What are RAR files?
RAR files are compressed files, just like any other compressed file that is developed by the WinRAR archive. RAR files contain a proprietary archive file that has been compressed to save storage space or for easy email transfer.
While dealing with large file sets, RAR files can be split into multi-volume archives and like Zip files, these files need to be extracted.
RAR, DMG and RPM, these file formats are typically found on Mac and Linux systems and opening them on a Windows 10 laptop/desktop/tablet can be a little complex. One cannot open a RAR File format by default in Windows 10 and therefore one has to use third-party free compression software to un-compress a RAR file to extract all the files and folders inside it.
So to make the process very handy for you, we have researched and brought 3 step guide on How to open RAR Files on Windows 10?
- Step 1: Download a Software that can open RAR Files
To open a RAR File, you can download the software from RAR Lab, that can manage RAR files but it keeps prompting you to buy the software. Taking this into consideration, few other alternatives are:
- 7-Zip WinRAR WinZip PeaZipExtract NowB1 Free Archiver
According to many, 7-Zip is a better alternative out of all these. 7-Zip is a free archiver that can read RAR files and can create archives that are smaller in size. This RAR file extractor can also open pretty much every archive format like UEFI BIOS files, ext2/ ext3/ ext4 images, WIM files, RAR5 archives, GPT, VMDK, VDI images, and single file QCOW2; but, it is only available on Windows.
To download 7-Zip, go to the 7-Zip official download site to download the compatible version of 7-Zip software on your Windows 10 computer.
- Step 2: Locate your RAR Files
Locate your RAR file within the main 7-Zip interface in File Explorer by double-clicking the RAR file to access the contents of the file. After that, click right on it, select ‘7-Zip’ and Click ‘Extract files’.
- Step 3: Save the RAR files
You can select a path to extract the RAR by Double-click the file to launch it in the appropriate program on your computer. Or if you want to save the file somewhere else you can also do that. You just need to highlight the file and click the Copy button beneath the navigation bar, select a save location in the pop-up window and after doing so, click ‘OK’ to start extracting the RAR file to the specified destination path.
That’s It.! Have you ever thought that Opening a RAR File on Windows 10 can be this easy? However, this seems to be a little lengthy process in starting, but once you get used to it you can process, you can shorten your steps by clicking right on the RAR files, choosing 7-Zip from the dropdown menu, and select an appropriate program to extract the RAR on your computer. Now that your files are out in the open, 7-Zip can even help you protect them too.