Editing WinRAR

{{Short description|File archiver}}
{{Infobox software
| name = WinRAR
| logo = WinRAR Logo and Wordmark.png
| screenshot = WinRAR 7.10 screenshot.png
| screenshot_size = 250px
| caption = Screenshot of the trial version of WinRAR
| developer = {{Ubl | [[Eugene Roshal]] (developer), | Alexander Roshal (distributor)<ref>([[Russia]], [[Chelyabinsk]]) [https://groups.google.com/group/fido7.rar.support/msg/8205725b02a2be76?pli=1 WinRAR 3.40 release notes by Eugene Roshal] {{in lang|ru}}</ref><ref name=license/>}}
| released = {{Start date and age|1995|04|22|df=yes}}<!-- RAR was released in 1993. But WinRAR was released in 1995. -->
| discontinued = 
| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q242747|P348|P548=Q2804309}}
| latest release date = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q242747|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}
| latest preview version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q242747|P348|P548=Q3295609}}
| latest preview date = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q242747|P348|P548=Q3295609|P577}}
| programming language = [[C++]]
| operating system = [[Windows 7]] or later
| platform = [[IA-32]] (up to v7.01), [[x64]]
| size = 3.4 [[Megabyte|MB]]
| language = Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Mongolian, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian Cyrillic, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Colombian Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Vietnamese
| language count = 50+
| language footnote = <ref name=dl>{{Cite web |url=https://rarlab.com/download.htm |title=RAR download page |access-date=2020-06-10 |publisher=RARLAB |website=rarlab.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609195332/https://www.rarlab.com/download.htm |archive-date=2020-06-09 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| genre = [[File archiver]]
| license = [[Trialware]]<ref name=inf40/>
| website = {{URL|https://www.rarlab.com/|rarlab.com}}
}}

'''WinRAR''' is a [[trialware]] [[file archiver]] utility, developed by [[Eugene Roshal]] of win.rar GmbH. It can create and view archives in [[RAR (file format)|RAR]] or [[Zip (file format)|ZIP]] file formats,<ref>Manuel Masiero (18 March 2013)[https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/winrar-winzip-7-zip-magicrar,3436.html "Compression Performance: 7-Zip, MagicRAR, WinRAR, WinZip"] ''Tom's Hardware''. Retrieved 27 November 2013.</ref> and unpack numerous archive [[computer file|file]] formats. To enable the user to test the integrity of archives, WinRAR embeds [[CRC32]] or [[BLAKE2]] [[checksum]]s for each file in each archive. WinRAR supports creating [[Encryption|encrypted]], multi-part and [[self-extracting archive]]s.  WinRAR is a Windows-only program. An [[Android (operating system)|Android]] application called "RAR for Android" is also available.<ref name=android>{{Cite web |url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rarlab.rar |title=RAR for Android; RARsoft. |access-date=2014-11-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141222101935/https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rarlab.rar |archive-date=2014-12-22 |url-status=live }}</ref> Related programs include the command-line utilities "RAR" and "UNRAR"<ref name="Interview by correspondence">{{cite web |url=http://www.compression.ru/arctest/descript/roshal.htm |first=Kirill |last=Voloshin |trans-title=Interview by correspondence |script-title=ru:Интервью по переписке |date=2011-03-10 |access-date=2014-10-27 |language=ru |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150816011005/http://www.compression.ru/arctest/descript/roshal.htm |archive-date=2015-08-16 |url-status=live }}</ref> and versions for [[macOS]],<ref name="dl" /> [[Linux]], [[FreeBSD]], WinCE, and [[MS-DOS]].

