6 ms·

WinRAR 7.0

60 points by mfiguiere 3y ago

accrual 3y ago
Can anyone using WinRar discuss why they prefer it over 7-Zip? In any case, I'm happy to see such ubiquitous software continue to be updated. https://www.rarlab.com/ https://www.rarlab.com/ https://7-zip.org/ https://7-zip.org/
- KronisLV 3y ago
  Just saying that 7-Zip is great, both the compression (I use it for most of my data archival, because the higher compression ratio is worth the longer times to compress) and the software itself, pretty much what a good archival program on Windows should be like. On other OSes, I guess I just use whatever is included with the distro, or something like PeaZip: https://peazip.github.io/ https://peazip.github.io/ Curious to hear from RAR proponents.
- leroyrandolph 3y ago
  I've ran into issues unzipping to a path too long with 7-Zip but immediately resolved with WinRAR. Might be a trivially solvable problem, but since WinRAR worked, I didn't bother investigating.
- subtra3t 3y ago
  I used to use it a lot in the past and I think it was mostly the convenience factor for me personally. I didn't want to learn another piece of software and I thought that WinRar did what it was supposed to do, reasonably well.
- jsheard 3y ago
  The developer of 7-zip has a questionable approach to security for an application that's meant to handle untrusted files, he prioritizes small binary size above hardening against exploits most of the time. DEP was disabled until 64-bit Windows forced the issue by making it mandatory, ASLR was disabled until fairly recently because he considered relocation tables to be unnecessary bloat, and the more advanced mitigations like CET and CFG still aren't used to this day. I don't know how robust the actual code is, but an attitude of executable size being the most important metric doesn't fill me with confidence that it tries to handle all possible edge cases. With Windows 11 now having support for 7z/rar/etc built-in I'd be inclined to just default to using that if it covers your use-cases.
  - MrYellowP 3y ago
    Question. Does Microsoft have to pay a license for being able to support RAR or are they now effectively putting winrar out of business?
    - frankjr 3y ago
      I don't know but this is their response to the Microsoft's announcement. https://twitter.com/WinRAR_RARLAB/status/1663493174642323457 https://twitter.com/WinRAR_RARLAB/status/1663493174642323457
    - wongarsu 3y ago
      The unrar cli is published under a source-available license that you can't use it to build a rar compressor. So using knowledge from reading that might be fair game for building a rar decompressor, especially if you follow the usual clean-room protocols (one person reads the code and writes documentation, the other reads the documentation and writes new code). Not sure how that will affect winrar in the long term. Of course people now aren't forced to download software to open rar files. But it also makes it much more viable to send .rar files to random people. And actual Winrar still offers you a lot of features that Windows doesn't have and seems to be a lot faster, so there are still plenty of reasons for power users to use it. Personally I own a winrar license primarily for its features when creating archives, and Windows isn't encroaching on that.
  - orra 3y ago
    > Windows 11 now having support for 7z/rar/etc built-in I'd be inclined to just default to using that if it covers your use-cases. I hope Microsoft is keeping bsdtar/libarchive up to date. IIRC they weren't.
    - jsheard 3y ago
      Considering neither WinRAR or 7-zip update themselves automatically, and most people never bother to update them manually, I'm not sure that's any worse than the status quo. The libraries bundled into Windows at least could be kept up to date by Windows Update.
- wongarsu 3y ago
  Stealing an older comment of mine since this comes up occasionally - better .tar.gz handling: Winrar treats it as one file, 7zip as a tar in a gz that have to be extracted separately - recovery records to be able to recover from mild bit rot (basically built-in .par2 without the mess) - support for more NTFS attributes and features (saving alternate streams, security records, storing hard links as links instead of separate files, etc) - can do useful things with the archive attribute of files if you so desire (archiving only files with the attribute set, clearing the attribute after, optionally deleting them) - better GUI (the style is a bit dated, but the 7zip UI is just an incomplete WinRAR clone with smaller icons) Overall WinRAR is the much more solid archival tool. If all you need is something to decompress archives WinRAR isn't too different from 7zip, but has a slightly nicer UX.
  - indigodaddy 3y ago
    I love the batch archive extract capabilities and features like deleting each archive after extraction as you go really helps out when you are running low on space etc
  - p1mrx 3y ago
    > the 7zip UI is just an incomplete WinRAR clone with smaller icons The icons still look like a Windows 3.1 app, but you can make them bigger: View > Toolbars > Large Buttons
  - sovok_x 3y ago
    Also: - Allows switching non-utf8 zip filename encodings from the menu, it's a mess with 7zip; - Its context menu works inside Sandboxie without bugs; - GUI is really much better, so I will reiterate the point. 7zip basically froze in time with it.
- Dragory 3y ago
  My usual workflow with archive files (that I've just downloaded) is clicking the file in my browser's download list to open it and then extracting it. In WinRAR, the extraction path is pre-filled to be "<archive directory>/<archive name>", and there is an option to automatically open this folder after extraction. 7-Zip doesn't have this, so I'd need to manually add the archive name to the extraction path and then separately browse to it. Granted, if you browse to the archive and right click it, 7-Zip does have an option to extract to an "<archive name>" folder (though this still doesn't automatically open it afterwards), but that's an unnecessary extra step.
- unsignedint 3y ago
  [delayed]
- omoikane 3y ago
