Best Free Rar Program
- Best Free Unzip Program Rar
- Best Free Rar Program
- Best Free Rar Program For Windows
- Best Free Program For Rar Files
- Best Free Rar Extractor
Jul 09, 2018 32-bit and 64-bit respectively. I don’t know why everybody’s recommending 7. RAR File Open Knife. The program comes in more than 50 languages, and the engine is highly optimized. The performance of RAR File Open Knife is 2-11% faster than WinRAR, 7-Zip, etc. The above-given software’s are the Best Free RAR File Opener Software’s that are in use by people all around the world.
Free file extractor software helps you extract the one or more files contained within a compressed file, ending in extensions like ZIP, RAR, 7Z and many others. Compressing files is a very common practice to help keep downloads and backups organized and small.
These programs, commonly called zip or unzip programs, are usually small, easy to install, and support lots of common compression formats.
File extractor programs are also sometimes referred to as packer/unpacker, zipper/unzipper, or compression/decompression programs. Regardless of what they're called, they all do the same thing — and the ones we've listed below do it for free!
PeaZip
What We Like
Integrates with Windows Task Scheduler.
Two-step verification.
What We Don't Like
Complicated setup.
No native Mac support.
PeaZip is a free file unzipper program that can extract content from over 180 archive file formats, some of which are common and others that are lesser-known.
In addition to decompressing files, PeaZip can also create new archives in over 10 formats. These can be password-protected and encrypted with 256-bit AES encryption, as well as secured with a keyfile for added protection.
PeaZip has some advanced features, too, like scheduled archives and support for creating self-extracting files.
7-Zip
What We Like
Reliable AES-256 encryption.
For personal or commercial use.
What We Don't Like
Outdated interface.
Heavy on system resources.
7-Zip is likely one of the most widely known file archiving and extracting software, with support for a wide range of popular file formats.
Dozens of archive files types can be opened with 7-Zip, and you can create a new archive in a few popular formats. You can also create self-extracting files in the EXE format that can be launched and extracted without using any decompression software — this is great if you're sending an archive to someone but you aren't sure if they have the proper software to extract files.
7-Zip integrates with Windows Explorer so that you can right-click an archive file to pull the content out.
Something else we like about 7-Zip is that it doesn't try to install extra software or toolbars during setup. However, one downside is that there isn't a portable 7-Zip available from the developer.
Note
UnzipLite is another free decompressor program that's based on the 7-Zip project, so it looks and functions nearly identical to 7-Zip.
jZip
What We Like
Intuitive interface.
Portable version available.
What We Don't Like
Adds jZip.com links to new archives.
Tries to install adware on setup.
jZip is a free archive extractor that can decompress over 40 different file formats, like ones that have the 7Z, EXE, ISO, WIM, LZH, TBZ2, and ZIP file extension.
Password-protection is supported if you're creating a new archive, with either ZipCrypto or 256-bit AES encryption.
Drag and drop archives into jZip or just right-click a supported format and choose to extract the contents. It's really that easy to unzip an archive with jZip.
CAM UnZip
What We Like
Fast and lightweight.
User-friendly tabbed interface.
What We Don't Like
Annoying banner ad.
No full-context menu integration.
CAM UnZip is a free compressor and file extractor that works with ZIP files. It supports drag and drop to quickly open a ZIP file and can create password-protected archives.
There's an interesting feature in CAM UnZip where the program can be configured to automatically run a 'setup.exe' file if one is extracted from a ZIP archive. This can greatly speed things up if you'll be extracting lots of setup files.
During install, you're given the option to install CAM UnZip as a portable program that can be launched from a removable drive, or, of course, as a regular one that runs from your computer.
Zipeg
What We Like
Online video tutorials.
Thumbnail previews of zipped images.
What We Don't Like
Moderate to high resource consumption.
Slow-loading previews.
Zipeg is another free archive extractor similar to the others in this list that supports common formats like RAR, TAR, and ZIP, plus several others.
Zipeg doesn't allow the creation of new archives, but it handles unzipping files just fine. When the program first opens, you get to choose which file extensions you want associated with the program so that you can be sure that Zipeg is the one that opens all of your archives.
One particular feature worth noting is the option to automatically open nested archives, meaning that Zipeg will open archives stored within the archive, automatically. While this isn't very common, it is helpful when you run into an archive like that.
