Turning a ZIP into a RAR
This is the one conversion we will not pretend to do. RAR compression is proprietary, and the licence on the only code that creates it forbids using it to build another archiver — so no browser tool can make a real RAR, whatever it claims.
- Processed on your device
- No upload, no waiting
- No signup, no watermark
A real RAR cannot be made by any website, including this one — the format is proprietary and its licence forbids other tools from writing it. What you get here is a ZIP, which opens on every computer with nothing installed. If you were sent a RAR and need to open it, that we can do.
How it works
The short answer
No website can make a genuine RAR without licensing WinRAR's own compressor. Tools that claim to either hand you a renamed ZIP, or upload your files to a server running WinRAR.
What you probably wanted
An archive that is small and that the person you are sending it to can open. ZIP does both, on every computer, with nothing installed — RAR needs software your recipient may not have.
Make one here
Add your files below and take away a ZIP. Nothing is uploaded, and it opens everywhere.
Frequently asked questions
Why can other sites do it?
Two possibilities, and both are worth knowing. Some upload your files to their own server, where a licensed copy of WinRAR does the work — so your files leave your device and sit on someone else's disk. Others simply rename the file, handing you a ZIP called ".rar", which opens in WinRAR only because WinRAR also reads ZIPs. Neither is a RAR that you made.
What exactly is the licensing problem?
RAR is Alexander Roshal's proprietary format. The UnRAR source he publishes lets anyone READ a RAR, but its licence says it "cannot be used to develop RAR (WinRAR) compatible archiver and to re-create RAR compression algorithm, which is proprietary". That is a restriction on what you may build, so it is not open-source by any definition, and this site uses permissively-licensed engines only. Reading RAR is possible because libarchive implemented the reader independently; writing has no such path.
Is ZIP as good as RAR?
For almost every real use, yes. RAR compresses a few per cent harder on some kinds of file, and has recovery records that ZIP lacks. ZIP opens on literally every computer without installing anything, which for sending someone a file is worth far more than a few per cent. If you need maximum compression and your recipient is technical, 7z beats both — and we can open one, though not yet make one.
Can you at least open my RAR?
Yes. Reading RAR is entirely possible and free of that licensing problem — RAR4 and RAR5 both open here, and there is a page for turning one into a ZIP.
Are my files uploaded?
No. The archive is built on your own device and saved straight to your downloads. Your files are never uploaded, which is the point: the things people most often need to zip — documents, photographs, a folder of work — are exactly the things that should not be handed to a stranger's server first.