Those users who have just begun to learn the Internet for themselves may not know that an archive can be used to transfer files and to reduce their size. A utility called WinRAR is usually used to archive and unzip files. It is about her that I would like to talk about today.

Unzipping the file

Let's say that you received a certain file by mail, which is an archive. What to do with him? That's right, you need to unzip it. If you do not have WinRAR installed, then in principle you can use the archiver built into your Windows operating system by default, but it does not allow you to work with all files, so I recommend that you get the convenient WinRAR program, which you will definitely need in the future. ...

So, go to the official website of the company and download the program. I will not go into the details of the installation, there is nothing complicated about it. After this process in the context menu, which can be called by hovering the mouse cursor over the file and pressing the right button, you will see the program's capabilities.

Now for an example. I have a zipped file with rar extension. I hover over it, click on the right mouse buttons and see the following picture:

You need to click on "Extract files ...", after which we will see the possibility of choosing a path to unpack the file. If you want to unzip it directly to the same folder where it is now, just click OK. That is, nothing complicated.

If you click "Extract to current folder ...", then the file is automatically unpacked in the same folder. By selecting "Extract to * archive name * ...", the folder with the file will be extracted to this directory. You can practice.

That, in fact, is all. You do not need to take any more steps to archive. As for the numerous extensions that stand for archive (eg 7z or zip), most of them are supported by WinRAR, so you don't have to use any other program. At the same time, many archive extensions cannot be opened by standard means, do not forget about this.

RAR file extension

If, for one reason or another, you are not satisfied with the above WinRAR program, you can use its analogues, of which there are plenty on the Internet, and most of them are distributed free of charge.

Hamster Free Zip Archiver

Free and one of the most popular archivers that can only be found on the vastness of the world wide web. It does not require knowledge from the user, the whole process is intuitive.

Supports many different formats including ZIP, 7z, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and etc. Also translated into many languages \u200b\u200baround the world, including Russian.

Interestingly, the main feature of Hamster Free Zip Archiver Russian-speaking users consider not its convenience at all, but a very beautiful interface. it's hard to disagree with this, since the program window actually looks gorgeous. And the lack of software fees is gradually increasing the success of Free Zip Archiver.

PeaZip

The next program on our list is PeaZip. This is another free archiver that supports a lot of different formats: 7Z, ACE, ARC / WRC, ARJ, BZ / TBZ, CAB, CHM / CHZ / HXS, CPIO, 7Z-sfx, BZ2 / TBZ2, GZ / TGZ, PAQ / LPAQ , QUAD, TAR, UPX, ZIP, etc.

With PeaZip, you can create multivolume archives, encrypt data, set filters on the contents of archives, and more.

Free distribution. Interestingly, you can download both the EXE version from the official site and the portable version. Today the program is available for both Widnows and Linux operating systems.

The popularity of PeaZip is growing: the lack of payment, small size, and ease of use are making themselves felt - the consumer appreciates all these properties.

Universal Extractor

And finally, I would like to tell you about such an interesting program as Universal Extractor. What could be interesting about it, you ask? A few simple features: firstly, it is very small (about 5 MB), and secondly, it can only be used for ... Extracting data for an archive! Yes, you cannot zip the file with this utility, but you can extract it from the archive.

Despite this feature, Universal Extractor still enjoys good success - some users really don't need to pack files into archives, they just need to extract them.

Among other things, the program is interesting in that it is able to unpack many formats that are not supported by other manufacturers. These, for example, can be exe, bin, cue, deb, etc. Most of Universal Extractor's archiving formats are also supported.

How and how to open .rar files?
Even though rarthe format has become an integral part of Windows, Linux and other operating systems, including the Android and Mac OS platforms. But automatic opening of the archive by a regular double-click on the archive is not available.

Below we will consider programs that will allow you to work with files in the .rar extension on different OS, and will show their main features and advantages.

1. Open archive in Windows

Windows, by default, can easily open archives only in the ZIP extension, and in order to work with .rar, you will need several additions in the form of software.

WinRar
This is the most popular and well-known software that will help you work with the .rar format. Of all the known programs, it can very easily create various types of archives, as well as open and unzip them.

In case if WinRARinstalled, it is not that difficult to create an archive. Just click on the right PCM folder and select "Create Winrar Archive".