While there isn't support for showing Zipeg in the right-click context menu, which makes unzipping files really easy, Zipeg does support drag and drop into its program window.
Unzip-Online
What We Like
No installation necessary.
Compatible with all browsers and operating systems.
What We Don't Like
Tedious extraction process.
No archive creation.
Unzip-Online is an online archive file decompressor. Upload a RAR, ZIP, 7Z, or TAR file to Unzip-Online and it will show you the files inside.
You can't download all the files at once, which is unfortunate, so you must select each file individually to download. Also, password-protected files can't be extracted with Unzip-Online.
There is a max upload size limit of 200 MB per file, which is probably just fine for most archives.
RAR File Extractor
What We Don't Like
Limited functionality.
Only supports RAR files.
RAR File Extractor is a free archive unzipper that can extract RAR files.
There really isn't anything to this program except the initial screen, which lets you load a RAR file and choose where it should be extracted.
Zipper
What We Like
Online help document.
Fixes damaged and incomplete files.
What We Don't Like
Ugly interface.
Not user-friendly.
Zipper is another free archive decompressor that can open and create ZIP files.
Drag and drop is supported for opening a ZIP file in Zipper, but it can't open a 256-bit AES encrypted file.
The interface isn't nearly as easy to use as the other programs in this list, there isn't a Windows Explorer integration setting, and it takes longer than it should to create your own ZIP file because you must use the built-in file explorer to select data.
Given the other programs in this list, Zipper really shouldn't be your preferred choice for a file unzipper. However, it is a working option and can do the job correctly, even if it's not the easiest to use or most appealing program.
IZArc
What We Like
Multilingual interface.
Extensive file format support.
What We Don't Like
No customizable compression settings.
Slower than 7Zip.
IZArc is a free compression and extraction utility that works with 40+ archive file types, can repair broken archives, and supports scanning archives for viruses before opening them.
The program is easy to use because it can be integrated with the right-click context menu in Windows. You can use this menu to quickly open or extract any of the supported unpacking formats.
There's a really helpful feature in IZArc that lets convert between archive formats, such as RAR to ZIP and many other variations of all sorts of formats. This is also true for CD images, meaning that you could make an ISO file from a BIN, MDF, NRG, or NDI file.
Archives created with IZArc can be password-protected with 256-bit AES encryption or ZipCrypto.
A portable download called IZArc2Go is also available on the download page, plus a command line tool and an iOS app.
ZipGenius
What We Like
Full-context menu integration.
Lightweight and portable.
What We Don't Like
Inadequate help file.
Buggy performance.
Another free archive extractor and compressor for Windows only is ZipGenius.
Several formats are supported with ZipGenius, for both creating and extracting archives. You can password protect new archives, automatically exclude particular file types when compressing files, and even split an archive into several smaller parts for easier web sharing or storage.
When extracting an archive with ZipGenius, you can set up an antivirus program to automatically scan the results to ensure you're not opening an infected archive.
ZipGenius also supports converting an archive to the ZIP format to easily change the file type to this popular one. There's also an option in the settings to set the priority of ZipGenius to control how many system resources can be allocated to it when compressing and decompressing files.
Free Zip Wizard
What We Like
Step-by-step compression configuration.
Streamlined graphical interface.
What We Don't Like
No longer supported by the developer.
Speed varies based on compression settings.
Free Zip Wizard is a clean and easy to use free file decompressor that supports ZIP files only.
In addition to opening and extracting ZIP files, Free Zip Wizard can create new ZIP files that are password-protected and supports uploading a newly created ZIP file to an FTP server with the built-in FTP client.
When creating a new ZIP file, File Zip Wizard doesn't allow adding whole folders to the archive, but you can select more than one file at a time, which is helpful.
It's really easy to choose how much compression you wish to apply to the ZIP file with a slider setting — you can choose anywhere from no compression to maximum compression.
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Something you might not like about Free Zip Wizard is that it shows an advertisement every time you close the program.
TUGZip
What We Like
Extracts files from disc images.
Creates self-extracting .exe files.
What We Don't Like
No context menu integration with Windows 7 and later.
Slow at extracting larger archives.
TUGZip is a free archive decompressor that integrates with Windows, making extracting archives much faster.