==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>

==Features==
* Creation of packed [[RAR (file format)|RAR]] or [[Zip (file format)|ZIP]] archives.
* Unpacking of [[ARJ (file format)|ARJ]], [[bz2 (file format)|BZIP2]], [[Cabinet (file format)|CAB]], [[gz (file format)|GZ]], [[ISO image|ISO]], [[JAR (file format)|JAR]], [[LHA (file format)|LHA]], [[RAR (file format)|RAR]], [[tar (file format)|TAR]], [[uuencode|UUE]], [[XZ Utils|XZ]], [[Z (file format)|Z]], [[Zip (file format)|ZIP]], [[WinZip|ZIPX]], [[Zstandard|ZST]], [[7z (file format)|7z]], [[Uuencode|UUE]] 001 (split) archives, as well as [[.exe|EXE]] files containing these archive formats<ref name="releases">{{cite web|url=https://rarlab.com/rarnew.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100806100343/http://www.rarlab.com/rarnew.htm|archive-date=2010-08-06|url-status=live|title=Latest changes in WinRAR (cumulative release notes for all versions)|publisher=RARLAB|website=rarlab.com|access-date=2018-09-01}} Updated with each new beta test or released version. Current page has versions 4.00 and higher; archived page linked here has versions 3.70–3.93; older archived versions go back to 3.00</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.donationcoder.com/Reviews/Archive/ArchiveTools/index.html |title=Best Archive Tool |publisher=DonationCoder.com |date=2005-09-05 |access-date=2009-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090602021709/http://www.donationcoder.com/Reviews/Archive/ArchiveTools/index.html |archive-date=2009-06-02 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Checksum]] (integrity) verification for ARJ, BZIP2, CAB, GZ, BZIP2, RAR, XZ, ZIP and 7z archives
* [[Multithreaded CPU]] compression and decompression

When creating RAR 7.0 archives:
* Support for maximum file size of 16&nbsp;[[Exbibyte|EiB]], about 1.8 × 10<sup>19</sup> bytes or 18 million TB
* Compression dictionary from 1 MiB to 64 GiB (it is limited to 256 MiB on 32-bit editions, although 32-bit editions still can decompress archives with 1 GiB dictionary; default size is 32 MiB)<ref name=releases/>
* Optional 256-bit [[BLAKE2]] file hashing that can replace the default 32-bit CRC32 file checksum<ref name="releases" />
* Optional encryption using [[AES encryption|AES]] with a 256-bit key<ref>[http://www.techno360.in/winrar-5/ "WinRAR 5 Final Released"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202233837/http://www.techno360.in/winrar-5/ |date=2013-12-02 }} ''Techno360.in''. Retrieved 27 November 2013.</ref> in [[CBC mode]], using [[key derivation function]] based on [[PBKDF2]] using [[HMAC]]-SHA256<ref name=releases/>
* Optional data [[redundancy (information theory)|redundancy]] is provided in the form of [[Reed–Solomon]] ''recovery records'' and ''recovery volumes'', allowing reconstruction of damaged archives (including reconstruction of entirely missed volumes)
* Optional "quick open record" to open RAR files faster<ref name=releases/>
* Ability to create multi-volume (split) archives<ref name=split>{{cite web |url=https://www.ghacks.net/2011/09/07/how-to-split-large-files-into-multiple-smaller-ones/ |title=How To Split Large Files Into Multiple Smaller Ones |website=gHacks Tech News |date=7 September 2011 |author=Martin Brinkmann |author-link=Martin Brinkmann |access-date=15 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416045138/http://www.ghacks.net/2011/09/07/how-to-split-large-files-into-multiple-smaller-ones/ |archive-date=2017-04-16 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* Ability to create [[self-extracting archive|self-extracting]] files (multi-volume self-extracting archives are supported;<ref name=split/> the self-extractor can execute commands, such as running a specified program before or after self-extraction<ref>WinRAR Help – GUI SFX modules: setup commands</ref>)
* Support for [[NTFS]] permissions, hard and symbolic links<ref name=releases/>
* Support for maximum path length up to 65,535 characters (stored in the [[UTF-8]] format)<ref name=releases/>
* Optional archive comment (stored in the UTF-8 format)<ref name=releases/>
* Optional file timestamps preservation: modification, creation, last access times with high precision<ref>{{Cite web |last=stevewhims |date=2021-01-07 |title=File Times - Win32 apps |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/sysinfo/file-times |access-date=2024-04-07 |website=learn.microsoft.com |language=en-us}}</ref>
* Optional [[data deduplication|file deduplication]]
* Advanced backup options, time-stamped files and previous file version retention.