If this folder was empty, then you can simply drag the required files into the created archive.
To open this archive, you just need to double click on it and you will see the contents of the archive. In addition to archiving, you can perform the opposite actions through the "Extract" item.

Main features of WinRAR:
- Create an archive up to 8 GB;
- The archive can be password-protected, add e-mail to it, divide it into several parts and even lock it;
- Fixes damaged archives.

7-ZIP
It does the same tasks as the utility provided above. Handles the .rar format perfectly.

Besides the required.rap. format, the program also interacts with formats: 7z, tar, gz, tb2 and so on.
Installation of WinRAR and 7-Zip is quite possible, so the user can create archives and extract files from them using one or the other program.

Key features of 7-zip:
- Sufficiently high speed of unpacking and archiving;
- Its own "7z" format, which is superior to the .zip format;
- The interface is simple and similar to VinRAR.

TUGZip

A less well-known utility, but with pleasant and convenient features, including:
- archive editor;
- support for multi-archive arrays;
- uncomplicated interface.

IZARc
It has its own peculiarity, namely: it can work even with disk images, in addition to archives. He can work with the format: mdf, iso and so on.

Izarc features
- Archives can be converted to disk images and vice versa;
- Reliable encryption method;
- Support for many types of archives.

FreeArc
Free archiver with accessible code. Works with a lot of filters and compression algorithms - about 11 units. Judging by its performance, the program works two or more times faster than any other archiver. It fits perfectly with FAR and Total Commander, and works seamlessly.
- the ability to restore the archive;
- sorting archives by their size, etc.
- a wide range of settings;
- automatic check of archive integrity.

PeaZIP
The same, free archiver, which is also an excellent graphical shell for some archivers. Its unique .pea format. supports archiver 7z, xz, ace, chm and other formats.

Hamster Free ZIP Archiver
Great software that stands out among other archivers for its interface, as well as support for many formats - up to 12 pieces.
It includes special kits for working with all sorts of files and disks. There is support for the new Drag-n-Drop technology. You can open files with it, as well as create new ones.

2. Archives in Linux (Linux)

Most often, Linux has a built-in package of programs that are needed to work with the .rar extension. This set consists of free archive editors with a very unusual interface.

It is best to use the following commands to extract the .rar format: unrar or p7zip-rar.
You can activate this command using the command line, as follows:
Sudo apt-get install unrar p7zip-rar

Now in FM (file manager) after clicking on the desired archive, a special item "unpack here" will appear. In this case, to extract files from the archive, you can try using the command: unrar x [archive name]. Such an editor does not allow the user to preview the contents of the archive.

P7zip
This is analogous to 7-zip for Windows, but on Linux. This software has a very user-friendly interface that everyone knows. All programs and add-ons for this software are free.

3. Open archive on Mac OS

In order to open an archive on a given OS, we need a special utility: RAR (paid), 7zX or UnRarX. All three programs are direct analogues of the programs mentioned earlier, but for the MAC operating system. Their work is practically no different.

But of the proposed options, we recommend using the UnRarX application for MacOS, this particular program has a wonderful interface that will suit and will be understandable to any user. The second is keka, which is a direct clone of 7-zip and its counterparts.

4. Open rar on iOS and Android.

On mobile platforms you also need to sometimes work with archives in the .rar extension, and they can work with them. True, for this you need to install the same WinRAR, for example.

Open.rar on Android:
- ES File Explorer - a popular FM, which provides a fairly wide functionality of all provided in general. He is also able to issue Root rights and perform other tasks.
- Total Commander weighs ten times more than the first application, but its functionality is much wider than the first one by the same amount.
- Amaze File Managervery attractive for its interface and stable work.
- Fx file explorer - file manager working in two-window mode.

Open.rar on iOS:
- Documents 5 - good software that allows you to move, copy, add an archive and perform other actions on it.
- FileBrowser - a program that provides excellent ability to remotely connect to devices.
- USB Disk Pro - has functions for more "advanced" users.
- File manager - the best choice for cloud storage users.

And this is not surprising, because many of the various formats for storage and transmission through channels are archived using archivers, and WinRAR is the most effective of the universal archivers, including compared to ZIP, which has become almost a standard. However, if Windows Explorer itself is able to view ZIP files, then in order for a rar file, you must use some program that supports this one. Fortunately, there are many.

