Editing WinRAR (section)

==Evolution==
{{See also|RAR (file format)}}

RAR/DOS started as a mix of [[x86]] [[Assembly language|assembler]] and [[C (programming language)|C]], with the amount of assembly code decreasing over time and moving to pure C/[[C++]] later on. The first versions of WinRAR were written in C, modern versions are using C++. RAR for Android is written as a mixture of Java and C++.[https://forum.ru-board.com/topic.cgi?forum=5&topic=51203&start=1840#6]

WinRAR and the RAR file format have evolved over time. Support for the archive format RAR5, using the same RAR [[file extension]] as earlier versions, was added in version 5.0;<ref>[[Martin Brinkmann]] (29 April 2013)[https://www.ghacks.net/2013/04/29/winrar-5-0-introduces-the-new-rar-5-format-what-you-need-to-know/ "WinRAR 5.0 introduces the new RAR 5 format. What you need to know"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180901182623/https://www.ghacks.net/2013/04/29/winrar-5-0-introduces-the-new-rar-5-format-what-you-need-to-know/ |date=2018-09-01 }} ''Ghacks''. Retrieved 27 November 2013.</ref> the older RAR file format has since been referred to as RAR4. WinRAR versions before 5.0 do not support RAR5 archives;<ref name="releases" /> only older versions of WinRAR run on older operating systems, and cannot open RAR5 archives.

The RAR5 file format - from version 7 on, referred to as "RAR" - increased the maximum dictionary size up to 64 GB, depending on the amount of available memory, with the default in version 5 increased from 4 MB to 32 MB, typically improving compression ratio.
For dictionaries larger than 4 GB, the size can be specified if it is unequal to a power of 2. Thus, there are no restrictions to the range 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, allowing 5 GB or 22 GB to be chosen at will. Archives with dictionaries larger than 4 GB can only be extracted by WinRAR 7.0 or newer.
[[AES encryption]], when used, is in [[CBC mode]] and was increased in strength from 128- to 256-bit. Maximum path length for files in RAR and ZIP archives is increased from 2047 to 65535 characters.<ref name="releases" />

Options added in v5.0 include 256-bit [[BLAKE (hash function)|BLAKE2]] file-hashing algorithm instead of default 32-bit CRC32, duplicate file detection, NTFS hard and symbolic links, and Quick Open record to allow large archives to be opened faster.<ref name=releases/>

The RAR5 file format removed comments for each file (though archive comment still remains), authenticity verification, and specialized compression algorithms for text and multimedia files. RAR5 also changed the file name for split volumes from "archivename.rNN" to "archivename.partNN.rar".<ref name="releases" />

The RAR7 file format added support for 64GB compression dictionary and improved compression ratio by adding two extra algorithms. RAR7 archives with dictionary sizes up to 4GB can be unpacked by previous versions of WinRAR (5.0 and above) given there's enough RAM.

On the 31st of May 2024, Winrar announced that they would no longer offer the physical CD delivery option due to the factory that produces them shutting, citing a lack of demand and support for [[Optical media]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-10-01 |title=After 22 years, WinRAR officially discontinued the CD installation package. |url=https://scienceinfo.net/after-22-years-winrar-officially-discontinued-the-cd-installation-package.html |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=scienceinfo.net |language=en-US}}</ref>