==License==
The software is distributed as "try before you buy"; it may be used without charge for 40 days.<ref name=license>{{citation |url=https://rarlab.com/license.htm |title=RAR and WinRAR End User License Agreement (EULA) |publisher=RARLAB |website=rarlab.com |access-date=2019-03-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104212948/http://www.rarlab.com/license.htm |archive-date=2014-01-04 |url-status=live}}</ref> When the period expires, the non-enterprise functionalities remain available, a move intended to discourage piracy.<ref name=inf40>{{cite web |author1=CHM Tech |title=WinRAR And The Infinite 40-Day Trial |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTgZRVVr3_Y  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/fTgZRVVr3_Y |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|website=YouTube|date=9 March 2017 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> In [[China]], a free-to-use personal edition has been provided officially since 2015.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.winrar.com.cn/about.htm |title=软众信息-WinRAR独家总代理商 最新官方简体中文版下载 支持64位非破解版压缩软件：软件介绍-致用户的一封信 |publisher=www.winrar.com.cn |access-date=2016-10-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161015190836/http://www.winrar.com.cn/about.htm |archive-date=2016-10-15 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Although archiving with the RAR format is proprietary, RARLAB supplies as copyrighted [[freeware]] the [[C++]] source code of the current UnRAR unpacker, with a license allowing it to be used in any software, thus enabling others to produce software capable of unpacking, but not creating, RAR archives.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://rarlab.com/rar_add.htm |title=WinRAR and RAR archiver addons (downloads, UnRAR for various platforms, and source code) |publisher=RARLAB |website=rarlab.com |access-date=2020-06-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180901215639/https://rarlab.com/rar_add.htm |archive-date=2018-09-01}} License says "The source code of UnRAR utility is freeware"</ref>

RAR for Android is free of charge. It displays advertisements; for a payment they can be disabled.<ref name=android/> A license for WinRAR does not provide ad-suppression for RAR for Android.

==Security==
In February 2019, a major security vulnerability in the unacev2.dll library which is used by WinRAR to decompress [[ACE (compressed file format)|ACE]] archives was discovered.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://research.checkpoint.com/extracting-code-execution-from-winrar/|title=Extracting a 19 Year Old Code Execution from WinRAR|date=2019-02-20|website=Check Point Research|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-13}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106948|title=WinRAR Multiple Security Vulnerabilities|website=www.securityfocus.com|access-date=2019-03-13}}</ref> Consequently, WinRAR dropped the support for the ACE format from version 5.70.

Self-extracting archives created with versions before 5.31 (including the executable installer of WinRAR itself) are vulnerable to [[DLL hijacking]]: they may load and use DLLs named UXTheme.dll, RichEd32.dll and RichEd20.dll if they are in the same folder as the executable file.<ref name="releases" /><ref>{{cite web|last1=Kanthak|first1=Stefan|title=Executable installers are vulnerable^WEVIL (case 25): WinRAR's installer and self-extractors allow arbitrary (remote) code execution and escalation of privilege|url=http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Feb/58|website=SecLists.org|date=7 February 2016|access-date=2016-02-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160218030636/http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Feb/58|archive-date=2016-02-18|url-status=live}}</ref>

It was widely reported that WinRAR v5.21 and earlier had a [[remote code execution]] (RCE) vulnerability which could allow a remote attacker to insert malicious code into a self-extracting executable (SFX) file being created by a user, "putting over 500 million users of the software at risk".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://wccftech.com/winrar-exploit-could-put-500-million-users-at-risk/ |title=WinRAR Exploit Could Put 500 Million Users at Risk |newspaper=Wccftech.com |date=September 2015 |author=Shaikh Rafia |access-date=29 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161001192221/http://wccftech.com/winrar-exploit-could-put-500-million-users-at-risk/ |archive-date=2016-10-01 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, examination of the claim revealed that, while the vulnerability existed, the result was merely an SFX which delivered its payload when executed; published responses dismissed the threat, one saying "If you can find suckers who will trust a .exe labelled as self-extracting archive ... then you can trick them into running your smuggled JavaScript".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/30/500m_winrar_users_open_to_remote_code_execution_zero_day/ |title=Smuggle mischievous JavaScript into WinRAR archives? Sure, why not |newspaper=The Register |date=30 September 2015 |author=Darren Pauli |access-date=29 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927083336/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/30/500m_winrar_users_open_to_remote_code_execution_zero_day/ |archive-date=2016-09-27 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.darknet.org.uk/2015/10/winrar-vulnerability-is-complete-bullshit/ |title=WinRAR Vulnerability Is Complete Bullshit |website=Darknet |date=1 October 2015 |access-date=29 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161002151612/http://www.darknet.org.uk/2015/10/winrar-vulnerability-is-complete-bullshit/ |archive-date=2016-10-02 |url-status=live }}</ref>

