How to Open RAR Files: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

Have you encountered a RAR file that you need to open? Or has someone requested you send them a RAR file? If you haven’t used one before you’ll likely be wondering what it is, but rest assured it’s not complex. Let’s dive in and find out what a RAR file is, and how WinZip can help you open them, create them, and convert them to other formats.

RAR files are a commonly used compressed file format, similar to ZIP files. They allow you to compress multiple files into a single RAR archive, saving space and making it easier to share files. However, if you’re new to RAR files, you may be wondering how to actually open and extract them. In this comprehensive guide, I’ll walk you through the entire process of opening RAR files on Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and Android.

What is a RAR File?

A RAR file is a compressed archive that contains one or more files inside it The rar file extension indicates it is a RAR archive. RAR stands for Roshal ARchive, named after its original creator, Eugene Roshal.

RAR files are useful for compressing and storing multiple files together in one archive This saves disk space and makes it easier to transfer files The compression works by eliminating redundant data inside the files.

Some key advantages of RAR files:

Compact size from compression
Supports large files beyond 4GB
Encryption for security
Multi-part archives for splitting across storage
Error recovery for damaged archives

The downside is that you need specialized software to open and extract RAR files. Let’s look at how to do that on various platforms.

How to Open RAR Files on Windows

On Windows, you have a couple options for opening RAR files:

Use 7-Zip (Recommended)

My recommended approach is to use the free and open source 7-Zip utility. Here’s how:

Download and install 7-Zip from 7-zip.org.
Double click on any RAR file to open it in 7-Zip and view the contents.
To extract the files, right click the RAR file, select 7-Zip > Extract Here or Extract To depending on where you want to extract the files.

The benefit of 7-Zip is that it’s 100% free, open source, and reliable. It can handle RAR, ZIP, tar.gz and many other archive formats seamlessly.

Use WinRAR

WinRAR is the official RAR utility from the creators of the RAR file format. It has better support for creating RAR files. The downside is that it’s not free. You can test it out, but will be nagged to purchase it after 40 days.

If you work heavily with RAR files, WinRAR is worth buying. Otherwise, 7-Zip is better for simply extracting RAR files occasionally.

To use WinRAR, simply double-click a RAR file and it will open in WinRAR. From there you can view contents, extract files, create new archives etc.

How to Open RAR Files on Mac

On macOS, I recommend using a free utility called The Unarchiver.

Here’s how to use it:

Download and install The Unarchiver from theunarchiver.com.
Open The Unarchiver and associate RAR and other archive types with it.
Double click on a RAR file to extract it. The Unarchiver will extract the contents into a new folder with the same name.

The Unarchiver is great because it handles RAR, ZIP, tar, 7z and many other archive formats. It just works when you double click a compressed file.

How to Extract RAR Files on Linux

On Linux, you’ll need to install the ‘unrar’ package if it didn’t come pre-installed on your distribution.

On Debian or Ubuntu, open a terminal and type:

sudo apt install unrar

Once installed, you can extract any RAR file by running:

unrar e filename.rar

This will extract the RAR archive into the current directory.

That’s all there is to it! Linux archives like tar.gz or tar.bz are natively supported, so RAR is the only one that needs special treatment.

How to Open RAR Files on iPhone

To open RAR files on an iPhone, you need a third party app since iOS doesn’t support it natively.

I recommend using the free iZip app. Here’s how it works:

Install iZip from the App Store.
In the app that contains the RAR file, tap on the RAR file to open it in a preview screen.
Tap the Share icon in bottom left.
Scroll right and tap Copy to iZip.
Allow iZip to unzip the RAR archive.

Now you’ll be able to access the extracted files within iZip. This works great for accessing RAR files downloaded in emails or cloud storage services.

How to Open RAR Files on Android

Similar to iPhone, Android needs a third party app to handle RAR files. My top choice is WinZip.

Here are the steps to open a RAR in WinZip:

Install WinZip from the Google Play Store.
Download or copy the RAR file to your Android if you haven’t already.
In WinZip, tap on the navigation drawer and select the storage location of your RAR file.
Long press on the RAR file and select Extract To.
Choose the location you want to extract to.

WinZip will then take care of unzipping the RAR archive for you. It makes working with RAR and ZIP files on Android a breeze.

Troubleshooting Tips

Here are some troubleshooting tips in case you have issues opening RAR files:

If extracting a split RAR archive, open the first .r00 file in the series.
Try re-downloading the RAR archive if it appears corrupted or damaged.
You may need to update your archive utility if dealing with an unsupported RAR version.
On Linux, verify you have the ‘unrar’ package installed if you get command not found errors.
On mobile devices, enable storage permissions for the archive utility app.
If RAR extraction is slow, it may be caused by high CPU usage on your device.
Scan for viruses if your anti-virus software blocks opening the RAR file.

Hopefully this guide has given you a good overview of how to open and extract RAR files across the major platforms. The key takeaways are:

7-Zip on Windows
The Unarchiver on Mac
unrar command on Linux
iZip app on iPhone
WinZip app on Android

While RAR files aren’t as common as ZIP, they are still widely used, especially for sharing files online. So it’s useful to have RAR extraction capabilities on your devices.

how to open rar files

Are RAR files safe?

Like ZIP files, RAR files can be encrypted and password protected. They’re not completely bulletproof, but adding just a couple of layers of protection helps prevent sensitive data being readily available.

What are RAR files used for?

You might be wondering why RAR files are used instead of ZIP files which are immediately accessible natively through the computer. The difference is that RAR supports error recovery and multi-volume archives making it much easier to transfer and download complex networks of files and folders.

So when would you use a RAR file? To start with, compiling a long list of files like s or audio files into a single downloadable RAR file will speed up the transfer and download times when sending it to a friend or colleague.

Another instance might be if you need to send a contract or a document that isn’t for public eyes to a colleague. Like Zip files, RAR files can be encrypted with a password to ensure that only the person who needs to see it can access it, even if someone else accesses that computer.

How To Open RAR Files On Windows 11 (Extract) – Full Guide

How do you open a RAR file?

A RAR file is a Roshal Archive Compressed file. Open one with 7-Zip, ezyZip, Unzip-Online.com, or some other file extractor program. Convert to other archive formats like ZIP, 7Z, etc. with IZArc or Zamzar.

How do you extract RAR files?

Go to your RAR file. Tap either SD or Internal, then navigate to the folder in which your RAR file is stored. Assuming you downloaded the RAR file, you’ll tap the Downloads folder, and then the folder for the app from which you downloaded it if necessary. Tap and hold the RAR file. A pop-up menu will appear after a second or so. Tap Unzip to….

How do you open RAR files on iPhone?

Open your RAR file. Open the app in which the RAR file is stored, then tap the RAR file. It will “open” to a grey screen with the RAR file’s name in the middle of the screen. Because iPhones don’t have file managers, your RAR file is most likely in an email app or a cloud storage app.

How do you unzip a RAR file?

1. Right-click on the RAR file and hover over “WinZip” to display the secondary menu. 2. Click on ” Unzip to ” and choose the location you want to save the file to. 3. Click ” Unzip ” which will open up the contents of the RAR file.