RAR Converter

These are not the droids you’re looking for.

Let me clear this up for all the people looking for .rar file converters (and trust me, there are many) : RAR files are simply archives, just like ZIP files. They contain other files and folders in a compressed form. The compression, encryption and volume splitting features of the RAR format are the reason it is often used when putting stuff online and sending big files over the Internet.

So you probably don’t need a “.rar converter” per se, but a way to extract RAR files. One program that can do this is 7-zip, a free file archiver that supports various compressed file formats. 7-zip can run on various operating systems including Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Source code is also available for those so inclined. And if for some reason you can’t use this program check out other alternatives on my .rar extractor list.

By the way, if you were really, deliberately looking for a way to convert RAR files to another (archive) format, here’s how : extract the .rar file using 7zip or whatever, then pack the extracted files using another format. Simple. Most archivers (including 7zip) can compress to popular formats such as ZIP. It’s possible to automate this process but I won’t discuss that in-depth in this post. Hint : it involves command line ;)

Phew. I believe this will be the last post of this file format-oriented kind for a while. I’ve run out of prepared topics anyway. Moderate rejoicing is surely in order, as those few regular readers I have *waves* are probably bored with these bland articles.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 at 14:09 and is filed under Tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

7 Responses to “RAR Converter”

  1. 1
    Computer And Internet » Blog Archive » How to Get FREE Internet Access on Your Computer on the Move? says:
    October 21, 2008 at 09:22

    [...] computer forensics | LAN chat software | International news| smsf software|website design | Senpai IT Solutions – Dedicated Server at low cost |Custom software development | RAR Converter [...]

  2. 2
    skateaddict says:
    January 10, 2009 at 20:42

    Thanks for this, I seriously had no idea.
    I will no longer delete rar files! lol
    cheers

  3. 3
    White Shadow says:
    January 10, 2009 at 20:48

    Heh, everybody makes mistakes :)

  4. 4
    steelhawk says:
    January 20, 2009 at 09:02

    hey, I’m just asking. what if I accidentally changed my .001 file into a .rar file via “rename”. how do I change it back? Thanks :D

  5. 5
    White Shadow says:
    January 20, 2009 at 13:54

    First, enable the display of file extensions. In Windows XP, you can do it by goint to Tools -> Folder Options… in Windows Exporer and unchecking “Hide extensions for known file types” in the “View” tab. It’s probably similar in other OS’s.

    Then just rename it back to .001 :)

  6. 6
    Keith says:
    April 2, 2009 at 16:06

    Hi

    I would like to know how to open a rar file on the web without being requested to pay a fee for using software such as 7zip etc. Is it possible to bypass this scam?

    Thanks

  7. 7
    White Shadow says:
    April 2, 2009 at 16:46

    …what? 7zip is completely free and open source. You don’t need to pay anything to use it.

    As for your original question, Zamzar and Media Convert are both online converters that can convert rar files to the zip format.

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