How to read rar files. How to open a RAR file? Alternative free method - Hamster Lite Archiver

The most common problem that prevents users from opening this file is an incorrectly assigned program. To fix this in Windows OS, you need to right-click on the file, in the context menu, hover the mouse over the “Open with” item, and select “Select a program...” from the drop-down menu. As a result, you will see a list of installed programs on your computer, and you can select the appropriate one. We also recommend checking the box next to “Use this application for all RAR files.”

Another problem that our users also encounter quite often is that the RAR file is corrupted. This situation can arise in many cases. For example: the file was downloaded incompletely as a result of a server error, the file was damaged initially, etc. To resolve this problem, use one of the recommendations:

• Try finding the file you need in another source on the Internet. You may have luck finding a more suitable version. Example Google search: "File filetype:RAR" . Just replace the word "file" with the name you want;
• Ask them to send you the original file again, it may have been damaged during transmission;

And this is not surprising, because many different formats for storage and transmission over channels are archived using archivers, and WinRAR is the most effective of the universal archivers, including in comparison with ZIP, which has become practically a standard. However, if Windows Explorer itself can view ZIP files, then in order to open a rar file, you must use some program that supports this . Fortunately, there are many of them.

1. The most logical and convenient way is to install WinRAR. It is better to download it from the official website http://www.win-rar.ru. You can use a trial copy for 40 days, after which you will have to pay $29 or more. Using the convenient WinRAR graphical shell, you can view the contents of archives (not only rar, but almost any archive, as well as cab files and iso images), extract all or individual files from them, as well as add files and create new archives.


2. You can open rar and other archivers, for example, the widely used and also free 7-zip. It is better to download this archiver from the official website http://www.7-zip.org/. After installation, you will be able to work with any archives, regardless of whether they are created in zip or rar format, including creating rar archives.


3. Many file managers, such as Far or Total Commander, can view the contents of archives. With their help, you can view an archive file just like a regular folder: see a list of files, their sizes and types, sort the list in a user-friendly order, and so on.

Video on the topic

Sources:

• How to unzip zip and rar file on computer or compress files

Often files downloaded from the Internet are archived. The archive stores information in a compressed form, allowing you to save disk space or traffic when sent over the Internet. In order to unpack files from expansion*.rar, *.zip, an archiver program is required.

You will need

• Computer running Windows operating system, WinRar program

Instructions

To archive an archive file in the WinRar program window, double-click on the file to be unpacked, or drag it into the open WinRar program window or onto the WinRar icon. You can also program the program from the command line by specifying the name of the file to be unpacked as the parameter C:Program FilesWinRARWinRaR.exe /full_name_of_your_file.

The contents of the file will be displayed in the WinRar window. Select the folders or files you want to extract. This is done with the mouse button or the Spacebar. You can select a group of files by mask using the numeric keypad keys “+” and “-”.

Unpack the selected files by clicking the “Extract” button on the program menu bar or by simultaneously pressing the Alt and E keys. In the dialog box that opens, select the archive extraction path in the right window or by entering it in the address bar. The statistics window will display information about the extraction process.

You can unpack *.msi files (installation packages) without third-party utilities using the Msiexec.exe installation tool built into the Windows operating system. Launch “Command Prompt” by finding it in the “Start – Programs – Accessories” menu. Enter the following instruction into the command line window: “MSIEXEC /a full_path_to_msi_file /qb TARGETDIR=full_path_to_folder_for_unpacked_data.” All files contained in the *.msi file will be unpacked into the specified folder.

Video on the topic

A huge number of personal computer users often use data archives not only as a method of transmission, but also as a method of storing information in order to reduce the amount of memory occupied on the hard drive.

You will need

• WinRAR utility.

Instructions

However, in order to fully benefit from all the capabilities of archives, it is necessary to master the most basic techniques for working with them. These include opening an archive, an archive file, and so on. In addition, the standard tools of the Windows operating system are not enough for you to work with them, so use the most common, reliable and high-quality archiver today - the WinRAR program. First, you need to launch the WinRAR program. To do this, double-click on the program icon on the desktop or single-click in the list of installed programs in the Start menu.