  Support for splitted archives, recovery records, and encryption. And pretty good compression ratio too. Maybe most archivers support these features today, but rar command line flags are in my muscle memory.
cabirum 3y ago
In a world where tar, zip, zstd, and bzip2 exist - what are the usecases for rar?
- bcks 3y ago
  When putting together a large RAR file that's been split into smaller files, one can use PAR and PAR2 files to repair and replace damaged or missing segments.
  - phone8675309 3y ago
    You can do this with any archive format - it's not unique to RAR
- anthk 3y ago
  RAR has recovery options, but it's propietary sadly.
- bastardoperator 3y ago
  Back in the day you would hope for rar/par if you were downloading something big, like a program you couldn't afford but needed to try, I'll leave it at that.
- swader999 3y ago
  You get to sound like a pirate.
- diggan 3y ago
  I think most other formats/software support things like splitting, "healing" archives and self-extracting archives by now, so the only reason I could think of is getting the "premium support" where you can quickly reach a human to help you with whatever problem you have. That might be more important for larger companies rather than individuals.
  - lakpan 3y ago
    Who needs support for archives? I don’t think they’d help in the only case I can think of: corrupted files.
trollied 3y ago
I actually paid for winrar in 2006. The meme does happen.
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  Why NOT pay for software you use? Especially if it's a useful tool and developed by a small team(one guy?) instead of an evil multi-trillion tax-dodging conglomerate. I also paid for the BOSCH drill I use, my 4K monitor, ergonomic chair and other such work tools, so why not pay for SW tools as well?
  - cesarb 3y ago
    > I also paid for the BOSCH drill I use, my 4K monitor, ergonomic chair and other such work tools, so why not pay for SW tools as well? None of these are a useful comparison, since they're physical objects which cannot be infinitely copied, so the reasons to pay for them do not necessary apply to software. > Why NOT pay for software you use? Each person probably has a different answer, and the same person might have different answers in different situations. In my case, nearly all of the software I use is free software, which is offered free of charge (and any payment I make is actually a donation to the developer, not paying for the software).
  - trollied 3y ago
    > Why NOT pay for software you use? [Not] paying for winrar was a meme. Hence my post. I buy everything I use.
- mikece 3y ago
  I paid for both WinRAR and Sublime Text. Not sure if that makes me elite or silly.
- theogravity 3y ago
  There's a facebook group for people to announce they paid for WinRAR because of the no one pays for it meme. Can't remember what it was called. I paid for winrar I think 15 years ago when I started working full time and it was the first shareware app I paid for. I don't use it as much as I used to nowadays. Surprised it's still being updated. I thought the creator of WinRAR passed away.
sergiotapia 3y ago
Is this the most pirated piece of software of all time?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- freedomben 3y ago
  The best part is when it's distributed as a .rar file
- nubinetwork 3y ago
  The trial never ends. /meme
- neocritter 3y ago
  Trumpet Winsock is a strong contender.
mikece 3y ago
WinRAR was and still in fantastic software if you're working on Windows. I know there are CLI tools for macOS, FreeBSD, and Linux but in terms of guaranteed compatibility and being understood by users zip will always be my go-to format. It's like comparing AAC to MP3: the former is superior quality at a smaller size but I have to explain to some people (too many, really) how to play an AAC file while MP3 just works for everyone.
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  WinRAR is heavily entrenched in the PC space since the early Warez/DC++/BitTorrent days when storage and internet bandwidth was scarce so media was split in smaller files compressed as tightly as possible, preferably self extracting as well. So any pirated content you'd download 20+ years ago was almost guaranteed to be RAR archived. Or sometimes even WinACE [1], anyone remember that one? It was awesome as well. Seems like the early 2000's was a war of compression formats similar to VHS vs Betamax decades earlier. If you go on older established torrent trackers you can still find original torrents/content archived in RAR or ACE formats. Like Disney's Hercules for example. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinAce https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinAce
  - pheatherlite 3y ago
    WinAce, what fond memories. Remind me again why it never caught on?
    - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
      I wish I could tell you but I don't know. I was also a fan of WinACE and found it very easy and pleasant to use to make self extracting archives to put on 1.44 inch floppies to take to school. BTW, I just tried it out of nostalgia and the OG WinACE app still works on Windows 11 today.
    - paulryanrogers 3y ago
      Others were more accessible and good enough
wccrawford 3y ago
Hugged to death, I guess. Download: > 429 Too Many Requests > You have sent too many requests in a given amount of time. Edit: Once it did download, the installer says that it can't create some files because they're "being used by another process", except I don't have winrar running. Ugh.
redjohn5 3y ago
Does anyone know of other inexpensive software that supports customizable recovery records? AFAIK WinRAR is the only one.
0x073 3y ago
"Creating archives in RAR 4.x format isn't supported anymore." :/
unlog 3y ago
A hidden gem of WinRar is that the internal file viewer can open multi gigabit text files faster than many editors.
- amlib 3y ago
  And back in win98 and maybe xp days WinRar was a great way to escape file system access restriction imposed by the admin, you could use its internal browser to do access just about anything on the machine, even tough explorer and many other windows components wouldn't :)
M95D 3y ago
Anyone remember UC2, ARJ?

