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Free Software to Access and Convert RAR Files

Free Software to Access and Convert RAR Files

Vote: (1 votes)

Program license: Free

Developer: Cidade

Works under: Windows

Vote:

Program license

(1 votes)

Free

Developer

Cidade

Works under:

Windows

Pros

  • Fast RAR unpacking
  • Fast RAR to ZIP conversion
  • Well-optimized

Cons

  • Limited feature set

RAR Opener and RAR to ZIP converter is an archive utility for Windows.

Archive file formats are a means of combing multiple files into a single package, and compression can often be used to make the whole smaller than the sum of its parts. ZIP was at one point the most popular archive and compression tool for Windows and perhaps still is, but there’s a lot competition in that space nowadays. One such competitor is RAR, a proprietary format.

RAR Opener and RAR to ZIP Converter is a small Windows tool that aims to make working with archives simpler. It does this in two ways: RAR unpacking and RAR to ZIP conversion. To unpack means to open or extract. In other words, it opens RAR archive and dumps its contents so that you can access those individual parts, and it opens these archives in a fast and consistent manner.

The conversion aspect lets you transform a RAR archive into a ZIP archive. You may not have an archive tool installed on your computer, but Windows handles ZIP natively. By converting, which is done in a fairly fast and consistent manner as well, you now have an archive you can manipulate directly. In other words, you could add additional files to it.

RAR Opener and RAR to ZIP Converter is a reasonably well-optimized utility. It may be because this program is little more than a front end for the actual libraries do the heavy lifting. Still, during review, the program never crashed or hung, and the result were always fast and consistent.

A minor quibble is that there are ads during the installation process. The ads were a bit obnoxious and bloated what should be a streamlined experience. Nevertheless, those ads are not present in the actual app itself, so this is basically a one-time annoyance.

Perhaps the bigger issue is whether or not this program successfully fills a niche. Who needs this app that can’t just download WinRAR, which does all of this itself and is free? Why not use a program like 7-Zip, which can handle these operations and much more? We don’t have the answers to these questions, but if RAR Opener and RAR to ZIP Converter sounds like a tool you need, you should be well satisfied with it.

Pros

  • Fast RAR unpacking
  • Fast RAR to ZIP conversion
  • Well-optimized

Cons

  • Limited feature set