Find and open the desired archive. To do this, you can use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+O”. Or, using the horizontal menu, first select “File” and then “Open archive”. Then find the archive on your hard drive and click on the “Open” button.

Select the “Extract to specified folder” menu item. The entire contents of the selected archive will be unpacked if you select the “Commands” menu item, and in the list that appears: “Extract to the specified folder.” Note: for convenience and ease of working in the program, you can use the hotkey combination “Ctrl+E” after selecting the desired archive for unpacking.

After completing the steps described in step 3, a window will be displayed in which the system will prompt you to select the path and extraction parameters. Here, on the right side of the window that appears, you need to specify the path where the unzipped files will be located. Note: You can also change some unpacking options here.

After the path is selected, click on the “Ok” button. Your files have now been successfully unpacked.

Video on the topic

Helpful advice

You can also unzip files by right-clicking on the desired archive, and in the archive’s context menu, select “Extract files...” or “Extract to current folder”, and the files will be unpacked into the same folder in which our archive is located.

To ensure that employees and students are not distracted from the process, system administrators of organizations and educational institutions limit the ability to download certain types of files, for example, music (*.mp3, *.wav, *.ogg) or video (*.avi, *.mp4 ). In such cases, the managers of Internet sites resort to a little trick and change the resolution of the files or pack them into archives in order to bypass the download ban.

You will need

• A program for working with archives, for example 7-Zip.

Instructions

If this is your situation, and instead of the usual tracks with the “mp3” extension, you download files of the “RAR” type, follow the following instructions to help you play or from a RAR file. The RAR file itself is not a multimedia file and cannot be played through conventional players, such as Windows Media or Winamp. RAR is an archive file that serves to combine several files into one and reduce their overall weight for ease of transfer over the Internet or to reduce storage space on digital media. In order to play a music or video file from an archive, first of all, you need to install an archiver program on your computer. As an example, we can offer the free and convenient application 7-Zip.

After you have downloaded this program to your computer, double-click on its shortcut and run the installation. In the first window, click “Install” and wait until the installation takes place. Once the installation is complete, click "Finish". The application is built into the context menu and does not require additional launch from a desktop shortcut or from the quick launch panel. The default main language of the program is , but the context menu, which is most often required when unpacking, is in English.

In order to extract a music file from a RAR archive using the 7-Zip program, you need to right-click on the archive, select “7-Zip” in the menu that opens, and “Extract here” in the next menu. After clicking, the program will start the process of unpacking the file. After some time, the file with the song will appear in the same folder in which the RAR archive file is located. All that remains is to double-click on the unpacked track, launching it in your usual player.

Sources:

• how to play video from game

If files with the RAR extension appear as regular folders on your system, it most likely means that you do not have software installed on your system that can handle files of this format. These are the same archives as files with the zip or 7z extension, containing one or more files in compressed form. To be able to use them, you must install the appropriate archiver program.

Instructions

Choose one of the software products that can work with RAR files. The company that developed and develops this format produces the WinRAR archiver. Naturally, it is programs from an active format developer that make the most full use of all newly emerging improvements. But there are others that are able to work with RAR files - for example, the completely free open source program 7-zip.

Download the selected archiver program. It is best to use the manufacturer’s website for this, rather than random links. Run the installation file and follow the instructions it provides. After the installation process is completed, Windows Explorer will add the options necessary for working with RAR archives.

Launch Explorer by double-clicking the “My Computer” icon or pressing the WIN + E key combination. Find the RAR file you are interested in and right-click it - the context menu that appears will contain options for working with the archive. For example, you can unpack the archive into the same folder, or the program will create a separate directory for it. If you double-click a RAR file, Explorer will launch the archiver and transfer the file to it. In this case, you can simply view the contents of the archive without extracting it. These programs support drag-and-drop operations - you can select only those you need from the list of files contained in the archive and drag them into the Explorer window, onto the desktop, or into the windows of other programs (if they also support the drag-and-drop operation).

Open the archiver program through the main menu or using a desktop shortcut if you want to do without Windows Explorer. Almost each of these programs has an interface similar to Explorer, with a folder tree located in it, through which you can get to any RAR archive you need.