60 points by mfiguiere 3y ago

Can anyone using WinRar discuss why they prefer it over 7-Zip? In any case, I'm happy to see such ubiquitous software continue to be updated. https://www.rarlab.com/ https://www.rarlab.com/ https://7-zip.org/ https://7-zip.org/

KronisLV 3y ago
Just saying that 7-Zip is great, both the compression (I use it for most of my data archival, because the higher compression ratio is worth the longer times to compress) and the software itself, pretty much what a good archival program on Windows should be like. On other OSes, I guess I just use whatever is included with the distro, or something like PeaZip: https://peazip.github.io/ https://peazip.github.io/ Curious to hear from RAR proponents.
leroyrandolph 3y ago
I've ran into issues unzipping to a path too long with 7-Zip but immediately resolved with WinRAR. Might be a trivially solvable problem, but since WinRAR worked, I didn't bother investigating.
subtra3t 3y ago
I used to use it a lot in the past and I think it was mostly the convenience factor for me personally. I didn't want to learn another piece of software and I thought that WinRar did what it was supposed to do, reasonably well.
jsheard 3y ago
The developer of 7-zip has a questionable approach to security for an application that's meant to handle untrusted files, he prioritizes small binary size above hardening against exploits most of the time. DEP was disabled until 64-bit Windows forced the issue by making it mandatory, ASLR was disabled until fairly recently because he considered relocation tables to be unnecessary bloat, and the more advanced mitigations like CET and CFG still aren't used to this day. I don't know how robust the actual code is, but an attitude of executable size being the most important metric doesn't fill me with confidence that it tries to handle all possible edge cases. With Windows 11 now having support for 7z/rar/etc built-in I'd be inclined to just default to using that if it covers your use-cases.
- MrYellowP 3y ago
  Question. Does Microsoft have to pay a license for being able to support RAR or are they now effectively putting winrar out of business?
  - frankjr 3y ago
    I don't know but this is their response to the Microsoft's announcement. https://twitter.com/WinRAR_RARLAB/status/1663493174642323457 https://twitter.com/WinRAR_RARLAB/status/1663493174642323457
  - wongarsu 3y ago
    The unrar cli is published under a source-available license that you can't use it to build a rar compressor. So using knowledge from reading that might be fair game for building a rar decompressor, especially if you follow the usual clean-room protocols (one person reads the code and writes documentation, the other reads the documentation and writes new code). Not sure how that will affect winrar in the long term. Of course people now aren't forced to download software to open rar files. But it also makes it much more viable to send .rar files to random people. And actual Winrar still offers you a lot of features that Windows doesn't have and seems to be a lot faster, so there are still plenty of reasons for power users to use it. Personally I own a winrar license primarily for its features when creating archives, and Windows isn't encroaching on that.
- orra 3y ago
  > Windows 11 now having support for 7z/rar/etc built-in I'd be inclined to just default to using that if it covers your use-cases. I hope Microsoft is keeping bsdtar/libarchive up to date. IIRC they weren't.
  - jsheard 3y ago
    Considering neither WinRAR or 7-zip update themselves automatically, and most people never bother to update them manually, I'm not sure that's any worse than the status quo. The libraries bundled into Windows at least could be kept up to date by Windows Update.
