What is RAR?
RAR (Roshal Archive) is a proprietary archive file format developed by Eugene Roshal in 1993. Known for its superior compression ratios compared to ZIP, RAR has become one of the most popular archive formats worldwide, particularly for distributing large files over the internet.
RAR supports advanced features like solid compression, recovery records, password protection, and multi-volume archives, making it ideal for both compression efficiency and data integrity.
Key Features
- Superior Compression: Better compression ratios than ZIP
- Solid Archives: Treats multiple files as continuous data stream
- Recovery Records: Repair damaged archives
- AES-256 Encryption: Strong password protection
- Multi-Volume Archives: Split large files across multiple parts
- Unicode Support: International filenames
- Large File Support: Files up to 8 exabytes
- Archive Comments: Add notes and descriptions
Common Uses
- Software distribution and downloads
- Large file compression for storage
- Email attachments with size limitations
- Backup and archival purposes
- Distributing multiple files as one
- Protected/encrypted file sharing
Advantages
- Better compression than ZIP
- Recovery records can repair corrupted archives
- Strong encryption for sensitive data
- Split archives for size limitations
- Solid compression for better ratios
- Widely supported extraction tools
Limitations
- Proprietary format (requires WinRAR license to create)
- Slower compression than ZIP
- Free extraction only (paid compression)
- Less native OS support than ZIP
- Solid archives require full decompression to access one file
Technical Information
- File Extension: .rar (also .rev for recovery volumes)
- MIME Type: application/vnd.rar, application/x-rar-compressed
- Developer: Eugene Roshal / win.rar GmbH
- First Release: 1993
- Current Version: RAR5 (2013)
- Compression: LZSS + PPM algorithms
- Max File Size: 8 exabytes (theoretical)
- Software: WinRAR (paid), 7-Zip, WinZip (extraction)