Sources:

• how to work with rar

When downloading games, e-books, etc. from the Internet, you will probably find folders with the rar extension in the downloads on your PC. To unpack their contents, you need to install a special archiver program on your computer.

You will need

• WInRar archiver

Instructions

The rar file format or extension indicates to the Windows operating system that the file is an archive. It is created to reduce file size or fit multiple documents into one.

To correctly open such an archive, use one of the archiver programs. They not only allow you to work with any archive known to them (and there are more than twenty varieties), but also create your own at the user’s direction. The most famous archiver programs are WInRar (by the way, the rar format originated from it) and 7zip.

Winrar can be downloaded from the official website of the developer company. This is a shareware program, i.e. You can use it without paying for operation within 30 days. After you have downloaded and started installing the program, a window called WinRAR 4.01 will be displayed on the monitor. In this window, you will see the location on your personal computer where the program will automatically copy its files (usually C:\Program Files\WinRAR). By the way, you can select their alternative location by clicking on the “Browse...” button.

The central field describes the program itself and the license agreement in language. Click on the "Install" button if you agree to these terms. After pressing the key, the program will begin to clearly demonstrate its capabilities.

Once the program is installed, you will see the WinRAR Setup window. This window allows you to customize the operation of the program for yourself. You can tell her what types of archives she will have to work with, add an icon to the desktop, to the Start menu, or as a new item in the context menu (which is called by right-clicking on any file or folder).

The main thing is don't change anything. Just click on the OK key. The next window that will appear on your monitor is with a successful installation and a small information with an offer to purchase a license. Here you need to click on the “Done” button. Now you have a program on your computer that can open a rar file.

To open a rar file, just double-click on it with your computer mouse. The file will open like a regular folder. Now, to extract a file from the archive, you only need to drag it to the desired location.

The extension indicates what type the selected file is. The “ending” .rar indicates that this is an archive. Archiving is used to compress files without losing data. After archiving, files become much lighter. You can open a .rar file only if you have the appropriate software installed.

You will need

• - Archiver

Instructions

Install the archiver on your computer's hard drive. To do this, download the program from the Internet or purchase a disk with the necessary software. The most popular archivers today are WinRar and 7-Zip. Run the .exe file. The archiver is installed automatically. Just follow the installer's instructions. Wait until the installation process is completely completed.

To open an archive (a .rar file) and view the files it contains, left-click on its icon or right-click and select “Open” from the drop-down menu - you will see a list of all packed files. To open a file located in the archive, double-click on its name with the left mouse button. With this viewing, all files remain in the archive.

If you need to unpack the archive (extract the files it contains), right-click on the archive icon. In the drop-down menu, select the “Extract files” command - a dialog box will open in which you can specify the directory to extract the files. Enter the address in the Extract Path line or select the desired folder in the directory tree.

To unpack files into a separate folder, select the desired drive and click on the “New Folder” button, give the newly created folder a name and indicate it as the final directory for storing the files (select with the mouse). Click OK and wait for the file extraction process to complete.

The same can be done directly from the archive window. Open the rar file using the method described in the second step and click on the “Extract” icon. Another way: in the top menu bar of the window, select “Commands” and left-click on the “Extract to specified folder” task, specify the directory for unpacking, wait until the process is completed, and then close the archive window.

Additional commands that appear in the drop-down menu when you right-click on the archive icon allow you to quickly extract files to the same directory in which the archive is located. The “Extract to [archive name]” command will create a new folder in the current directory with the same name as the archive. All unpacked files will be placed in it. The Extract to Current Folder command will extract the files without creating a new folder.

RAR files are archive files in the RAR format. This archive format was created by Evgeny Roshal, a famous Russian programmer. In addition to the RAR format, he developed the popular file manager FAR Manager, as well as the RAR and WinRAR archiver programs.

As with any archive, a RAR file may contain many files of other formats. At the same time, the folder structure inside the archive is preserved. And the files themselves can be compressed or encrypted. In order to access the files stored in the RAR archive, it must be unzipped. In this article we will talk about how to open a RAR file in order to extract information.

7-Zip has a simple and easy to understand interface. In addition, the program has been translated into 74 languages.

