But it’s superior compression capabilities do mean that you will run into RAR regularly, especially if you download stuff a lot on the internet. The RAR format has been around the block for years, but it never went mainstream due to its proprietary nature, unlike ZIP.
Visit Archive Extractor Extraction Successful Warning: Due to privacy and security concerns, you must not upload any RAR files that contain sensitive or confidential data. It also supports URLs, which means that you can paste any downloadable link to a RAR archive and download it in the extracted form right away. It allows you to upload RAR archives and re-download them in extracted form, making it perfect for one-off instances.Īfter visiting Archive Extractor, select the Choose File option to upload the files either from your computer or the Google Drive and Dropbox cloud storage services. Unlike the tools that you just went through above, Archive Extractor is an online-only extraction utility. For example, you can switch to the Explorer tab and add a contextual menu option that can allow you to extract RAR archives (including any other supported formats) instantly.Īs its name implies, however, ExtractNow only lets you extract compressions archives. Then, it’s a simple matter of clicking Extract and picking a location to extract the RAR archive (or archives) to.Īdditionally, you can dive into the ExtractNow Settings pane and configure a host of settings to configure how the program works.
The program also supports various other formats, such as ZIP, 7Z, CAB, etc.ĭownload and install the tool (it’s completely free), and you can go about dragging and dropping multiple RAR archives onto the ExtractNow window to prep them up for extraction. It’s an incredibly tiny utility that allows you to easily extract multiple RAR archives simultaneously. If you don’t want the extra bells and whistles in WinRAR or 7-Zip, consider using ExtractNow. You can also use the Open Archive option to preview the RAR archive-just like with WinRAR-and extract select items inside them. It lets you extract them, and everything pretty much works similar to WinRAR in that regard.Īfter installing 7-Zip, you can extract RAR files by right-clicking a RAR archive, pointing to 7-Zip, and selecting the Extract Here and Extract Files options. Unlike WinRAR, however, it does not allow you to compress RAR files. You can also add files to existing RAR archives using the Add button on the menu bar while previewing them.ħ-Zip is an open-source program that supports several compressions standards such as 7Z, TAR, WIM, and ZIP. Then, pick a compression method such as Store, Normal, or Best (which determines the file size) and click OK.
Use it if you’re concerned about compatibility issues. Note: RAR4 is the older version of the RAR archive file format.
Right-click the file or folder that you want to compress, select Add to Archive, and you get to pick an archive format-RAR, RAR4, and ZIP. That aside, WinRAR can prove to be incredibly useful if you want to create RAR archives. You can also open files in their default programs without extracting should you want-just double-click a file to do that.
On the WinRAR window that shows up, you can navigate throughout the RAR archive and extract select files using the Extract To menu button. Alternatively, you can use the Extract Files option, which prompts you to pick a directory to extract the files.Īside from that, WinRAR also allows you to preview and extract select files from RAR archives with the Open With WinRAR option. That should extract the contents into the same location immediately. The easiest is to right-click a RAR file and select the Extract Here contextual menu option. So, you can keep using it for as long as you want without paying.Īfter downloading and installing WinRAR, you can extract RAR archives in many different ways. Tip: WinRAR offers a generous 40-day trial, but the program does not enforce that as a rule. In addition to the RAR format (which is kind of obvious), it also supports several other compression formats such as ZIP, 7Z, CAB, ISO, JAR, etc. WinRAR is a file compression and extraction tool developed by none other than RARLAB itself. Below, you will find four free tools that can help you with that. So if you download a RAR file, it’s impossible to open let alone extract its contents without a compatible third-party program.