Like many other programs in this list, TUGZip can make self-extracting archives, but it also lets you add custom commands that run after the extraction completes.
You can add an installed virus scanner to the TUGZip settings to have it scan extracted files automatically, which is great to prevent a malicious file from an archive from infecting your computer.
TUGZip can also create batch archives, repair broken archives, and convert an archive to one of several formats like 7Z, CAB, RAR, or ZIP.
ALZip
What We Like
Multilingual support.
Novel EGG format facilitates Unicode support.
What We Don't Like
Consumes more system resources than WinZip.
EGG compression is painfully slow.
ALZip is a free archive compressor and extractor for Windows and Mac. It can extract files from 40 archive formats and create new archives in over five different formats.
Best Free Unzip Program Rar
AlZip supports scanning files right after they're extracted using your own antivirus program, which is super helpful if you're downloading lots of archives since they may contain malware.
In addition, ALZip supports drag and drop to open archives, and encryption when making a new one.
A really awesome feature we found in ALZip is the ability to preview the contents of an archive without opening it, called Peak in Archive. This works by simply right-clicking a supported archive (like a ZIP file) and viewing the file names in the context menu.
After installing AlZip, you must enter this free serial number to use it: EVZC-GBBD-Q3V3-DAD3.
BiGZiP
What We Like
Works with most operating systems.
Light on system resources.
What We Don't Like
No updates in a decade.
Documentation is no longer available.
There aren't too many options in BiGZIP that set it apart from newer programs except the compression settings. There are nine different compression levels you can select to better refine how compressed you want an archive to be.
Loading files into a new ZIP file with BiGZIP isn't as intuitive as some of the other programs in this list, but it does work if you need to make or extract a ZIP file.
Best Free Rar Program
BiGZIP is a very outdated ZIP archiver and extractor, with the last supported Windows OS being Windows 98 (Mac and others are also supported). However, we tested BiGZIP in Windows 10 and Windows 8 without any issues.
To download BiGZIP, click the Download link on the left side of the download page, and then choose the link next to your operating system.
Filzip
Best Free Rar Program For Windows
What We Like
Detailed help file.
Add hidden files to archives.
What We Don't Like
Doesn't display elapsed and remaining time for extractions.
Limited file format support.
Filzip is another old program that hasn't been updated in quite some time. However, it supports context menu integration, encryption, custom compression levels, virus scanning, and other advanced settings and options.
This file extractor can also convert archives, split archives into smaller pieces, search for files in an archive by name/date/size, and create self-extracting EXE files from ZIP archives.
In addition to supporting regular archive file formats like the other programs from this list, Filzip can also open less common ones like UUE, XXE, and ZOO archives. Around 15 file types in total can be opened using Filzip, and it can also create archives in several file formats like ZIP, JAR, CAB, and BH.
Adding files and folders to an archive using Filzip is a little more difficult than many of the other programs in this list.
With the right file compression software, sharing and archiving files is easy. The ever-growing size of hard drives means the need to reduce file sizes when storing data has been reduced, but SDDs still cost significantly more per gigabyte than traditional spinning hard drives, so compressing files can still be very useful.
Compression is also very helpful when you want to send several files via email and keep them within the attachment size limit, share them via a service like WeTransfer, or send them to a remote cloud server.
That's not all – in addition to reducing file sizes, compression software offers plenty of extra features to take into consideration. Perhaps the best feature of compression tools is the ability to encrypt files and protect them with a password – something you'll find in all the tools we've picked here.
The most commonly used compression format is ZIP, but there are various other available. You never know which type you may encounter when downloading and sharing files, so it makes sense to have a program on hand that can handle more than one type. Here we take a look at a selection of the best tools, taking into account ones that offer the highest compression rates, and those that support the largest number of file types.
1. Hamster Zip Archiver
A smart looking file archiver that makes advanced compression easy
It might not be the first name that comes to mind when you think of file compression software, but Hamster Zip Archiver has a very healthy following thanks to its thoughtfully designed interface, excellent format support, and because it offers all this for free.
What makes this program interesting is its incredible ease of use. Even someone who is unfamiliar with the idea of file compression and decompression should find it easy to achieve the results they want.
