What are RAR files

What are RAR files


Rar files are compressed archives. The term "Archive" in this context means that the file may contain one or more files, or even folders, much like folders on your hard disk. "Compressed" means that mathematical techniques have been used to reduce the space needed to store the files, so that the size of the archive may be much smaller than the size of the files it contains.

In short, Rar files are a space-saving way of storing single files or groups of related files.

There are many different compression techniques in use today. "Rar" is a development of the Zip compression method by a Russian programmer Eugene Roshal (hence the name, Roshal Archive.) The Rar format uses more advanced compression algorithms that can create smaller archives - typically 8 to 30 per cent smaller than Zip archives - but the compression takes much longer.

Other enhancements incorporated in the Rar format include redundancy, which can enable damaged archives to be repaired, and support for international character sets, which allows files with non-English file names to be stored. For this last reason, Rar archives are popular in Russia and other countries.

Files in a Rar archive will decompress to exactly their original state. This is called "loss less compression." The compression methods used with JPG image files or MP3 music files are called "lossy compression" because some of the quality of the original image or sound is lost during the compression process.

Rar files are used because they take up less space to store, and take less time to send or download. They are also a very convenient way to package and send groups of related files. However, you can't run a program directly from a Rar file. The files must be extracted or unzipped from the archive before they can be used.

There is no built-in support for Rar archives in any version of Windows. If you have to open a Rar file you will need to use third party software.

WinRAR


The Rar compression algorithm is proprietary and the developer of WinRAR does not license the compression code nor allow any third party developer to reverse-engineer the Rar compressor. Therefore if you wish to be able to create Rar archives as well as open them then you'll need to buy WinRAR. Free versions are available.

WinRAR is an archive manager that specifically supports Rar archives, in addition to some other formats such as Zip and Cab. It can create Rar files as well as open them, it can repair corrupt Rar files, verify the authenticity of Rar archives and create self-extracting Rar archives that can be opened by other Windows users who don't own a copy of WinRAR.

BitZipper


If you want to open Rar files you may use BitZipper. It's a very versatile, yet easy to use archive manager. It can open Rar files, Zip files, Cab files and 17 other popular compressed and encoded file formats, including Rar files. However, it will not create Rar files.

As well as allowing you to open all these file types, BitZipper can create archives using most of these formats too. Not only that, but it's also a fast and flexible backup tool.

BitZipper has a Wizard interface that makes it easy to use even if you have no experience of working with compressed files. For more experienced users there is a Classic interface, shown on the right. BitZipper is a solid and stable archive manager that can handle the largest archives without crashing.

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