WinRAR 6.23 fixes a critical security vulnerability which allowed the hacker to automatically execute malware distributed in archives under some circumstances.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goodin |first=Dan |date=2023-08-23 |title=WinRAR 0-day that uses poisoned JPG and TXT files under exploit since April |url=https://arstechnica.com/security/2023/08/winrar-0-day-that-uses-poisoned-jpg-and-txt-files-under-exploit-since-april/ |access-date=2023-08-23 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-us}}</ref>

==History==

===Versions===
* Command line RAR and UNRAR were first released in autumn 1993.<ref name="Interview by correspondence"/>
* Early development version WinRAR 1.54b was released in 1995.
* 3.00 (2002–05): the new [[RAR (file format)#Versions|RAR3]] [[archive format]] is implemented. The new archives cannot be managed by older versions of WinRAR. Solid compression and WAV audio lossless compression features are added.<ref name="History-3.00-3.11">{{cite web |title=RAR - What's new in the latest version (v3.00 to v3.11) |url=http://www.rarlab.com/rarnew.htm |website=rarlab.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030117103514/http://www.rarlab.com/rarnew.htm |archive-date=January 17, 2003 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 3.41 (2004–12): adds support for Linux .Z archives like GZIP and BZIP2. New options include storing entire file paths and restoring compressed NTFS files.<ref name="History-3.40-3.50"/>
* 3.50 (2005–08): adds support for interface [[Skin (computing)|skins]].<ref name="History-3.40-3.50">{{cite web |title=RAR - What's new in the latest version (v3.40 to v3.50) |url=http://www.rarlab.com/rarnew.htm |website=rarlab.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050907103300/http://www.rarlab.com/rarnew.htm |archive-date=September 7, 2005 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 3.60 (2006–08): adds multithreaded version of the compression algorithm, which improves compression speed on systems with multiple [[dual-core]] or [[hyper-threading]]-enabled [[central processing unit|CPUs]].
* 3.80 (2008–09): adds support for ZIP archives, which contain [[Unicode]] file names in [[UTF-8]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://rarlab.com/ |title=WinRAR archiver, a powerful tool to process RAR and ZIP files |publisher=RARLAB |website=rarlab.com |access-date=2009-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090628105748/http://www.rarlab.com/ |archive-date=2009-06-28 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* 3.90 (2009–05): adds support for the [[x86-64]] architecture. Multithreaded support is enhanced.<ref name="releases" />
* 3.91 is the last release that supports [[Valencian language|Valencian]].
* 3.92 is the last release that supports [[Serbian Cyrillic]] and [[Serbian Latin]].
* 4.00 (2011–03): decompression is sped up by up to 30%.<ref name="releases" />
* 4.10 (2012–01): removes all ZIP limitations now allowing unlimited number of files and archive size. WinRAR now also allows creation of multivolume ZIP files. ZIP archives now include [[Unicode]] file names.<ref name="releases" />
* 4.20 (2012–06): compression speed in [[Symmetric multiprocessing|SMP]] mode is increased significantly, but this improvement was made at the expense of increased memory usage. ZIP compression now uses SMP as well. The default SMP mode cannot handle text; text compression is significantly worse unless additional switches are used.<ref name="releases" />
* 5.00 (2013–09): the RAR5 archive format is implemented. RAR5 compressed archives cannot be managed by old versions of WinRAR. The RAR 5 format improves [[multi-core processor]] utilization, and adds a larger dictionary size of up to 1 GiB with 64-bit WinRAR. Special optional compression algorithms optimized for RGB bitmaps, raw audio files, [[Itanium]] executables, and [[plain text]], which were supported by earlier versions, are supported only in the older RAR format, not RAR5.<ref name="releases" /> Optional optimized compression of x86 executables and [[delta compression]] (for structured table data) are supported in both file formats.
* 5.50 (2017–08): adds support for a master password which can be used to encrypt passwords stored in WinRAR. The default RAR format is changed to version 5. Adds support for decompressing [[Lzip]] archives; adds support for high precision file dates, longer file names and larger file sizes for [[Tar (computing)|TAR]] archives.<ref name="releases" />
* 5.60 (2018–06): repairing of protected RAR5 archives was improved. Automatic detection of the encoding of ZIP archive comments. Recognition of GZIP files with arbitrary preceding data as an actual GZIP archive.<ref name="releases" />
* 5.70 (2019–02): removes support for [[ACE (compressed file format)|ACE]] archive decompression due to major security vulnerabilities<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/02/20/winrar_security_bug/ |title=Behold… a WinRAR security bug that's older than your child's favorite YouTuber. And yes, you should patch this hole |first=Shaun |last=Nichols |date=2019-02-20 |website=www.theregister.co.uk |access-date=2019-02-26}}</ref> in the unacev2.dll library.<ref name="releases" />
* 6.00 (2020–12): "Ignore" and "Ignore All" options are added to read error prompt. "Ignore" allows to continue processing with already read file part only and "Ignore All" does it for all future read errors.
* 6.10 (2022–01): Added support for unpacking [[Zstandard|ZST]] archives. Maximum recovery record is increased to 1000% of protected data size.
* 6.11 (2022–03): Support of Gzip archives with large archive comments has been added; In command line mode, the switch -mes can also be used to suppress the password prompt and abort when adding new files to an encrypted solid archive.
* 6.12 (2022–05): {{CVE|2022-30333}} security vulnerability is fixed in Unix RAR versions. WinRAR and Android RAR are not affected.
* 6.23 (2023–08): {{CVE|2023-40477}} and {{CVE|2023-38831}} critical security vulnerabilities are fixed in WinRAR. Unix and Android versions are not affected.
* 6.24 (2023–10): Fixes an issue with null pointers.
* 7.00 (2024–02): drops support for creating RAR 4.x format archives. Maximum path length limit increased to 65535 characters. Maximum RAR dictionary size up to 64 GB for the [[64-bit computing|64]]-bit version (limited by available RAM). Command line RAR filters out control character 27 from screen output for security reasons.
* 7.10 (2025–02): drops support for 32bit Windows editions. Adds support for [[Page (computer memory)#Multiple page sizes|Large Memory Pages]] which increases compression and decompression speed, especially when using a large compression dictionary. Adds [[Dark theme|dark mode]].