The most logical and convenient way is to install WinRAR. It is better to download it from the official site http://www.win-rar.ru. You can use a trial copy for 40 days, then you have to pay from $ 29. With the help of a convenient WinRAR graphical shell, you can view the contents of archives (not only rar, but almost any, as well as cab files and iso images), extract all or individual files from them, as well as add files and create new archives.

Allows you to open rar and other archivers, for example, the widespread and also free 7-zip. It is better to download this archiver from the official site http://www.7-zip.org/. After installation, you can work with any archives, regardless of whether they are created in zip or rar format, including creating rar archives.

Many file managers, such as Far or Total Commander, are able to view the contents of archives. With their help, the archive file can be viewed in the same way as a regular folder: see the list of files, their sizes and types, sort the list in a convenient order for the user, and so on.

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Helpful advice

You can also unzip files by right-clicking on the desired archive, and in the context menu of the archive select the item "Extract files ..." or "Extract to current folder", while the files will be unpacked into the same folder in which our archive is located.

In order for employees and students not to be distracted from the process, system administrators of organizations and educational institutions restrict the ability to download certain types of files, for example, music (* .mp3, * .wav, * .ogg) or video (* .avi, * .mp4 ). In such cases, website managers resort to a little trick and change the permission of the files or pack them into archives in order to bypass the download ban.

You will need

A program for working with archives, for example 7-Zip.

Instructions

If you have just such a situation, and instead of the usual tracks with the "mp3" extension, you download files of the "RAR" type, follow the instructions below to help you play from or from a RAR file. The RAR file itself is not a multimedia file and cannot be played through familiar players such as Windows Media or Winamp. RAR is an archive file that serves to combine several files into one and reduce their total weight for ease of transmission over the Internet or to reduce storage space on digital media. In order to play a music or video file from the archive, first of all, you need to install the archiver program on your computer. An example is the free and convenient 7-Zip application.

After you have downloaded this program to your computer, double-click on its shortcut and start the installation. In the first window, click "Install" and wait for the installation to complete. After the installation is complete, click Finish. The application is built into the context menu and does not require additional launch from a shortcut on the desktop or from the quick launch bar. The main language of the program is by default like, but the context menu, which is most often required when unpacking, is in English.

In order to extract a music file from a RAR archive using the 7-Zip program, right-click on the archive, select “7-Zip” in the menu that opens, and “Extract here” in the next menu. After clicking, the program will start the process of unpacking the file. After a while, the file with the song will appear in the same folder as the RAR archive file. It remains only to double-click on the unpacked track, launching it in the usual player.

Sources:

how to play video from the game

If files with the RAR extension appear on your system as regular folders, this most likely means that there is no software installed on your system capable of working with files of this format. These are the same archives as files with the zip or 7z extension, containing one or more compressed files. To be able to use them, you must install the appropriate archiving program.

Instructions

Choose one of the software products that can handle RAR files. The company that developed and develops this format releases the WinRAR archiver. Naturally, it is programs from an active developer of the format that make the most of all the newly emerging improvements. But there are others that are able to work with RAR files - for example, the completely free open source 7-zip program.

Download the selected archiver program. It is best to use the manufacturer's own website for this, and not random links. Run the installer and follow the instructions it prompts. After the installation process is completed, the options necessary for working with RAR archives will be added in Windows Explorer.

Start Explorer by double-clicking the My Computer icon or by pressing the WIN + E key combination. Find the RAR file you are interested in and right-click it - the drop-down context menu will contain options for working with the archive. For example, you can unpack the archive into the same folder or the program will create a separate directory for it. If you double-click a RAR file, Explorer will launch the archiver and transfer the file to it. In this case, you can simply view the contents of the archive without extracting it. These programs support drag-and-drop operations - you can select from the list of files contained in the archive, only the ones you need and drag them to the Explorer window, to the desktop or to the windows of other programs (if they also support the drag-and-drop operation).

Open the archiver program through the main menu or using the shortcut on the desktop if you want to do without Windows Explorer. Almost each of these programs has an interface similar to Explorer, with a folder tree located in it, through which you can get to any RAR archive you need.

