File Extension RAR

File Extension RAR

Most frequent use of this extension is to store compressed information archived using RAR format. It is a proprietary compression format developed by Eugene Roshal.

Compressing files is very useful when you want to transfer them over the internet since compression reduces amount of information to transfer. Also you may fit much more information on your PC hard drive if you compress information that you don't use.

RAR usually compresses information better than other archivers but it takes slightly more time to perform compression. Closest competitor to RAR in compression ration is 7-Zip LZMA algorithm.

Note that it is impossible to view information inside of RAR archive without specific software. Following software is capable to open RAR files: WinRAR, 7-Zip, IZArc, PeaZip, Zipeg and ALZip.

To protect information inside of archive RAR supports strong encryption algorithm AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). Read more how to protect your information.

RAR supports multiple advanced features which provide you more flexibility with your information. Most commonly used features are: creating archives with multiple volumes, password protection, solid compression, etc.

Similar file extensions

File extensions below are in a similar category to RAR. All of them are used to store compressed information and could be created or opened using popular archivers.

• File Extension ZIP - probably the most popular compression format (also supported by Windows)
• File Extension GZ - Unix and Linux GNU Zip
• File Extension 7Z - 7-Zip compression
• File Extension TAR - Tape Archive format. Used to collate multiple files into one.
• File Extension JAR - Java Archive. Used to store Java application classes and other content.

For more details on different archivers see our article on Common Compression Formats.