===Operating systems support===
More recent versions do not support many older operating systems. Versions supporting older operating systems may still be available, but not maintained:
* RAR 2.50 is the last version to support MS-DOS and OS/2 on 16-bit [[x86]] CPUs ([[Intel 8086|8086]]-compatible).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://winworldpc.com/product/rar |title=RAR 2.50 – Stats, Downloads and Screenshots |website=WinWorld |access-date=14 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815101512/https://winworldpc.com/product/rar |archive-date=2017-08-15 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* RAR 3.93 is the last version to support [[MS-DOS]] and [[OS/2]] on [[IA-32]] CPUs ([[Intel 80386|80386]] equivalents and later). RAR for Pocket PC 3.93 is the last version for [[Windows Mobile]].<ref name=rar393>{{cite web |url=http://www.winrar.co.nz/download-winrar |title=Downloads for: WinRAR, RAR for Mac OS X, RAR for Linux, RAR for DOS & OS/2, RAR for FreeBSD, with 40 days free trial |website=Winrar.co.nz |access-date=15 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815101538/http://www.winrar.co.nz/download-winrar |archive-date=2017-08-15 |url-status=live }}</ref> It supports [[Long filename|file names longer than the MS-DOS standard]] of 8.3 characters, in a MS-DOS box (except under NT-based operating systems), and uses the [[EMX (programming environment)|RSX]] [[DOS Protected Mode Interface|DPMI]] extender.
* RAR 7.01 is the last version to support [[Linux]] and [[FreeBSD]] on [[32-bit computing|32-bit]] [[x86]] CPUs. The unrar application is available as source code and still supports 32bit environments (with a 2GB maximum dictionary size limitation).
* WinRAR 2.06 is the last version to support [[Windows 3.1]], [[Windows NT 3.1]], [[Windows NT 3.5]], [[Windows NT 3.51]] and [[Win32s]].
* WinRAR 3.80 is the last version to support [[Windows 95]], [[Windows NT 4.0]], [[Windows 98]] and [[Windows Me]].<ref name="releases" />
* WinRAR 4.11 is the last version to support [[Windows 2000]].<ref name=releases/>
* WinRAR 6.02 is the last version to support [[Windows XP]] (except the console version Rar.exe).<ref name=releases/>
* WinRAR 7.01 is the last version to support [[Windows Vista]] (and [[32-bit computing|32-bit]] Windows editions).<ref name="releases" />

