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RAR5 file format

.rar  ·  archive+compression  ·  introduced 2013 by Eugene Roshal

What is a RAR5 file?

RAR5 is the 2013 successor to the original RAR format, with stronger AES-256 encryption (replacing AES-128), Unicode support throughout, BLAKE2 file checksums, and a more robust container. RAR5 files have the magic bytes 52 61 72 21 1A 07 01 00 and are not backward-compatible with RAR3 extractors.

Most readers reach this page after double-clicking a .rar file and finding their operating system unsure what to do with it. The good news: RAR5 is a well-understood format with mature tooling on every major platform. It is supported in one click by mainstream archivers on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

How to extract a RAR5 file

Opening a .rar file is straightforward on every modern operating system. The exact steps depend on which platform you are on:

On Windows

  1. Locate the .rar file in File Explorer.
  2. Right-click the file. If you have 7-Zip installed, choose 7-Zip → Extract Here. On Windows 11 the built-in extractor handles ZIP, 7z, RAR and several other formats directly through Extract All…
  3. If prompted, pick a destination folder and click Extract.
  4. The extracted files appear in a folder next to the original archive.

On macOS

  1. Find the .rar file in Finder.
  2. Install The Unarchiver from the Mac App Store, or Keka for both creating and extracting.
  3. Right-click the file → Open With → The Unarchiver (or just double-click after Unarchiver is set as the default).
  4. The extracted folder appears next to the archive.

On Linux

  1. Use your file manager: right-click the archive → Extract Here (file-roller on GNOME, Ark on KDE).
  2. On the command line, run one of: 
    7z x archive.rar    # works for almost any format
  3. The files appear in the current directory.

How to create a RAR5 file

To pack files into a .rar archive, you typically need an archiver that supports writing this format. Not every tool can create every format — for example, only WinRAR can create real RAR files. The sidebar lists the software known to read and write RAR5.

On the command line, the canonical create command is:

# Use 7-Zip, PeaZip, or the format's reference tool to create .rar files.

If you regularly create archives at scale, a dedicated archive automation suite can wrap this command in scheduled jobs, integrity checks, and offsite replication.

Strengths

  • AES-256
  • BLAKE2 checksums
  • Unicode by default
  • Quick open mode

Weaknesses and limitations

  • Old extractors do not understand RAR5
  • Still proprietary

Typical use cases

  • Modern WinRAR archives
  • Recent backups and distribution

Technical details

RAR5 uses the RAR5 (improved Lempel-Ziv + PPM) algorithm and is identified on disk by the magic byte sequence 52 61 72 21 1A 07 01 00. The standard MIME type is application/vnd.rar. The format is a proprietary specification and is subject to license restrictions for some uses (notably creation).

Frequently asked questions

Is RAR5 safe to open?

Archive files are containers — they are only as safe as what they contain. A .rar from a trusted source is fine; one received from a stranger can hold malicious executables, scripts, or files engineered to exploit bugs in your archiver. Always keep your archiver updated, and never run unknown executables that come out of an archive. A safe workflow is to extract into a sandbox and scan the contents before opening anything.

What is the maximum file size?

RAR5 supports archives up to 16 exabytes — effectively unlimited. RAR4 (the older format) was capped at 8 EB. In practice, the limit is your filesystem.

Can I password-protect a RAR5?

Yes. RAR5 supports password protection with AES-256 encryption in modern archivers like 7-Zip, WinRAR, and PeaZip. Avoid the legacy ZipCrypto algorithm — it has been broken for years.

How does RAR5 compare to other formats?

See our format comparison pages such as ZIP vs 7z, ZIP vs RAR, and tar.gz vs tar.xz for side-by-side feature tables.

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