Sources:

how to work with rar

Downloading games, e-books, etc. from the Internet, you will probably find folders with the rar extension in the downloads on your PC. To unpack their contents, you need to install a special archiver program on your computer.

You will need

wInRar archiver

Instructions

The rar file format or extension tells the Windows operating system that the file is an archive. It is created to reduce the size of files or fit multiple documents into one.

To open such an archive correctly, use one of the archiving programs. They not only allow you to work with any archive known to them (and there are more than twenty varieties of them), but also create your own at the user's request. The most famous archiving programs are WInRar (by the way, the rar format originated from it) and 7zip.

Winrar can be downloaded from the official website of the developer company. This program is shareware, i.e. you can use it without paying for operation within 30 days. After you have downloaded and started the installation of the program, a window with the name WinRAR 4.01 will be displayed on the monitor. In this window, you will see the location on your personal computer where the program will automatically copy its files (usually C: \\ Program Files \\ WinRAR). By the way, you can select their alternative location by clicking on the "Browse ..." button.

The center box describes the program itself and the license agreement in language. Click on the "Install" button if you agree to these terms. After pressing the key, the program will begin to clearly demonstrate its capabilities.

Once the program is installed, you will see the WinRAR Setup window. This window allows you to customize the program for yourself. You can tell her what types of archives she will have to work with, add an icon to the desktop, to the Start menu, or as a new element of the context menu (which is invoked by the right mouse button on any file or folder).

The main thing is not to change anything. Just press the OK button. The next window, which will be displayed on your monitor, is with successful installation and a little information with an offer to purchase a license. Here you need to click on the "Done" button. Now your computer has a program that can open a rar file.

To open a rar file, just double-click on it with a computer mouse. The file will open like a regular folder. Now, to extract a file from the archive, you only need to drag it to the desired location.

The extension indicates what type the selected file is. "End" .rar means that you have an archive in front of you. Archive compression is used to compress files without losing data. Once archived, the files become much lighter. You can open a .rar file only if you have the appropriate software installed.

You will need

- Archiver

Instructions

Install the archiver on your computer hard drive. To do this, download the program from the Internet or purchase a disc with the required software. The most popular archivers are WinRar and 7-Zip. Run the file.exe. The archiver is installed automatically. Just follow the instructions of the installer. Wait for the installation process to complete.

To open the archive (file in .rar format) and view the files it contains, click on its icon with the left mouse button or right-click and select the "Open" command in the drop-down menu - you will see a list of all packed files. To open a file in the archive, double-click on its name with the left mouse button. With this view, all files remain in the archive.

If you need to unpack the archive (extract the files it contains), right-click on the archive icon. In the drop-down menu, select the "Extract files" command - a dialog box will open in which you can specify the directory for unpacking files. Enter the address in the "Retrieval Path" line or select the required folder in the directory tree.

To unpack files into a separate folder, select the required drive and click on the "New folder" button, give the name of the newly created folder and specify it as the final directory for the files (select with the mouse). Click OK and wait for the file extraction process to complete.

The same can be done directly from the archive window. Open the rar file using the method described in the second step and click on the "Extract" icon. Another way: in the top menu bar of the window, select the "Commands" item and left-click on the "Extract to the specified folder" task, specify the directory for unpacking, wait for the process to finish, and then close the archive window.

Additional commands that appear in the drop-down menu when you right-click on the archive icon allow you to quickly extract files to the same directory where the archive is located. The "Extract to [archive name]" command will create a new folder in the current directory with the same name as the archive. All unpacked files will be placed in it. The Extract to Current Folder command will extract the files without creating a new folder.

The archives created by the WinRAR program have long been widespread among users, but they cannot be opened by the built-in Windows tools. This will require specialized applications.

Below is a guide detailing how to open a RAR archive file on a Windows 7 computer. It should be noted that the instructions below will effectively help you cope with this task in other modifications of Windows as well.

What is this file?

It has the extension ".rar" and in Windows 7 Explorer it has a book packing icon.

It stores files and directories in a compressed state, compressed using a utility called "WinRar". As a result, the archived materials take up less disk space, and the likelihood of malware damage to files in the archive is significantly reduced.

WinRAR application

This utility will ideally provide the convenience of working with the format in question, since it is with its use that they are created.