==See also==
* [[Comparison of file archivers]]
* [[Comparison of archive formats]]
* [[List of archive formats]]
* [[7-Zip]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==<!-- reliable sources that can be used for citing and adding new content -->
* {{Cite book |last1= Salomon | first1=David | title = Data Compression: The Complete Reference | date = 20 March 2007 |doi=10.1007/978-1-84628-603-2  |edition=4th |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |location=London | isbn = 978-1-84628-602-5 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ujnQogzx_2EC |access-date=4 September 2018}} <!-- Data Compression: The Complete Reference, Salomon, David. 2007 -->
* {{Cite journal | last= Fellows | first = Geoffrey | title = WinRAR temporary folder artefacts | journal =Digital Investigation |date=1 October 2010 | volume = 7 |issue=1–2  | pages = 9–13 | doi = 10.1016/j.diin.2009.12.001 |url=https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2296236 |access-date=4 September 2018 |issn=1742-2876| url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite journal | last1 = Yeo | first1 = Gary S.-W. | last2 = Phan | first2 = Raphael C.-W. | title = On the security of the WinRAR encryption feature | journal = International Journal of Information Security | date = 8 March 2006 | volume = 5 | issue = 2  | pages = 115–123 | doi = 10.1007/s10207-006-0086-3 | series = Special issue on ISC'05 | s2cid = 22398865 | issn = 1615-5262}}
* {{cite journal |last=Metz |first=Cade |date=2004-11-16 |title=File Compression Beyond ZIP |journal=PC Magazine |volume=23 |issue=20 |page=52 |issn=0888-8507}}<!-- 2 Color Photographs -->
* {{Cite journal | last1 = Qin | first1 = Jian-cheng | last2 = Bai | first2 = Zhong-ying | title = Design of new format for mass data compression | journal = The Journal of China Universities of Posts and Telecommunications |date = 1 February 2011 | volume = 18 | issue = 1  | pages = 121–128 | doi = 10.1016/S1005-8885(10)60037-4 | url = http://jcupt.bupt.edu.cn/EN/abstract/abstract548.shtml | access-date = 4 September 2018 | issn = 1005-8885| url-access = subscription }}<!-- <ref>{{cite journal |author1=覃健诚 |author2=白中英 |title=Design of new format for mass data compression |journal=中国邮电高校学报 (英文版) |date=2011 |volume=18 |pages=121–128 |url=http://jcupt.bupt.edu.cn/CN/abstract/abstract548.shtml}}</ref> -->
* {{cite journal |last=Spanbauer |first=Scott |date=December 2000 |title=Forget Napster – Usenet Is Where the Files Are |journal=PC World |volume=18 |issue=12 |page=254 |issn=0737-8939}}<!-- 3 Color Photographs -->
* {{cite journal |last=Allen |first=Danny |date=February 2007 |title=Compression Apps Do More Than Shrink Files |journal=PC World |volume=25 |issue=2 |page=64 |issn=0737-8939}}<!-- 1 Color Photograph, 1 Chart -->
* {{Cite journal | last1 = Sanjuàs-Cuxart | first1 = J. | last2 = Barlet-Ros | first2 = P. | last3 = Solé-Pareta | first3 = J. | doi = 10.1007/s10922-011-9202-4 | title = Measurement Based Analysis of One-Click File Hosting Services | journal = Journal of Network and Systems Management | volume = 20 | issue = 2 |page=276 | year = 2011 | s2cid = 2784124 |issn= 1064-7570}}
* {{Cite journal | last1 = Jovanova | first1 = B. | last2 = Preda | first2 = M. | last3 = Preteux | first3 = F. O. | title = MPEG-4 Part 25: A graphics compression framework for XML-based scene graph formats | doi = 10.1016/j.image.2008.10.011 | journal = Signal Processing: Image Communication | volume = 24 | issue = 1–2 |page=101 | year = 2009 | issn = 0923-5965}}