wongarsu 3y ago
Stealing an older comment of mine since this comes up occasionally - better .tar.gz handling: Winrar treats it as one file, 7zip as a tar in a gz that have to be extracted separately - recovery records to be able to recover from mild bit rot (basically built-in .par2 without the mess) - support for more NTFS attributes and features (saving alternate streams, security records, storing hard links as links instead of separate files, etc) - can do useful things with the archive attribute of files if you so desire (archiving only files with the attribute set, clearing the attribute after, optionally deleting them) - better GUI (the style is a bit dated, but the 7zip UI is just an incomplete WinRAR clone with smaller icons) Overall WinRAR is the much more solid archival tool. If all you need is something to decompress archives WinRAR isn't too different from 7zip, but has a slightly nicer UX.
- indigodaddy 3y ago
  I love the batch archive extract capabilities and features like deleting each archive after extraction as you go really helps out when you are running low on space etc
- p1mrx 3y ago
  > the 7zip UI is just an incomplete WinRAR clone with smaller icons The icons still look like a Windows 3.1 app, but you can make them bigger: View > Toolbars > Large Buttons
- sovok_x 3y ago
  Also: - Allows switching non-utf8 zip filename encodings from the menu, it's a mess with 7zip; - Its context menu works inside Sandboxie without bugs; - GUI is really much better, so I will reiterate the point. 7zip basically froze in time with it.
Dragory 3y ago
My usual workflow with archive files (that I've just downloaded) is clicking the file in my browser's download list to open it and then extracting it. In WinRAR, the extraction path is pre-filled to be "<archive directory>/<archive name>", and there is an option to automatically open this folder after extraction. 7-Zip doesn't have this, so I'd need to manually add the archive name to the extraction path and then separately browse to it. Granted, if you browse to the archive and right click it, 7-Zip does have an option to extract to an "<archive name>" folder (though this still doesn't automatically open it afterwards), but that's an unnecessary extra step.
unsignedint 3y ago
[delayed]
omoikane 3y ago
Support for splitted archives, recovery records, and encryption. And pretty good compression ratio too. Maybe most archivers support these features today, but rar command line flags are in my muscle memory.

cabirum 3y ago

In a world where tar, zip, zstd, and bzip2 exist - what are the usecases for rar?

bcks 3y ago
When putting together a large RAR file that's been split into smaller files, one can use PAR and PAR2 files to repair and replace damaged or missing segments.
- phone8675309 3y ago
  You can do this with any archive format - it's not unique to RAR
anthk 3y ago
RAR has recovery options, but it's propietary sadly.
bastardoperator 3y ago
Back in the day you would hope for rar/par if you were downloading something big, like a program you couldn't afford but needed to try, I'll leave it at that.
swader999 3y ago
You get to sound like a pirate.
diggan 3y ago
I think most other formats/software support things like splitting, "healing" archives and self-extracting archives by now, so the only reason I could think of is getting the "premium support" where you can quickly reach a human to help you with whatever problem you have. That might be more important for larger companies rather than individuals.
- lakpan 3y ago
  Who needs support for archives? I don’t think they’d help in the only case I can think of: corrupted files.

trollied 3y ago

I actually paid for winrar in 2006. The meme does happen.

