How to download a file open winrar. Working with archives

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

What are archives? How are they created?

When you see a file extension, you determine that it belongs to a specific data type. If you see extensions like .rar, this indicates the presence of an archive. An archive is one that is compressed to save space on the media. 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 packs the original data into the archive and then unpacks it.

How to open a rar file? Archivist

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

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

More often, RuNet users use winrar and 7-zip programs. I would even recommend installing them together to get an expanded set of all archiving features.

During the installation process, follow the wizard's prompts. After installation, run the main executable file of the application. It is usually pointed to by a special desktop shortcut.

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

To extract an archived copy to a specific directory in the winrar or 7-zip manager, right-click on it and select “extract files.” The archiving program will prompt you to select a directory to unpack the archive and, if necessary, some additional extraction options.

In the archive manager interface, select the section 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 content being retrieved.

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

How to open a rar file through the My Computer menu?

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

Additional archiving commands

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

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

Reading time: 8 minutes. Views 11.3k. Published 09/11/2017

Very often, users ask the question: “How to open a RAR file?” This file format is quite popular and is used in all Windows versions, Linux, MacOS and even on Android, but for some reason it causes difficulties for users to open.

RAR is a special file compression format; essentially it is an archive that has a high compression ratio; because of this, it has gained high popularity on the Internet.

To open RAR archive The most commonly used utility is WinRAR, which allows you to both create archives and extract files from them.

When working with the WinRAR application, the user can create compound and multi-volume archives, as well as set a password on them. At the moment, there is great amount various archivers that can work with the Rar compression format. I propose to consider the most best programs for different operating systems.

How to open a RAR file in Windows

If you have already paid attention, you probably noticed that by default there is a standard ability to open only Zip archives. Therefore, users often simply cannot open the RAR archive until they download it special utility. If you don't know what exactly you need, then consider several options.

WinRaR

Probably the most popular archiver for the Windows operating system. WinRar can not only open and extract files from an archive, but also allows the user to create archives themselves.

As always, you can download the program from the developer’s official website – www.win-rar.ru/download/.

It is worth paying attention to the fact that the program is shareware. There is a 30 day trial version, which allows the user to become familiar with all the functions.

WITH installed program In WinRar, in order to place a file in an archive, just right-click on it and select “Add to archive”.

In order to unpack a compressed file, just left-click on it and in the program window that opens, click on the “Extract” button, which is located in the toolbar.

Main functions of WinRAR:

• Ability to create archives of no more than 8GB;
• Yes, attachment Email, archive blocking and more;
• Recovering damaged archives;
• Availability of a file manager;

7-zip

Another equally popular archiver, created in 1999. The main advantage of 7-zip is that it is completely free and open source. The program has two versions:

1. Version with graphical interface;
2. Command line version;

Like the previous archiver, 7-zip does an excellent job with Rar archives, and also supports working with file types such as: tar, gz, tb2, wim, 7z. By the way, the main compression format for this program is Zip.

The user, at his discretion, can install several archivers on his PC at once, but by default the archives will be opened in WinRar.

Main advantages of the program:

• Excellent speed of creating and unpacking archives;
• Support for native 7z format, which has more advantages over zip;
• A simple and intuitive interface that allows users to quickly understand the functions.

FreeArc

Another absolutely free archiver with open source code. If you have FreeArc installed in your arsenal, then you will not have any questions about how to open a RAR file, since the program can work with all popular archive formats.

By the way, those who have already worked with this archiver have probably noticed that it has an excellent speed of operations, so it is at least twice as fast as many of its competitors.

By the way, this archiver can be easily connected to such popular file managers as Total Commander and Far.

Distinctive aspects of FreeArc:

• High speed;
• Ability to restore damaged archives;
• Automatic sorting of archives by date, size, etc.;
• A huge number of settings;
• Clear interface.

TUGZip

A lesser-known free, open-source archiver that has proven itself not only when working with archives, but also with disk images.

If the standard functionality of the program does not suit you, you can easily supplement it with specially created plugins.

Main features of the program:

• Creation of self-extracting archives;
• Working with disk images: ISO, BIN, IMG and others;
• Support for installing third-party plugins;
• Restoring damaged archives;
• Integration into the Explorer context menu;

I won't list all the features that TUGZip has. As you can see, there are plenty of them here and, probably, even more than the most popular archivers have. By the way, the program is independently updated via the Internet and has support for the Russian language.

IZarc

A fairly universal archiver that can also work with disk images.

The program is completely free and supports all modern archive and disk image formats. The main advantages include the following:

• Ability to convert an archive into an image and vice versa;
• Automatic integration into the Windows context menu;
• Scanning archives for viruses using ;
• Russian language support;

Having this archiver on your computer, you will no longer have questions: “How to open a Rar file?”

