How to Open a RAR File

What is a RAR file?

RAR (Roshal Archive) is a proprietary compressed archive format created by Eugene Roshal, the developer behind WinRAR. Like ZIP, it bundles and compresses files together, but it uses its own algorithms and isn't an open standard — which is why operating systems don't support it out of the box the way they support ZIP.

RAR comes in two current format generations you'll encounter: RAR4 (the older, still widely used format) and RAR5 (introduced in 2013, with better compression and stronger AES-256 encryption for passwords). Most modern extraction tools handle both automatically.

How to open a RAR file on Windows

1. Install 7-Zip (free) or WinRAR (free to try, then nagware) if you don't already have an archive tool that supports RAR.
2. Right-click the .rar file in File Explorer.
3. Choose 7-Zip > Extract Here (or the equivalent WinRAR option).
4. Enter the password if the archive is protected.

On Windows 11, 7-Zip's menu sits under Show more options (or press Shift+F10) because it doesn't add itself to the new right-click menu; WinRAR does. NanaZip, a 7-Zip-based app from the Microsoft Store, also integrates with the Windows 11 menu.

Windows 11's built-in RAR support (no download needed)

Since late 2023 (an October 2023 update for version 22H2, and built into 23H2 and later), Windows 11 can open RAR files natively. File Explorer uses the open-source libarchive library to read .rar, .7z, .tar, .tar.gz, .tgz and related formats. To use it:

1. Double-click the .rar file to browse it like a folder, and drag out the files you need; or
2. Right-click it and choose Extract All…, pick a destination, and click Extract.

Limits to know about:

• Windows 10, Windows 11 21H2, or a 22H2 PC that hasn't installed the late-2023 updates: no native RAR support. Run Windows Update, or install 7-Zip.
• Password-protected RAR files generally fail in File Explorer with an error rather than a password prompt. Use 7-Zip or WinRAR.
• Multi-part sets (.part1.rar, .part2.rar…) aren't reliably supported. Use 7-Zip or WinRAR.
• Creating RAR files isn't possible with Windows. The Compress to options in 24H2 make ZIP, 7z and TAR only.
• Very large archives extract noticeably slower than with 7-Zip.

If you have an old WinRAR trial or a different archiver already installed, the .rar icon and double-click action belong to that app. You can keep using that app, or change the default under right-click > Open with > Choose another app.

How to open a RAR file on Mac

macOS has no built-in RAR support. Install one of these free tools, then double-click the .rar file as usual:

• The Unarchiver — free, simple, handles RAR and most other archive formats.
• Keka — free, also supports creating archives in several formats.
• 7-Zip (via Homebrew: brew install sevenzip) for a command-line option.

If you double-click a .rar before installing anything, macOS says there's no application set to open the document. Archive Utility, the built-in tool that handles ZIP, can't read RAR at all. Install The Unarchiver or Keka from the Mac App Store or the developer's site, then double-click the file again. If double-clicking still does nothing, right-click the file, choose Open With and pick the app. To make that the default, use Get Info > Open with > Change All….

The first time Keka or The Unarchiver extracts into a folder like Downloads or Desktop, macOS may ask whether to allow access to that folder. Click Allow or the extraction fails.

How to open a RAR file on Linux

Install the unrar or p7zip package, then extract from a terminal or your file manager's built-in "Extract Here":

sudo apt install unrar
unrar x archive.rar

(Package names vary slightly by distribution — unrar-free or p7zip-full are common alternatives.)

How to open a RAR file on Android

1. Install RAR (the official app by RARLAB) or ZArchiver from the Play Store — both are free.
2. Open the app, browse to the .rar file, and tap it to extract.

Downloaded files are normally in the Download folder of internal storage. In ZArchiver, tap the RAR and choose Extract here or Extract to ./name/. In the RAR app, tick the file and tap the extract icon. Both apps handle passwords and multi-part sets. Many built-in file managers, including Files by Google, list a RAR file but can only open ZIP, so they'll say the file type isn't supported.

How to open a RAR file on iPhone or iPad

The built-in Files app can't extract RAR on its own. Tapping a .rar in Files just shows a generic preview with the file name and size. RARLAB doesn't publish an official RAR app for iOS, so you'll need a third-party archive app from the App Store. Search for "unrar" or "RAR extractor"; free options such as iZip handle RAR, including password-protected archives.

1. Install a RAR-capable archive app from the App Store.
2. In Files (or Mail/Safari), touch and hold the .rar file, tap Share, and choose the archive app. Some apps instead have you import the file from Files inside the app.
3. Extract inside the app, then use its share or save option to move the extracted files back into Files or Photos.

If you'd rather not install anything, the online extractor at the top of this page works in Safari on iPhone and iPad too.

How to open a RAR file on a Chromebook

Recent versions of ChromeOS can open RAR archives in the built-in Files app. Double-click the .rar and it opens like a read-only drive in the left sidebar, so you can copy files out. If your Chromebook says the file type isn't supported, or the archive is password-protected or split into parts, install RAR or ZArchiver from the Google Play Store (most Chromebooks support Android apps). Then open the file from the app's own file browser, which can see your Downloads folder. With Linux turned on, sudo apt install unar followed by unar archive.rar also works.