You can download the 7-Zip program on the official website.

PeaZip is simple. PeaZip allows you to open files in RAR format. In addition, using this archiver you can unarchive formats such as ACE, CAB, CHM, ARJ, DEB, ISO, CPIO, Java archives, LZMA, NSIS installers, LZH, PET/PUP, PAK/PK3/PK4, OpenOffice.org formats, RAR, RPM, SMZIP, U3P, Z, XPI, ZIPX.

You can download the PeaZip program on the official website.

IZArc is a simple, free archiver. Like PeaZip, this archiver can, including 7-ZIP, ACE, ARC, A, ARJ, BH, BIN, B64, BZ2, C2D, CDI, BZA, CAB, DEB, ENC, CPIO, GZ, GZA, IMG, ISO, GCA, JAR, LHA, HA, LZH, MBF, LIB, MDF, NRG, PAK, MIM, PDI, RAR, RPM, PK3, TAZ, TBZ, TAR, TGZ, UUE, WAR, TZ, YZ1, Z, XXE, ZIP and ZOO. Among the unusual functions, we should note the ability to convert archives from one format to another.

You can download the IZArc program on the official website.

Paid programs for opening RAR files

WinRAR is an archiver from the developer of the RAR format. The program is distributed as shareware. That is, it can be used for free for up to 40 days, after which you need to purchase a license. The WinRAR archiver allows you to unpack archives in formats such as RAR, CAB, LZH, TAR, GZ, ACE, ARJ, BZIP2, JAR, UUE, ISO, 7z and ZIP. It should be noted that the WinRAR archiver is the only archiver with which you can .

You can download the WinRAR program on the official website.

How to open a RAR file with 7-Zip

Let's demonstrate how to open a RAR file using the 7-Zip program as an example. After installing the 7-Zip program, a new item will appear in the file context menu - 7-Zip.

To open a RAR file, right-click on the file and open the “7-Zip” menu item. After that, select “Open archive”.

In order to extract files from a RAR archive, you can use the “Extract” button, which is located on the program panel, or simply “drag” files from the 7-Zip program to the folder you need.

The popular shareware archiver VinRAR is one of the best programs for creating and managing archives on PCs, tablets and smartphones. The main advantages of the archiver: small size, support for a significant number of formats for unpacking, outstanding speed and degree of compression. Here you can download WinRAR for free for Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP SP 3 (32-bit and 64-bit). In addition to Microsoft Windows, this cross-platform utility supports the operating systems Mac OS X, Linux, Free BSD and Android (on Google Play and the rar-android.apk file on the official website). You can also find outdated releases for MS-DOS, Win Mobile and ReactOS. Direct link: website/ru/file/winrar

Brief description of WinRAR

The main activity of WinRAR is packaging files, groups of files and folders with attachments into RAR 4 and 5 archives, as well as ZIP, quickly and with strong compression. It is also important to unpack RAR, ARJ, 7Z, CAB, ISO, LZH, TAR, 7-ZIP, Z, ZIP files, regular and divided into parts, and formats of other popular archivers. It is possible to collapse self-extracting (SFX) and multi-volume archives of the required size, archives encrypted using the AES-256 algorithm with a password, excluding and including data in the archive, restoring damaged archives, checking for viruses and other malicious software. SFX archives can be equipped with a GUI and script-type commands for programming the unpacking process, for example, when installing programs or games. Additional information is used to reconstruct the archive. Such data will allow you to restore both a regular broken one and a multi-volume one in the absence of entire volumes. Additional information is also added to speed up unpacking. You will need to download WinRAR for free in order to work with a virtually unlimited number and size of files and a significant number of formats. The program downloads quickly and is easy to install, and can be integrated into the Windows Explorer context menu for accelerated access to basic functions and working with archives without launching the program.