FirmwareBurner 3y ago
Why NOT pay for software you use? Especially if it's a useful tool and developed by a small team(one guy?) instead of an evil multi-trillion tax-dodging conglomerate. I also paid for the BOSCH drill I use, my 4K monitor, ergonomic chair and other such work tools, so why not pay for SW tools as well?
- cesarb 3y ago
  > I also paid for the BOSCH drill I use, my 4K monitor, ergonomic chair and other such work tools, so why not pay for SW tools as well? None of these are a useful comparison, since they're physical objects which cannot be infinitely copied, so the reasons to pay for them do not necessary apply to software. > Why NOT pay for software you use? Each person probably has a different answer, and the same person might have different answers in different situations. In my case, nearly all of the software I use is free software, which is offered free of charge (and any payment I make is actually a donation to the developer, not paying for the software).
- trollied 3y ago
  > Why NOT pay for software you use? [Not] paying for winrar was a meme. Hence my post. I buy everything I use.
mikece 3y ago
I paid for both WinRAR and Sublime Text. Not sure if that makes me elite or silly.
theogravity 3y ago
There's a facebook group for people to announce they paid for WinRAR because of the no one pays for it meme. Can't remember what it was called. I paid for winrar I think 15 years ago when I started working full time and it was the first shareware app I paid for. I don't use it as much as I used to nowadays. Surprised it's still being updated. I thought the creator of WinRAR passed away.

sergiotapia 3y ago

Is this the most pirated piece of software of all time?

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
freedomben 3y ago
The best part is when it's distributed as a .rar file
nubinetwork 3y ago
The trial never ends. /meme
neocritter 3y ago
Trumpet Winsock is a strong contender.

mikece 3y ago

WinRAR was and still in fantastic software if you're working on Windows. I know there are CLI tools for macOS, FreeBSD, and Linux but in terms of guaranteed compatibility and being understood by users zip will always be my go-to format. It's like comparing AAC to MP3: the former is superior quality at a smaller size but I have to explain to some people (too many, really) how to play an AAC file while MP3 just works for everyone.

FirmwareBurner 3y ago
WinRAR is heavily entrenched in the PC space since the early Warez/DC++/BitTorrent days when storage and internet bandwidth was scarce so media was split in smaller files compressed as tightly as possible, preferably self extracting as well. So any pirated content you'd download 20+ years ago was almost guaranteed to be RAR archived. Or sometimes even WinACE [1], anyone remember that one? It was awesome as well. Seems like the early 2000's was a war of compression formats similar to VHS vs Betamax decades earlier. If you go on older established torrent trackers you can still find original torrents/content archived in RAR or ACE formats. Like Disney's Hercules for example. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinAce https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinAce
- pheatherlite 3y ago
  WinAce, what fond memories. Remind me again why it never caught on?
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    I wish I could tell you but I don't know. I was also a fan of WinACE and found it very easy and pleasant to use to make self extracting archives to put on 1.44 inch floppies to take to school. BTW, I just tried it out of nostalgia and the OG WinACE app still works on Windows 11 today.
  - paulryanrogers 3y ago
    Others were more accessible and good enough

wccrawford 3y ago

Hugged to death, I guess. Download: > 429 Too Many Requests > You have sent too many requests in a given amount of time. Edit: Once it did download, the installer says that it can't create some files because they're "being used by another process", except I don't have winrar running. Ugh.

redjohn5 3y ago

Does anyone know of other inexpensive software that supports customizable recovery records? AFAIK WinRAR is the only one.

0x073 3y ago

"Creating archives in RAR 4.x format isn't supported anymore." :/

unlog 3y ago

A hidden gem of WinRar is that the internal file viewer can open multi gigabit text files faster than many editors.

amlib 3y ago
And back in win98 and maybe xp days WinRar was a great way to escape file system access restriction imposed by the admin, you could use its internal browser to do access just about anything on the machine, even tough explorer and many other windows components wouldn't :)

M95D 3y ago

Anyone remember UC2, ARJ?