I'm looking for free downloadable software that can extract .rar files. I don't really want to go to winrar again as after a while it just starts bugging you with license popups whenever you extract a .rar file. So are there any good free alternatives that just does the job, with no fuss?
Free rar unzipping software?
- Thread starter KNiVES
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Man of Honour
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7-zip's pretty decent. 64bit version of it too.
Winrar
Pros:
Context menus make sense, fast, clean and simple interface.
Cons:
Not free, can't handle zip files containing files larger than 2gb (rar is fine), nag screen on the full interface.
7-zip
Pros:
Free, handles zip files with large files in. No nag screens.
Cons:
Crap context menus, crap interface, slower.
Pros:
Context menus make sense, fast, clean and simple interface.
Cons:
Not free, can't handle zip files containing files larger than 2gb (rar is fine), nag screen on the full interface.
7-zip
Pros:
Free, handles zip files with large files in. No nag screens.
Cons:
Crap context menus, crap interface, slower.
Soldato
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Thats strange, I tend to find 7zip is extremely faster than WinRAR.
Also be interested to know why Moredhel thinks the interface and context menus are worse. As in my experience they are about the same and both let you customise the context menus.
Oh, and this is another vote for 7Zip btw.
Another little app I started using as it had a 64bit version.
7zip is great for a freeware app. I use it on all my servers at work.
However to echo the comments of others, i've found that
a) I just prefer the Winrar interface
b) Occasionally I've seen archives extract in Winrar which have failed in 7zip (older versions admittedly)
Furthermore I just think Winrar handles errors better, for example if the destination drive is full, Winrar lets you retry after clearing some space, 7zip forces you to cancel the operation and start again (not ideal if it's a large file).
Worth noting that the OP is asking purely for unzipping software. 7zip is great for creating archives as 7z compression is a nice balance of speed and compression ratio. Rars are a fair bit bigger in size and it's a shame 7z isn't more widely used.
However to echo the comments of others, i've found that
a) I just prefer the Winrar interface
b) Occasionally I've seen archives extract in Winrar which have failed in 7zip (older versions admittedly)
Furthermore I just think Winrar handles errors better, for example if the destination drive is full, Winrar lets you retry after clearing some space, 7zip forces you to cancel the operation and start again (not ideal if it's a large file).
Worth noting that the OP is asking purely for unzipping software. 7zip is great for creating archives as 7z compression is a nice balance of speed and compression ratio. Rars are a fair bit bigger in size and it's a shame 7z isn't more widely used.
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