How to Open a .RAR File on Any Device

RAR files are everywhere — downloaded from forums, shared via cloud storage, attached to emails. But unlike ZIP files, your operating system probably can't open them without a little help. Here's what you need to know about what RAR files are, why they need special software, and how the process differs depending on your setup.

What Is a .RAR File?

A .RAR file (Roshal Archive) is a compressed archive format created by software developer Eugene Roshal. Like a ZIP file, it bundles multiple files and folders into a single package and compresses them to reduce total size. Unlike ZIP, RAR uses a proprietary compression algorithm, which means no major operating system — Windows, macOS, or Linux — includes native RAR support out of the box.

RAR files often appear with the .rar extension, but multi-part archives split across several files use extensions like .part1.rar, .part2.rar, and so on. All parts are needed to extract the full contents.

Why You Can't Just Double-Click a .RAR File

Windows can natively open ZIP archives through File Explorer. macOS can do the same through Archive Utility. Neither handles RAR without third-party software. Double-clicking a .rar file will either produce an error or prompt you to choose a program — because the system has no built-in decoder for the RAR format.

This is a deliberate limitation rooted in RAR's licensing. The format itself is proprietary, though extraction (not compression) is openly documented, which is why many third-party tools support it freely.

Tools That Can Open .RAR Files

There's no single universal tool — the right choice depends on your OS, how often you work with archives, and whether you need compression features or just extraction.

Most of these tools follow the same general workflow once installed.

How to Open a .RAR File on Windows

1. Install a tool such as 7-Zip or WinRAR.
2. Right-click the .rar file in File Explorer.
3. Select the extraction option from the context menu — something like "Extract Here" (extracts into the current folder) or "Extract to [folder name]" (creates a subfolder).
4. If the archive is password-protected, you'll be prompted to enter the password before extraction begins.

With 7-Zip installed, .rar files get a context menu entry automatically. WinRAR integrates similarly and also lets you browse archive contents before extracting.

How to Open a .RAR File on macOS

1. Download The Unarchiver (available on the Mac App Store) or Keka.
2. Associate the app with .rar files — most tools prompt you to do this during setup.
3. Double-click the .rar file. The tool extracts the contents to the same folder by default, though this behavior is usually configurable.

macOS Ventura and later still do not natively support RAR, so third-party tools remain necessary regardless of your macOS version.

How to Open a .RAR File on Linux 🐧

Most Linux distributions can handle RAR files through the command line or a graphical file manager with the right package installed.

Via terminal:

sudo apt install unrar # Debian/Ubuntu unrar x filename.rar 

The x command preserves the original folder structure. Use e instead to extract all files flat into the current directory.

Graphical tools like File Roller (GNOME) or Ark (KDE) support RAR extraction once the unrar package is installed.

How to Open a .RAR File on Android or iPhone 📱

Android: The official RAR app by RARLAB handles extraction cleanly and supports password-protected archives. Third-party file managers like MiXplorer or Solid Explorer also support RAR natively.

iOS/iPadOS: Apple's Files app does not support RAR. Apps like iZip or Archiver (third-party, available on the App Store) fill the gap. The process is typically: open the app, navigate to the .rar file in your Files storage or Downloads, and tap to extract.

Multi-Part RAR Archives: An Important Detail

If you've downloaded a set of files named archive.part1.rar, archive.part2.rar, etc., all parts must be in the same folder before you begin extraction. Open only the first part (.part1.rar) — the extraction tool will automatically read the remaining parts in sequence.

Trying to extract from a later part, or working with an incomplete set, will produce an error or a corrupted output.

Password-Protected and Encrypted RAR Files

RAR supports AES-256 encryption, which is strong enough that there's no practical way to open an encrypted archive without the correct password. If you've forgotten or never received the password, recovery options are extremely limited. Some tools offer brute-force attempts, but success depends entirely on password complexity — and for anything beyond short or simple passwords, it's generally not feasible.

What Affects Your Experience

Several factors shape how smooth the process feels:

• File size and compression ratio — large archives take longer to extract, and heavily compressed files take more CPU time to decompress
• Archive integrity — a partially downloaded .rar file will often fail to extract or produce corrupted output; re-downloading is usually the fix
• OS version and permissions — some systems restrict where files can be extracted, particularly on iOS or managed corporate devices
• Multi-part archives — missing even one part makes the entire archive unusable
• Tool choice — some tools handle edge cases (unusual RAR versions, damaged archives) better than others

The right tool and approach depends on which device you're working on, how frequently you deal with RAR files, and whether you need features beyond basic extraction — like creating archives, previewing contents, or handling other formats in the same workflow.