The main drawback of the utility is the absence of its free versions, there is only a demo modification, for which you still need to pay after 40 days of use (otherwise the application is blocked).

This is where the cons are exhausted. The functionality of this archiver will delight even the most demanding user.

The main advantages of the utility include the following:

Has the functionality of fixing damaged archive files;
Has the ability to create compressed files of significant size (up to 8 Gb);
Convenient procedure for effective protection of archives, for example, dividing it into parts and setting an access code.

In order to install the application, go to www.rarlab.com, where its official version is available. Further, after installing it on the computer, open the file ".rar" by a simple double click on it.

This will launch the utility window, in which all packed materials will be available for viewing and editing. There is an "Extract" button in the toolbar, after clicking on it the archived directories and files will be extracted.

If the user prefers a free unpacking method, then below is an effective program that will also allow you to quickly cope with the task.

"7-Zip"

This application unpacks not only "RAR", but also a huge number of archives with a different extension, for example, ZIP, XAR, ARJ, UDF, TAR, CHM, NSIS, CPIO, GZ, RPM, CAB, LZH, TB2, DMG, MSI, HFS, LZMA, 7z, ISO, DEB, WIM and Z. It is recommended to install the utility from the official resource www.7-zip.org.

Main advantages:

Outwardly, it is as close as possible to WinRAR (has an intuitive interface;
Has the ability to create archives with its own extension ".7z", which is superior to ".zip" in some respects;
High speed of work;
Fully Russified.

To open "RAR" you need to perform just a few actions;

In one of the previous articles, I talked about file extensions. Now I want to detail the specific addition .rar, symbolizing the archive. In this article, you will learn what the archive format is and how to open the .rar file

What are archives? How are they created?

When you see a file extension, you set it to belong to a specific data type. If you see extensions like .rar, it means that there is an archive. An archive is one that is compressed to save storage space. That is, the size of this copy can be, on average, 30-40% smaller than the original. And before opening the rar file, it is extracted to its original size. To extract such a file without data loss, you need a special archiver program. It is she who is engaged in packing the original data into an archive and then unpacking it.

How to open rar file? Archiver

First you need to install a program for archiving data on a PC hard drive. This can be done in two conflict-free ways:

download and install a free disk file packer;
purchase a paid archiver and also install it on your computer.

Most often, runet users use winrar and 7-zip programs. I would even recommend installing them together to get an extended set of all archiving options.

Follow the instructions of the wizard during the installation process. After installation, run the main application executable file. Usually a special desktop shortcut points to it.

Now you can see a window manager like windows explorer. How to open a rar file in it? You need to click on the archive file icon twice and you will see the internal contents of the archive. This extracts the compressed data to a temporary folder and is available for viewing.

To unpack the archived copy to a specific directory in the winrar or 7-zip manager, right-click on it and select "extract files". The program for archiving will prompt you to select a directory for unpacking the archive and, if required, some additional extraction parameters.

In the archive manager interface, select the partition and folder where you want to unzip the selected files. If you need to create a new empty directory, just write its name in the extraction path, and the program will create it automatically.

Click "apply" or "ok" (depending on the interface of the working archiver). The process of extracting the archive will begin, which will be the answer to the question of how to open the rar file. The time taken is proportional to the size of the retrieved content.

I have noticed more than once that it very quickly extracts large files and .iso images exactly 7-zip. Therefore, if opening with other archivers takes a long time, try using this application, perhaps the process will go with great acceleration.

How do I open a rar file from the My Computer menu?

It is not always convenient to use the built-in interface of the archiver. In this case, right-click the command submenu directly from windows explorer and find something like "extract to the specified directory" in it. Thus, the installed archiver writes the list of its commands to the windows shell. Well, then the process is similar to the steps described above for extracting archives.

Additional backup commands

How can I open a rar file using helper commands? In the same explorer, we call the contextual submenu and, as a rule, we find the following archiving tasks:

Extract to folder with archive name - a working subfolder is created with the name of the archive in the current folder, and the contents are unpacked there.
Extract to current folder - the archive data is extracted to the directory in which you are now. No additional subfolders are created.
Add to archive - a window interface opens where you can add the selected data to an existing backup.
Add to… (archive name) - adds the selected data to a new backup, the name of which is chosen by the user.