CNET Editors' note: This version is the latest stable release of WinRAR. If you are looking for the most recent beta version, see the product page for the WinRAR (32-bit) beta or the WinRAR (64-bit) beta.
CNET Editors' review
There are plenty of solid compression utilities to choose from, but this shareware powerhouse offers the features and ease of use that place it at the top of the compression category. WinRAR is easy to use, lightweight, and flexible.
An intuitive interface lets you mouse over icons to see their functions, and if you don't like their candy-coated appearance, you can always choose from several themes at the developer's site. The Folder Tree Panel makes sifting through your directories to find files easier than ever. But once you see the size savings of a RAR archive, with a compression ratio of 8 percent to 15 percent better than the ZIP format, you'll understand why so many users and developers are making the switch from other apps. With virus scans now integrated and minor interface tweaks for Vista, only the slightly slower decompression speed holds the app back.
Beyond its good looks and right-click readiness for basic compression and unzipping, WinRAR offers unpacking support for a large number of archive formats, including TAR, ACE, BZ2, JAR, ISO, and ZIP. WinRAR's advanced features are icing on the cake, with Unicode support for international formatting, embedded file comments, damaged archive repair, archive locking, self-extracting archives, and easy encryption. There's also the option to automatically delete temporary files and just-archived files. Anyone seeking an all-in-one archiving solution would be remiss to not check out WinRAR.
Watch the CNET video review of WinRAR:
Publisher's Description
From RARLAB:
WinRAR is a 32-bit Windows version of RAR Archiver, an archiver and archive manager. RAR files can usually compress content by 8 percent to 15 percent more than ZIP files can. WinRAR's main features include strong general and multimedia compression, the ability to process non-RAR archive formats, ZIP compression and decompression, support for long filenames, programmable self-extracting archives (SFX), repair of damaged archives, authenticity verification, embedded file comments, and encryption. Unicode is supported in archive filenames, allowing non-English filenames to be handled painlessly. You can manipulate the parameters of many archives at once and view a volume sequence as a single archive. WinRAR can convert other archive formats to RAR and search for specified text and files in archives.
Version 3.80 adds decompression support for AES-encrypted ZIP files, improved display information, more context-menu options, and a more secure method of deleting temporary files.
What's new in this version: Version 3.80 adds decompression support for AES-encrypted ZIP files, improved display information, more context-menu options, and a more secure method of deleting temporary files.
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374,958 downloads
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All versions:
4.2 starsout of 1,863 votes
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Current version:
3.3 starsout of 187 votes
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My rating:
Write review
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"Do not like"
Version: WinRAR 3.80
Pros
read bottom line summary
Cons
read bottom line summary
Summary
In the the new WinZip, they have added a .RAR files feature meaning that it can open .Rar files so you dont really need it, if WinZip can do that plus its own file types what the heck you need winrar for?
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"VIRUS DO NOT DOWNLOAD"
Version: WinRAR 3.80
Pros
nothing good at all
Cons
This infected my computer with a virus which downloaded a trojan
Summary
DON"T DOWNLOAD!!
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"Not bad one should use 4 .rar files."
Version: WinRAR 3.80
Pros
This is the special type of product works with special type of foles. (e.g.) .rar
Cons
There is nothing i found to dislike the product.
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"Good Software"
Version: WinRAR 3.80
Pros
Good Software
Cons
Not Found any
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"Great Software."
Version: WinRAR 3.80
Pros
I liked this software. Great Speed.
Cons
Good Software
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"Good Software"
Version: WinRAR 3.80
Pros
I liked it.
Cons
Good Software
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"Excellent!!!"
Version: WinRAR 3.80
Pros
Very fast and effective.
Cons
None noticed.
Summary
Better than any other extractor I have used.
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"I found this software good"
Version: WinRAR 3.80
Pros
Good Software
Cons
No Errors Found
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"Couldn"t get it to work, locked up computer"
Version: WinRAR 3.80
Pros
???????????????
Cons
Never got it to work and had to go to safe mode to delete
Summary
Locked up computer, so deleted and abandoned the project
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"Infected, Crashed my new computer. BEWARE!!!"
Version: WinRAR 3.80
Pros
Did work to unzip my rar files.
Cons
Crashed my Brand New Computer the very first day. I would not recommend this download.
Summary
Beware, Beware, Beware!!!!!!!!!!!
Infected, Infected, Infected!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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