Hamster Free ZIP Archiver

Quite an interesting and at the same time advanced archiver, which combines functions that are not typical of most archivers.

It has features like:

• Upload archives to popular cloud services: DropBox, Yandex Disc, Google Drive and others;
• Share links to created archives with friends and work colleagues;
• Supports all popular file compression methods;
• Has a high compression ratio.

Therefore, if you want to keep up with the times, I advise you to take a closer look at this archiver.

PeaZip

Our list of archivers for Windows ends with PeaZip. This is a freely available free archiver that does not require installation on the device. All you need to do is copy the program to disk.

PeaZip is also a graphical shell for other archivers. The program has support for creating archives in its own Pea format.

Main functions of the program:

• Working with multi-volume archives;
• Support for all modern archives;
• Checking the integrity of archives;
• Creation of encrypted archives;

In general, a standard set of functions that are found in many archivers.

How to open a RAR file on Android and iOS mobile devices

As a rule, many mobile devices already come pre-installed with various archivers and file managers that can work with RAR archives. Moreover, most file managers allow you to view archives as if the user had opened a regular folder.

If your device does not have a program to open the archive, then you can use the options suggested below.

Popular programs for opening RAR archives on Android

Total Commander - popular file manager, migrated from computers to mobile devices. With its help, you can easily open archives on your smartphone, although the program interface is somewhat complex, which is why many users are looking for alternative programs.

ES File Explorer is another very popular file manager, which, in addition to its main tasks, has a number of additional functions that work great on rooted devices.

FX File Manager– one of the few file managers that can work in two windowed mode. The truth will not always be convenient for owners of gadgets with a small display.

Amaze File Manager is a less popular, but quite fast file manager that works without freezing. It is loved by users because of its interface, which is similar to Google services.

The best programs for iOS that can work with archives.

File Manager is probably one of the advanced managers that users will like cloud storage. Because it can upload archives to the cloud.

USB Disk Pro - allows you to preview files, and also has a bunch of other functions that will appeal to both beginners and advanced users.

Documents 5 is the best file manager that allows you to search for files on your device, copy and move, and also add to the archive.

How to open a RAR file on Linux

If you are using on your computer operating system Linux, then I can make you happy. You don’t have to search or download anything, since the distributions of this operating system already have built-in software packages for working with Rar archives. True, this set of programs does not have a familiar graphical interface.

To activate them, open command line and enter:

Sudo apt-get install unrar p7zip-rar

After this, you can unpack any RAR archive by right-clicking on it and selecting “Unpack here”.

Note! Very often, if the archive was created in the operating room Windows system, and you unpack it in Linux (Ubuntu), the encoding of file names will be lost. This happens when using unrar-free.

If you need a classic archiver for Linux with a graphical interface, then I recommend using p7Zip - an analogue of 7-Zip.

Let's summarize.

Today we looked in detail at how to open a RAR file on different devices. I hope that after reading this article you will no longer have questions about which program to use when working with archives. As you can see, there are quite a lot of free and more advanced solutions that are in many ways superior to the popular WinRAR archiver. Therefore, you must decide for yourself which program to choose.

Hello dear friends. Today we will focus on improving computer literacy. More precisely, I will show you how to open files with the rar extension and how to archive a file using the WinRAR program.

How to open archived files? is one of the most popular questions I receive from subscribers and buyers of my training courses. Naturally, the formulations are different, but the point is that many people have not yet learned how to use archivers and, accordingly, do not know how to work with data hidden in the archive.

I decided that it would be more logical to do a one-time detailed blog article than to talk individually about how to open a RAR file each time. If you perceive video better than text, then watch the video and everything will become clear to you; under the video I have duplicated the entire lesson in text format.

Program for opening RAR files

To open such archives, you can use several options for archivers; I reviewed them, but it is best to use WinRar. The program was created by the same person who came up with the compression algorithm itself, so it is best to use it. The program is free, so I recommend downloading it latest version from the official website. There are versions of WinRar in many languages, download the one you like - download Winrar.

When I was preparing the article, the developers' website opened a little crookedly - scroll down the page to see the download links.

How to configure the Winrar program?

After downloading the file, run it. During the installation process you will only need to agree with license agreement and that's all. As soon as the program is ready, it will open a settings window in which you will need to check the necessary boxes. Basically, I leave everything as it is by default.

Associate WinRar with– this block shows which files will be opened automatically by this program. Where there is no checkmark, it will not open automatically. It is not necessary to check all the boxes, since we can always open an ISO or JAR file manually.

Interface – responsible for creating program shortcuts in different places. Here too, I leave everything by default, since opening the program is very rarely required, since it is built into the shell and works as a plugin (I wrote about plugins).

Integration with Windows shell– as I already wrote, WinRar is built into the operating system and here we choose exactly how this will be done. I do it exactly like in the picture.

