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. Consequently, WinRAR dropped the support for the ACE format from version 5.70. In February 2019, a major security vulnerability in the unacev2.dll library which is used by WinRAR to decompress ACE archives was discovered. A license for WinRAR does not provide ad-suppression for RAR for Android. It displays advertisements for a payment they can be disabled. Īlthough 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. In China, a free-to-use personal edition has been provided officially since 2015. When the period expires, the non-enterprise functionalities remain available, a move intended to discourage piracy. The software is distributed as 'try before you buy' it may be used without charge for 40 days. Advanced backup options, time-stamped files and previous file version retention.Optional file time stamp preservation: creation, last access, high precision modification times.Optional archive comment (stored in the UTF-8 format).Support for maximum path length up to 2,048 characters (stored in the UTF-8 format).Support for advanced NTFS file system options, such as NTFS hard and symbolic links.Ability to create self-extracting files (multi-volume self-extracting archives are supported the self-extractor can execute commands, such as running a specified program before or after self-extraction ).Ability to create multi-volume (split) archives.Optional 'quick open record' to open RAR files faster.Optional data 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 encryption using AES with a 256-bit key in CBC mode, using key derivation function based on PBKDF2 using HMAC-SHA256.Optional 256-bit BLAKE2 file hash can replace default 32-bit CRC32 file checksum.Compression dictionary from 1 MiB to 1 GiB (it is limited to 256 MiB on 32-bit editions of Windows, although 32-bit Windows still can decompress archives with 1 GiB dictionary default size is 32 MiB).Support for maximum file size of 16 EiB, about 1.8 × 10 19 bytes or 18 million TB.

Multithreaded CPU compression and decompression.

Checksum (integrity) verification for ARJ, BZIP2, CAB, GZ, BZIP2, RAR, XZ, ZIP and 7z archives.

Unpacking of ARJ, BZIP2, CAB, GZ, ISO, JAR, LHA, RAR, TAR, UUE, XZ, Z, ZIP, ZIPX, ZST, 7z, UUE 001 (split) archives, as well as EXE files containing these archive formats.

Creation of packed RAR or ZIP archives.

RAR5 also changed the file name for split volumes from 'archivename.rNN' to ''. 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. Options added in v5.0 include 256-bit 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. Maximum path length for files in RAR and ZIP archives is increased to 2,048 characters. AES encryption, when used, is in CBC mode and was increased in strength from 128- to 256-bit. The RAR5 file format increased the maximum dictionary size to 1 GB 11 different compression directory sizes from 1 MB to 1 GB are available, with the default in version 5 increased from 4 MB to 32 MB, typically improving compression ratio.

WinRAR versions before 5.0 do not support RAR5 archives only older versions of WinRAR run on Windows versions prior to Windows Vista, and cannot open RAR5 archives. Support for the archive format RAR5, using the same RAR file extension as earlier versions, was added in version 5.0 the older RAR file format has since been referred to as RAR4.

WinRAR and the RAR file format have evolved over time.

Winzip rar file