Creating and extracting archives to one of a range of formats is reduced to a simple drag and drop process, and there's cloud support as a handy extra. What this means is that you can, in one quick and easy operation, create a compressed file, upload it to Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive or Yandex Disk and have a shareable link created automatically.
If you're compressing files to share them, this is a brilliant option. If you're not a fan of the drag-and-drop interface, you can use the Windows context menu to take care of everything – the choice is yours.
The only drawback is that Hamster Zip Archiver is only available for Windows. Mac and Linux users, read on..
Download here: Hamster Zip Archiver
2. WinZip
The original file compression tool, and still one of the best
One of the most famous names in the world of software utilities, WinZip is still going strong. Hearing the name feels like something of a blast from the past, and you may be astonished to learn that this venerable file compression software has reached version 21.
At £31.14, US$35.94, AU$47.94 for the standard version, you may wonder if you can justify spending money on a compression tool when there are so many free alternatives available. Ultimately it depends on your priorities, but you do get a lot of extras for your money.
In addition to support for a wide range of archive formats (including ZIP, ZIPX, RAR (extraction only), 7z, TAR, GZIP, VHD and XZ), WinZip offers integration with a number of programs including Office for easy zipping as you work.
Other bonus features include the splitting of large zip files to fit different media, advanced file sharing options, cloud support and an advanced zip management system that rivals Windows Explorer. The interface adapts to suit mouse and keyboard setups or touchscreen devices, and there are backup and security options thrown in to protect your files.
WinZip is an incredibly useful tool to have in your software arsenal, and it's flexible enough to work in the way that suits you best – you can create and extract via the program interface, or using the program window.
Buy a subscription here: WinZip
3. WinRAR
The only file compression software that can create RAR archives
As famous as WinZip in certain circles, WinRAR created a name for itself thanks to its proprietary RAR format, which offers incredible levels of compression.
Most compression programs can extract RAR archives, but only WinRAR can (officially) create them. This exclusivity comes at a price – £35.90, US$46.54, AU$58.45 to be precise.
Of course, WinRAR can be used to compress files into many other compressed formats, and the program benefits from the fact that it is available for just about every platform imaginable. The interface is not the most pleasant to look at, and even if you opt to use the Explorer context menu to create or extract archives, beginners may well feel overwhelmed by the number of options and settings on display. That said, there is a wizard mode that take the hard work out of most tasks. WinRAR's killer feature is undoubtedly full RAR support, but its encryption, speed, self-extracting archive creation and themes (if you're into that sort of thing!) mean it's well worth taking a look at the trial version to see if this is the compression tool for you.
Buy a subscription here: WinRAR
4. PeaZip
A free file compression tool that works on its own or together with WinRAR
Another free compression program, PeaZip (for Windows and Linux) is simple looking but surprisingly powerful.
In addition to regular compression and decompression options, you can also use PeaZip to convert archives between formats. For the security conscious, this file compression software also offers AES256-based encryption and two-factor authentication, as well as a password manager.
As with the other compression tools in this roundup, you can make use of the main program interface, or fall back in love with the right mouse button and use the context menu.
PeaZip is one compression tool that can, sort of, create – as well as extract – RAR files. If you have WinRAR installed (be it the full version or the trial) PeaZip can make use of the software to gain full RAR support. Although no warning message will be displayed, you're not really supposed to use WinRAR after the end of the trial period, either on its own or through PeaZip.
Review and where to download: PeaZip
5. 7-Zip
A free app with great format support and the ability to compress huge files
Best Free Program For Rar Files
The final free option in this roundup, 7-Zip is another program with an excellent reputation. It can handle pretty much any compressed file format you care to throw at it.
A real stalwart of the compression world, 7-Zip boasts its own compressed file format, 7z. This not only lets you compress truly gigantic files (up to 16 billion gigabytes, according to its developers), but also has an incredibly high compression rate. However, this does mean making speed sacrifices; 7z can use 'solid compression' to achieve tiny file sizes, but it can be very, very slow.
7-Zip's interface is far from attractive, and the number of context menu entries the program creates can be a little unnerving. Thankfully, if you venture into Options within the program, you'll find that it's easy enough to get rid of the options you don't need.
The look of this file compression software won't be to everyone's taste, but if you can get past this, you have a rock-steady and reliable utility on your hands.
Best Free Rar Extractor
Review and where to download: 7-Zip