Now let's figure out how the program works.

How to open a RAR file using WinRar?

There are two ways to open a RAR file in WinRar.

Option 1.

Right-click on the desired file. We see a list of possible actions with the file. There are 3 items in this list related to the archive.

“Extract file” opens a detailed menu in which you can specify any path to extract archive files.

“Extract file to current folder”, accordingly, unpacks all files into the same folder in which the archive is located. I don't recommend doing this if your RAR file is on your desktop or in some folder with a lot of other files. Extracted files may get lost among others

“Extract file archive name\”– in my example, post manager. In my opinion, this is the most convenient option. All files from the archive neatly end up in one common folder.

That's it - all the data you need has been extracted and you can use it. This is what I do 90% of the time.

Option 2

Double-click the left mouse button on the RAR file (just like you run any other file). A program window resembling Explorer opens. In this window you can navigate through folders and files that are hidden in the archive and even run them. This is necessary in cases where there are many files in the archive, but you need just one.

Remember, at the beginning of the article I said that the program is free. So, in fact, WinRar is conditional free program. This means that you can buy a license, but you can do without it. The functions of the licensed copy are no different from the free test copy. The only difference is a window offering to buy a license (it will begin to appear after 40 days of use). This window does not impose any restrictions on the work, just close it and that’s it - continue using the program.

Well, you’ve learned how to open archive files, but that’s not all. can create such archives and I will teach you how to do it easily and quickly.

How to use WinRar to create an archive?

You can pack the file into an archive using the same program – WinRar. This is done as simply as extracting from the archive. You can pack individual files, entire folders, and even a group of folders and files at the same time.

To do this, select necessary files left mouse button and right-click on the selected objects.

In the menu that opens there are 4 items related to the work of the archiver. Usually only the first 2 are used. I'll start with the second one, since it's simpler and I use it more often.

Add “archive name” to the archive

Instead of the phrase “Archive name”, the name of the file you selected or the folder in which the selected files are located is automatically substituted.

Simply select this item and the program will begin packaging data - no additional settings you won't have to do it. At the output you will receive a file with the extension .rar and the name that was shown earlier. The file will be located in the same folder in which all the source materials are located.

Add to archive…

This option must be used if you want to give the archive you are creating some special functions. Now I will tell you more about them. After selecting the add to archive option, the following window will open:

At the very top, you can set the archive name you need; it may differ from the default one; also, by clicking on the “browse” button, you can change the location where the created archive will be saved.

Configuring archive parameters

ZIP is also an archive file format. Its advantage is that .zip files can be read by many programs and services without installation additional programs, in particular, Windows can work with it even without WInRar. But the compression ratio of this format is much worse.

RAR5 has just appeared, with the release of the fifth version of the archiver. I haven't used it yet, so I can't say anything. I don’t use it yet, because I’m not sure of its compatibility with older versions of archivers.

RAR is the default - use it.

After choosing a format, you need to choose a compression method. In the drop-down list, everything is clear - stronger compression will take longer to process files, a high-speed compression method will make the file size a little larger.

I leave the dictionary size at default.

Divide into volumes of size– this function allows you to divide the final archive file into several parts, they will be marked as part1, part2, etc. This is necessary in cases where:

• the final archive file is very large and, for example, does not fit on your flash drive
• you need to cut the files onto CD or DVDs, and the amount of data is more than can fit
• if you are using a 32-bit operating system, then the files should not exceed 4 GB, it does not see more.

In a word - you need to cut the file - set the sizes of the pieces that you need.

You can set standard sizes from the drop-down list or enter a number in the box and select b, kb, MB, GB on the right. If you are not very versed in the units of measurement of information, then, there I described in detail how much is in 1 GB MB, etc.

On the right side of the window you can configure accessibility options.

Update method needed if you already have an archive created and you are creating an updated one with the same name. If you are creating a RAR file for the first time, then do not pay attention to this point; if you already have an archive with the same name, then select the right way replacing or updating files.

Archiving options– most of the points here are clear by name, so I will focus only on those that may raise questions.

What is SFX?– this function allows you to create self-extracting archives. If you check the box next to it, the output you will get is not a RAR file, but an EXE file. The size will be larger, but to unpack such an archive you will not need an archiver program. If WinRar is not installed, the archive will still be unpacked.

Lock archive– this function allows you to protect the archive from changes. You can extract files from it without problems, but you won’t be able to make changes inside the archive.

Settings button – “set password”. If you need to protect your data, you can set a password. In this case, you can retrieve data only after entering the password you set.

What files need to be archived?

At first glance, it may seem that you need to pack all files for transfer, but this is not the case. Many data formats are already maximally compressed by themselves, and it is almost impossible to reduce their size using archivers, or the compression will be minimal, and this process will take a lot of time.