Why it wouldn’t hurt to download an archiver for Windows

Sometimes you need to download a program, game, or e-book. Often they are compressed into an archive, which cannot be opened using standard means. This is especially true when a new Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 operating system has just been installed on your computer and is not yet fully equipped with software. In this case, the first thing you need to do after installing the Windows operating system is to download WinRAR for Windows 7, 8.1, 10. WinRAR will not take up much space on your computer and will quickly deploy any of the popular formats, even if the archive is damaged. If necessary, VinRAR will quickly and efficiently archive a file, several files or folders with files into an archive file RAR 4 or 5, or ZIP, and create a self-extracting SFX, multi-volume or password-protected archive. Advanced users also take advantage of other advanced functionality of the WinRAR archiver, which will be discussed below.

A brief history of the WinRAR archiver and the RAR format

WinRAR was created during the time of Windows 3.x, running on an operating system without a graphical shell, MS-DOS 3.1 or higher. The name is made up of the words Windows and Roshal ARchive. One letter is taken from the surname of the creator, Chelyabinsk resident Eugene Roshal. In addition to WinRAR, Evgeniy is the author of the popular file manager FAR Manager.

The RAR and UNRAR utilities for MS-DOS appeared at the end of 1993. In 2009, a more powerful 64-bit version of the program was released for Windows 64-bit with WinRAR 3.90. In 2011, from version 4.00, Windows 95, 98, ME and NT are not supported. In 2013, from version 5.00, the new RAR5 format is supported.

For those who use outdated versions that do not support the new RAR5 format, it will not hurt to download the latest version of VinRAR for free in Russian for Windows. The latest RAR5 has little in common with RAR4, although it uses the RAR extension. If you download the Russian version of WinRAR 5 for free, the archiver will be able to open and pack RAR4 and RAR5, but outdated ones do not understand RAR5. The fifth PAP allows you to comment on archives, but commenting on individual files is not available, there is no support for digital signatures, experimental technologies for text and multimedia compression. The dictionary size varies from 1 MB to 1 GB (for Win x32 - from 1 to 256 MB), 32 MB is preinstalled. Multivolume files have file names name.partNN.rar, instead of name.rNN. Instead of the outdated AES-128, AES-256 is used. When monitoring integrity, a 256-bit BLAKE2sp hash, NTFS strict and symbolic links are used. The length of file names and paths has increased to 2048 characters for both RAR and ZIP. Added support for split 7Z, as well as ZIP and ZIPX with B ZIP 2, PP Md and L Z M A compression.

WinRAR interface

The WinRAR interface is designed in a classic style and will not raise any questions for most users who decide to download the WinRAR utility for Windows for free and install it on their computer, laptop, netbook or mobile phone. If questions still arise, you can refer to the built-in help. Some users prefer to use the built-in wizard assistant in step-by-step mode. The appearance of the interface can be changed by downloading and installing any theme (skin) you like. Support for about fifty language localizations, including Russian, allows you to work with archives in a software interface in your native language. The ability to download VinRAR for free in Russian on the page of this material on the site eliminates the need to translate menus, windows and settings. After downloading and installing the archiver on your computer, you can immediately start working, without spending time learning the capabilities and settings and translating the interface.

Here you can download the WinRAR archiver for free with the ability to integrate it into the operating system. Integration into Windows Explorer is convenient for those who do not want to waste time on routine operations. When you click the mouse in the Explorer window, a menu appears, using which you can collapse the archive or extract the contents to the current or specified folder. In the context menu, the following are available: automatic and manual unpacking and packaging, as well as packaging with sending by e-mail. Hotkey combinations allow you to speed up routine operations. Unfortunately, there are no scripts or macros for batch processing.

Functionality

WinRAR is characterized by high performance and powerful functionality for collapsing and managing archives. In particular, the archiver works with a variety of current data compression formats of almost unlimited size, modern encryption, protection and recovery technologies. According to reviews and comments on specialized sites and forums, the following functionality of the VinRAR archiver is especially in demand on social networks VK, Ok, Fb, G+ and others:

Encoding into self-extracting, continuous archives and multi-volume volumes,
- decompression of RAR, ARJ, 7Z, 7-ZIP, ACE, BZIP2, TAR, CAB, ISO and others,
- work in a graphical interface or from the command line,
- advanced settings for advanced users,
- automatically recognizes the format and selects the optimal compression method,
- report generation,
- advanced search function,
- integrity test,
- choice of compression degree and archiving speed,
- including the necessary data to recreate the damaged file,
- collapsing SFX archives that unpack themselves,
- creation of multi-volume volumes for sending by e-mail,
- 256-bit protection against unauthorized access,
- creating and editing comments for archives (RAR in UTF-8 encoding, ZIP in Windows encoding),
- does not overload the system, does not interfere with the operation of other programs,
- 32- and 64-bit versions for maximum speed and OS compatibility,
- master assistant for creating and managing archives,
- Drag-and-drop files,
- work with skins from free developers,
- the program is multilingual, there is a Russian version,
- there are no restrictions on use after the trial period of 40 days.

