RAR is now available on Android devices

New York, NY -- (SBWire) -- 03/12/2014 --The RAR app is now available on Google Play Store, and was released on March 8, 2014. The free application can create ZIP and RAR archives, and unpack RAR, ZIP, TAR, GZ, BZ2, XZ, 7z, ISO, and ARJ files. It can be used to repair damaged RAR and ZIP archives, and allows file encryption. It can serve as a basic file explorer.

RAR has been used countless times on desktop computers. Sending big files over the internet used to be complicated and troublesome. Technological advancements made it possible to make files smaller and be attached over the internet easily. File compression enables multiple files to be grouped into a single file. It also reduces the file content size to some extent. File compression software started to proliferate over the past few decades.

What is RAR?
RAR files have been around since 1993. It was developed by a Russian software engineer named Eugene Roshal. A RAR file is one of the many file formats which supports data compression, file spanning, and error recovery, and is mainly used on Windows based PCs. It facilitates archiving and compression, meaning multiple files can be compressed inside a single RAR file.

RAR has gained popularity over the years, specifically in torrent sites and file sharing networks. The format compresses files between 9 and 30 percent smaller, thus presents better compression than ZIP. RAR showcases more advanced features, namely: more multi-volume archives, strong data (AES-128) encryption, tight compression along with special, solid, multimedia and text modes, recovery records helping to repair an archive in case of physical data damage, Unicode support to process non-English file names, and possibly offers greater data integrity for electronically stored information (ESI) transfer and archiving.

WinRAR
There are several file compression software available, but WinRAR is one of the most popular for Windows. It is well-known for its ease of use. The program allows creation, management, and file archive control. There are several versions, which include that for: Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, DOS, OS/2, MacOS X.

There are two versions for Windows:
- WinRAR.exe – has a graphical user interface
- RAR.exe – uses a command line console

How to open RAR files
There are several ways to open archives. The simplest method is by clicking on the file folder to open WinRAR, then dragging the file to the destination folder. The first step is to select the RAR file which is part of the archive. Next, open the file by double clicking on it, or by right clicking on it and selecting “open.” A window shows up after opening the file. Highlight the file, then drag and drop it into the desired destination. WinRAR opens up a window showing the extraction. When the process is completed, it leaves the finished file in its destination folder.

About WinRAR
WinRAR is a top of the line archiving tool for .ZIP and .RAR files. It is a file compression and decompression tool which has been around since 1993. It helps compress files with ease, increase storage space, reduce email attachment size and make data transfers faster.