There is no point in compressing the following files:

• archive files are logical, they are already compressed.
• music files mp3, wma, etc.
• image files jpg, jpeg, png, etc.
• most video files. The only exception I can name is mp4 - this format usually compresses well.
• disk image files iso, nrg and the like. As a rule, already compressed data is written to disks, therefore, the effect of additional compression will be minimal.

Good luck, Dmitry Zhilin

Sometimes when working with electronic information the question arises: “How to open a rar file?” If the user has not encountered such an extension, he will need to familiarize himself with the recommendations for installing the archiver program and using it to solve the problem that has arisen.

Zipped file– this is a kind of container with data, they are stored in one or several files in a compressed state. If you become the owner of such rar files (say, downloaded them from the Internet), you need to somehow bring them into a state that allows you to use the rar document in the usual way.

Some files compressed in this way may be parts of larger archives. To bring such files back to normal, the WinRar archiver is used. It splits a multi-volume archive into smaller files with volume names. Extensions can be different (.rar, .r00, .001, etc.). For unpacking multi-volume archive, which is in rar format, you should always place them in a single folder, and start unpacking in volume order.

RAR is an English abbreviation for “Roshal Archiver”. Evgeniy Roshal is the author of the development of the algorithm that is used by the archiver when compressing data. There is another type of archival ZIP files, but the rar format we are considering has some advantages:

• multi-volume archives (which is much more convenient);
• continuous archives with stronger compression;
• enhanced AES-128 data encryption;
• archives are restored if data is damaged;
• test and multimedia mode;
• Unicode is supported to work with non-English file names.

To unpack and open rar files, you must use the native WinRAR application. But since this archive format is very popular, other utilities provide the ability to extract rar files (PeaZip, 7-Zip, etc.).

Utilities that open zipped files

Learn to use archivers. Here is the answer to the question: “What can I use to open a rar file?” There are several of them. And they must be present on every computer, since sooner or later you will have to deal with archived data. But the Windows and other OS standards do not provide tools for unpacking and opening archive formats, which is where difficulties arise, especially for novice users. To work with archive files, special programs are required.

WinRar

The reliability and ease of working with it can be explained simply - it was created by the person who invented this format. The utility can open a zipped file, and vice versa, compress it into this format. There is nothing complicated in installing (or in operating) the program. Its beauty is also that you won’t have to install any other archivers, since WinRar does an excellent job of unpacking other formats - ZIP, ARJ, TAR, GZip, LZH, ACE, CAB, ISO, BZIP2 and 7-Zip. When a new archive format appears, it is immediately added by the developers to the archiver.

Another feature is integration into the OS context menu with automatic association of all archive formats. Opening rar files does not require you to open the archiver itself. Double clicking on files with the appropriate extension will automatically open them. Extracting from the archive or adding to it is carried out in two steps.

7-Zip

Multi-format free program. Archiving is fast and the compression ratio is high. It works with most archive formats, including RAR, but the program cannot pack a file into this format.

IZArc

Another program problem solving, how to open a file with the rar extension. Multi-format archiver that works with RAR. The program can even compress data into many formats, but not RAR.

TUGZip

Doesn't support as many formats as the previous ones, but can repair damaged Zip archives. There are dozens of archivers with their own advantages and disadvantages, but the ones described above will be sufficient for working with packed data.

Setting up the Winrar archiver

First, you need to download the installation file in the language that is convenient for you. Launch it. For successful installation, simply agree to the license terms. In the settings window that opens, you need to check the boxes you need, but usually everything is left by default.

The associations block shows extensions that can be opened automatically. The “Interface” block adds shortcuts to the places the user needs. We also leave integration with Windows as is. Having installed the archiver, we solve the problem called “rar file does not open”.

Opening RAR files

You can do this in two ways.

Option 1: Hover your mouse over the file of interest and right-click on it. A pop-up window shows us the actions that are possible with our file. We are interested in the top three:

• “Extract file” - select paths for unzipping from the menu;
• “Extract file to current folder” - you should not do this when the archive file is placed with many others - after extraction it will be difficult to collect all the information.
• “Extract to archive name” - the convenience of this option is that the unpacked files will end up in one folder.

This completes the unzipping. The information is ready to use.

Option 2: Double click on the archive file. This will open a program similar to Explorer. It will show you all the files hidden in the archive, which you can immediately open with a double click. This option is very useful if you need to solve the question of how to open a rar document on a computer from many files hidden in the archive.

Conclusion

How to open rar files? Several dozen programs have been created to unpack rar files, but it is best to use Winrar, which was made by the same developer who created the rar compression algorithm. There are no difficulties in installing and using the archiver. It also allows you to compress files into rar format, which can be very useful in a number of cases. This is done using an algorithm similar to unpacking.