* {{Cite journal | last1 = Barr | first1 = K. C. | last2 = Asanović | first2 = K. | doi = 10.1145/1151690.1151692 | title = Energy-aware lossless data compression | journal = ACM Transactions on Computer Systems | volume = 24 | issue = 3 |page=250 | year = 2006 | issn = 0734-2071 | hdl = 1721.1/87316 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.85.5912| s2cid = 5431719 }}
<!-- less relevant to show in the further reading list
* {{cite book|doi=10.1007/11556992_29 | year=2005 | pages=402–416 | last1 = Gary | last2 = Yeo | first2 = S. -W.| title=Information Security | chapter=On the Security of the WinRAR Encryption Method | series=Lecture Notes in Computer Science | volume=3650 | isbn=978-3-540-29001-8 }}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1186/1471-2105-9-176 | volume=9 | title=RNACompress: Grammar-based compression and informational complexity measurement of RNA secondary structure | year=2008 | journal=BMC Bioinformatics | page=176 | last1 = Liu | first1 = Qi | pmid=18373878 | pmc=2335284 | doi-access=free }}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1007/s12524-008-0031-1 | volume=36 | title=Fractal compression of satellite images | year=2008 | journal=Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing | pages=299–311 | last1 = Kumar Ghosh | first1 = Jayanta| issue=4 | s2cid=140688319 }}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.suscom.2012.01.002 | volume=2 | title=Fine-grained power management using process-level profiling | year=2012 | journal=Sustainable Computing: Informatics and Systems | pages=33–42 | last1 = Chen | first1 = Hui}}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.peva.2011.07.016 | volume=68 | title=Characterizing the file hosting ecosystem: A view from the edge | year=2011 | journal=Performance Evaluation | pages=1085–1102 | last1 = Mahanti | first1 = Aniket| issue=11 }}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1007/s12083-011-0122-6 | volume=5 | title=File size models for shared content over the BitTorrent Peer-to-Peer network | year=2012 | journal=Peer-to-Peer Networking and Applications | pages=279–291 | last1 = Hawa | first1 = Mohammed| issue=3 | s2cid=255514069 }}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.clsr.2011.09.009 | volume=27 | title=Internet subcultures and pathways to the use of child pornography | year=2011 | journal=Computer Law & Security Review | pages=585–600 | last1 = Prichard | first1 = Jeremy | last2 = Watters | first2 = Paul A. | last3 = Spiranovic | first3 = Caroline| issue=6 }}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1017/S1351324907004597 | volume=14 | title=A new PPM variant for Chinese text compression | year=2007 | journal=Natural Language Engineering | last1 = Wu | first1 = Peiliang| issue=3 | s2cid=224891 }}
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==External links==
* [https://www.rarlab.com/ rarlab.com] (Developer's Website)
* [https://www.win-rar.com/ win-rar.com] {Publisher's Website}
* [https://www.rarlab.com/technote.htm RAR 5.0 archive file format]
* [https://research.checkpoint.com/extracting-code-execution-from-winrar/ Critical vulnerability in all WinRAR's versions prior to 5.7]

{{Compression Software Implementations}}

[[Category:File archivers]]
[[Category:1995 software]]
[[Category:Windows compression software]]
[[Category:Disk image extractors]]
[[Category:Windows-only trialware]]