.RAR form. Some programs use the RAR format for their data files as well. As a bit of trivia: RAR was created by Eugene Roshal (RAR= Roshal ARchive).
Which program should one use?
Download the free rar extractor in order to start working with .rar and many more archive formats - you can open, extract and modify it after downloading 7zip!
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- Rating:
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- Current Version:
- 9.20
- Requires Windows:
- XP / Vista / Seven
- Size:
- 1M
- Price:
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How-To Open a RAR File?
A RAR file, also called an archive, is a compressed collection of different files mostly intended to reduce the disk space required for the said files and, in effect, make transmission over the Internet faster. This essentially means that a RAR file is downloaded faster than the original files simply because the latter takes up a bigger space.
Named after Eugene Roshal, its inventor, RAR stands for Roshal Archive is similar in functionalities as another compression format called ZIP file format except that RAR has a better compression algorithm format than ZIP or any other archiving format ever developed. As such, it is one of the most utilized formats in the market making it the standard in file sharing sites like RapidShare, MegaUpload, and BitTorrent.
RAR compresses files better than other formats, thus, it can create smaller archives and it allows the user to do multiple archiving wherein he can split one file into several archives. When files are archived in .rar format, the user is able to save up on space in his flash drive which would be really helpful if the user is using a flash drive with a limited storage space. Such functionality makes RAR the best way to create a back-up for your files.
There is, however, a minor setback to this format. Operating systems including Windows would require a separate software program in order to easily open .rar files since there is no built-in support available for Rar file format such that .rar files cannot be extracted from within itself.
To access files stored in a RAR archive, you need a RAR-extractor that can read them. After downloading follow next steps to extract .rar file:
/1RAR Extractor
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Windows XP, VISTA, SEVEN (32/64)
/2You can open RAR files simply by double-clicking on them. Alternatively, start the archiver from the Start menu.
/3Click Open.
/4After clicking Open, a screen is displayed where you need to select your RAR file and click the OK button.
/5See the files stored inside the RAR archive. To extract (decompress) them, so you can work with them, click the Extract button.
/6After clicking Extract, a screen is displayed where you need to decide where to store the files you are extracting from the RAR archive.
/7Make sure that the 'All files in archive' option is selected if you wish to extract all files from the RAR file.
/8Click Extract to proceed.
/9That's it! You have opened and extracted files from a RAR file.