Features of free use

WinRAR is shareware software distributed under the Shareware license. This means that 40 days from the moment the user decided to download WinRAR in Russian for free, downloaded and installed it on the PC, the program runs in a normal, fully functional mode for review, and after this period it will begin to display a message about the need to purchase a paid license from RARLab . At the end of the trial period, the functionality is not reduced, and offers to purchase a license are not intrusive, so those who do not have the opportunity to purchase VinRAR continue to use the archiver as is. Others either buy a license or can download a free archiver in Russian from another developer, for example, 7Zip, PeaZip, Bandizip, HaoZip. Mobile RAR for Android is available freely under a Freeware license.

Correlation of bit depth between OS and WinRAR

Without further delay, we recommend downloading the latest version of WinRAR for free for Windows XP SP 3, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10 (32-bit and 64-bit). It is advisable to do this, since the new version of WinRAR works faster than the previous one, the compression ratio has been increased, and work with archives has been improved. If it is not clear which WinRAR to download: x64 or x32 bit version, download the program of the same bit size as the Windows OS installed on your computer. This way the program will show its maximum performance. The archiver is distributed in the form of two WinRAR files x32 and x64, for installation on a computer with 32- or 64-bit Windows. To find out the Windows bit rate, you need to go to the “Control Panel” through the “Start” button and find the “System type” line in the “System” section. Based on the information received, you should download WinRAR 64-bit or 32-bit for free, depending on the type of operating system Microsoft Windows XP SP 3, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10 (64-bit or 32-bit).

During the installation process, WinRAR does not offer to install additional software, change the browser start page or other advertising offers. At the end of the installation, the installer will offer to associate supported files with VinRAR and integrate its functionality into the Windows Explorer context menu.

If you have come across a file with the extension ".rar" and cannot unpack it yourself, this article is for you, we will look step by step at how to open a rar file! First, let’s figure out what this format is.

What is RAR?

RAR is one of the most popular file compression formats; roughly speaking, it is an archive. The RAR format has also gained great popularity due to the ability to split one file into volumes, for example, for recording large files on small media. Windows without additional software opens only archives with the ".zip" extension. Therefore, it will not be possible to unpack such an archive without an archiver program. So what do you need to open a RAR document?

How to open a RAR archive. Archiving programs for Windows

WinRAR

One of the most popular archivers, it has very good performance in terms of time and file compression. WinRAR has a shareware license. There is also a convenient portable version of WinRAR Unplugged - which does not need to be installed, but can simply be downloaded to a flash drive and run from it. The easiest way to find WinRAR is on the official website: win-rar.ru.

Unpacking the RAR archive using WinRAR is easy. After installation, all RAR archives will be opened by WinRAR by default; just open the archive and click the second button on the left “Extract to”, indicating the path where the archive will be unpacked.

7zip

It is also a very common archiver, unlike WinRAR, it has a completely free license, that is, it is distributed free of charge. However, 7zip can only unpack RAR files; you cannot archive them into a RAR file. You can also find 7zip on the official website: 7-zip.org.

Unpacking is completely similar to WinRAR, after opening, click the "Extract" button and specify the unpacking path.

How to open RAR under Linux?

In order for the RAR format to open under Linux Ubuntu, you need to install packages for decompressing and compressing into the RAR format. The easiest way to do this is through the terminal, with two lines:

# sudo apt-get install unrar

# sudo apt-get install rar

You can also install one of the archivers written for Linux, for example Ark

# sudo apt-get install ark

Ark has a large number of supported archiving formats. And it is a fairly powerful and convenient archiver.