RAR to ZIP, opened right in your browser.

A RAR to ZIP converter unpacks the files inside a RAR archive and packs them again as a ZIP, the format that Macs, Windows PCs and phones open without extra software. This one does it in your browser. The RAR is read on your computer, so a private archive is never sent to a server, and there is no queue and no file size cap set by a service.

How to convert a RAR to ZIP

1. Drop the .rar file on the box, or click it to choose the file.
2. Wait for the status line to finish. It says how many files it is unpacking, and then the ZIP is made at once.
3. Look at the list. Each row shows the file name, its folder and its size. Untick a file to leave it out, or use Tick none and tick only the ones you want.
4. Type a name in ZIP name. It starts as the name of the RAR.
5. Press Download the ZIP. The line above it gives the size of the files, the size of the ZIP and the size of the RAR you started with.

If you only need one file, press Save at the end of its row. That saves the file by itself, with no ZIP.

RAR or ZIP: what changes

RAR and ZIP are both archive formats. RAR is made by WinRAR and can pack a whole archive as one block, which often gives a smaller file than ZIP, which packs each file on its own. So the ZIP made here can be bigger than the RAR you dropped. The summary shows both sizes, so you can see it. In return, ZIP is the format a Mac opens with a double click in Finder, without an extra app.

When a ZIP is the better choice

People convert a RAR to a ZIP for three reasons. The first is that the person who needs the files cannot open a RAR: a ZIP opens with a double click on a Mac, and most phones and file apps open it too. The second is that you want only some of the files, which you can do here with the ticks, and then send a smaller ZIP. The third is that a form or an email service accepts ZIP but not RAR. In all three cases the files themselves are not changed: each one is unpacked and packed again byte for byte, and only the container is different.

Compression for the new ZIP

What is not supported

• Password-protected RARs. If the files or the file names are locked, the page says so and stops. Open those in an archive app that asks for the password, such as Keka on a Mac or 7-Zip on Windows.
• RARs split in several parts. Files named like name.part1.rar and name.part2.rar are one archive in many pieces. This page opens one file at a time and cannot join them. It tells you when it sees one.
• Damaged archives. If a RAR is cut short, the page lists what it can read and says how many files it could not. Files that could not be read are not in the ZIP.
• Dates. The ZIP carries the time you converted it, not the dates stored in the RAR. Empty folders are not kept.
• Size. The RAR and the unpacked files are held in your browser's memory. Files over 2 GB are refused, and an archive close to that may still run out of memory on a computer with little free memory.

Common problems

Other archives

The same reader opens 7-Zip, TAR and gzip archives, so a .7z or .tar.gz file can be turned into a ZIP here as well. Comic book files ending in .cbr are RARs; to turn one into a PDF, use CBR to PDF.

Is it safe to open a RAR from someone else

Unpacking only reads the files; nothing inside is run. A program you find inside should be treated the way it would be after any download: do not open it unless you trust where it came from.

To look inside a ZIP, or to take one file out of it, use unzip files. To make a ZIP from your own files and folders, use the zip file maker.