Multi-part (split) RAR files

Large archives are often split into numbered parts to fit upload limits or make transfers more manageable: archive.part1.rar, archive.part2.rar, and so on (older tools instead name them .rar, .r00, .r01...). To extract a split archive:

1. Download every part into the same folder.
2. Extract only the first part (.part1.rar, or the plain .rar in the older naming scheme) — your archive tool automatically pulls in the rest.

If any part is missing or corrupted, extraction will fail partway through.

If some parts are damaged but a set includes .rev files (recovery volumes), WinRAR can rebuild the missing or broken parts from them. Put the .rev files in the same folder and open the first part, or use Tools > Repair archive. A .par2 file (common on Usenet) does the same job, using a separate tool such as MultiPar or par2 on the command line.

Password-protected RAR files

RAR supports strong AES-256 encryption for both file contents and, optionally, the file names/headers themselves. If you don't have the correct password, there's no legitimate way to open the contents — get the password from whoever created the archive. The online extractor above supports entering a password for content-encrypted archives directly in your browser.

How to create a RAR file

Only RARLAB's own software can create RAR archives, because the compression algorithm isn't licensed to other tools. 7-Zip, The Unarchiver, Keka and Windows can extract RAR, but they can't make one.

• Windows: install WinRAR, select files, right-click and choose Add to archive…, keep RAR as the archive format, and optionally set a password (tick Encrypt file names to hide the names too) or split the archive into volumes.
• Mac and Linux: RARLAB's command-line rar tool (e.g. rar a -m5 backup.rar folder/). Linux distributions package it as rar in their non-free repositories.
• Android: the RAR app can create RAR and ZIP archives.

Unless you specifically need RAR features like recovery records, a ZIP or 7z file is easier for the recipient to open. See which archive format to use.

How to convert a RAR file to ZIP

There's no in-place conversion. You extract the RAR, then compress the files into a ZIP, which loses nothing because both formats are lossless:

1. Extract the RAR with any method above (or with the online extractor on this page).
2. Select the extracted files, right-click and choose Compress to > ZIP File (Windows 11), Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder (Windows 10), or Compress (Mac).

WinRAR can do both steps in one go, and for many archives at once: Tools > Convert archives, then choose ZIP as the output format. If the RAR is password-protected you'll need the password, and the ZIP won't be encrypted unless you set a new password when creating it.

RAR vs ZIP vs 7z

Is it safe to open a RAR file?

Same rule as any archive: the format itself isn't executable, but what's inside can be. Only open RAR files from sources you trust, and scan extracted contents with antivirus software before running anything unfamiliar — especially executables or macro-enabled documents.

Warning signs in a RAR you didn't expect: a password sent in the same email (used to stop mail scanners from reading the contents), a single small .exe, .scr, .js or .lnk inside, or a "document" with a double extension like invoice.pdf.exe.

Common RAR errors and how to fix them

"Unexpected end of archive" / "CRC failed"

The download is incomplete or corrupted. Re-download the file. If you can't, WinRAR's Tools > Repair archive can sometimes rebuild it, especially if the creator added a recovery record. Ticking Keep broken files in WinRAR's extraction dialog saves whatever data was readable instead of deleting the damaged files.

"The archive is either in unknown format or damaged"

WinRAR can't find a valid RAR (or ZIP) header. Either the file is badly corrupted or incomplete, or it isn't really an archive. Common examples are a tiny HTML error page saved with a .rar name, or a renamed file of another type. Check the size against the source, and open the file in Notepad: a real RAR file starts with Rar!. 7-Zip shows an equivalent "cannot open the file as archive" message.

"You need to start extraction from a previous volume"

You opened .part2.rar (or a later part) instead of the first one. Open .part1.rar, with every part in the same folder.

"Checksum error in the encrypted file" / "Wrong password?"

For encrypted archives, a wrong password and damaged data look the same to the extractor. Re-type the password carefully: it's case-sensitive, and spaces copied from an email count. If you're sure the password is right, the file is corrupted.

"No files to extract"

The archive's file list is empty or unreadable. It's usually a damaged download, or a first volume whose real data is in parts you don't have.

Extraction tool doesn't recognize the file

Your tool may be too old to support RAR5. Update to a recent version of 7-Zip or WinRAR.

Asks for a password you don't have

The archive is encrypted — you need the correct password from whoever created it. There's no reliable way to bypass RAR's AES-256 encryption.

Only part of the files extract, then it stops

This is a multi-part archive missing one of its .partN.rar files. Make sure every part is downloaded into the same folder.

Related file extensions

Technical references

RAR is a proprietary format owned by win.rar GmbH (RARLAB). There's no public ISO-style standard, but the official unrar source distribution includes RARLAB's own technical notes on the archive layout.

• RAR technical information (technote.txt) — RARLAB unrar source — RARLAB's own notes on the RAR archive format, distributed with the official unrar decompression source code.
• WinRAR official site — RARLAB — The format's creator and the reference implementation for reading and writing RAR archives.

Frequently asked questions