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What is a Zip file extension?

The Zip archive format makes it easier to send—and back up—large files or groups of files. A Zip file is a single file containing one or more compressed files, offering an ideal way to make large files smaller and keep related files together. The most popular compression format for Windows, Zip is commonly used for emailing and sharing files over the Internet. When you receive or download a Zip file, you need a way to extract or unpack it so you can access these files. WinZip, the world’s most popular zip file opener, it is the fast and easy way to open your Zip files.

How to open Zip files

1. Save the .zip file extension to the desktop. If your compressed file was downloaded from a website, it may be saved in the Downloads folder in your Documents or user directory.
2. Launch WinZip from your start menu or Desktop shortcut. Open the compressed file by clicking File > Open. If your system has the compressed file extension associated with WinZip program, just double-click on the file.
3. Select all the files and folders inside the compressed file. Or multi-select only the files or folders you want to open by holding the CTRL key and left-clicking on them.
4. Click 1-click Unzip and choose Unzip to PC or Cloud in the WinZip toolbar under the Unzip/Share tab.
5. Choose the destination folder to place the extracting files and click «Unzip» button.
6. Find your extracted files in the destination folder.

Open Zip files on Windows or Mac

• WinZip 25
• Windows 10
• Windows 8
• Windows 7
• Windows Vista
• Windows XP
• Internet Explorer 8 or later

• WinZip Mac 8
• Mac OS X 10.8, 10.9, or 10.10
• Intel 64-bit processor
• Supports Apple Retina Displays

WinZip opens and extracts Zip Compressed Archive Files—and many more formats

We designed WinZip to open and extract from the widest range of file formats, including all of the following:

Get WinZip now to open your Zip file(s), then enjoy all that the world’s most popular compression utility has to offer, including the easiest and most practical file compression, encryption, packaging, file management and data backup capabilities.

Also visit our partner site www.openthefile.net for more options to open Zip files.

Copyright ©2021 Corel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. WinZip is a Registered Trademark of Corel Corporation

Zip and unzip files

Zipped (compressed) files take up less storage space and can be transferred to other computers more quickly than uncompressed files. In Windows, you work with zipped files and folders in the same way that you work with uncompressed files and folders. Combine several files into a single zipped folder to more easily share a group of files.

Locate the file or folder that you want to zip.

Press and hold (or right-click) the file or folder, select (or point to) Send to, and then select Compressed (zipped) folder.

A new zipped folder with the same name is created in the same location. To rename it, press and hold (or right-click) the folder, select Rename, and then type the new name.

Locate the zipped folder that you want to unzip (extract) files or folders from.

Do one of the following:

To unzip a single file or folder, open the zipped folder, then drag the file or folder from the zipped folder to a new location.

To unzip all the contents of the zipped folder, press and hold (or right-click) the folder, select Extract All, and then follow the instructions.

To add files or folders to a zipped folder you created earlier, drag them to the zipped folder.

If you add encrypted files to a zipped folder, they’ll be unencrypted when they’re unzipped, which might result in unintentional disclosure of personal or sensitive information. For that reason, we recommend that you avoid zipping encrypted files.

Some types of files, like JPEG images, are already highly compressed. If you zip several JPEG pictures into a folder, the total size of the folder will be about the same as the original collection of pictures.

How to open RAR files in Windows 10

Can Windows 10 open RAR files? Yes, Windows 10 can open RAR files. Just like any other compressed file, RAR files are a proprietary archive file that supports data compression, error recovery and file spanning. While you can open RAR files in Windows 10, it’s not supported by default. We will have to use third-party free compression software to uncompress a RAR file to extract all the files and folders inside it. By default, Windows doesn’t recognize RAR file format.

If you are wondering why was there a need for another compression technology? It’s about functionality. The primary software, RAR Lab that can manage RAR files offer tons of functionality including better compression, the option to split compressed files, and later rejoin them, higher security feature, and so on.

You can download the software from RAR Lab, and unarchive, but it keeps prompting you to buy the software. A better alternative is 7-Zip. It supports WIM files, RAR5 archives, UEFI BIOS files, ext2/ ext3/ ext4 images, GPT, VMDK, VDI images, and single file QCOW2.

Open RAR files in Windows 10

1. Download and install 7-Zip.
2. Open the location of your .rar file, and right-click on it.
3. Look for a contextual menu which says “7-Zip”.
4. Hover your mouse over it, and choose extract files.
5. In the next window, you can select a path
6. Enter a password if the RAR file is protected, and other options.

Your RAR file is extracted now.

List of other free software that can open RAR files:

1. Extract Now: The biggest advantage of using this software is that it can extract contents of multiple archive files quickly and easily – all at the same time
2. PeaZip is a free software RAR unarchiver for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and BSD, with GUI. It supports both old and new RAR file formats
3. RAR Opener is a Windows Store app that can open popular archives like RAR, 7Z, ZIP, TAR, LZH, etc.
4. The Unarchiver is also a free software unarchiver for RAR and other formats.
5. You can also extract RAR files on Windows 10 using these free Microsoft Store apps.

So it is possible to open RAR files on Windows 10 for free, and without paying anything. However, it is possible that you might miss the extended functionality of the original software. So unless you need to manage, create, and split RAR files professionally, the free options are more than enough to get the job done.

Date: February 15, 2019 Tags: Tips

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Ashish is a veteran Windows, and Xbox user who excels in writing tips, tricks, and features on it to improve your day to day experience with your devices.

How to Open RAR Files on Windows 10

This Itechguide teaches you how to open RAR files on Windows 10. The guide covers steps for 3 methods to open RAR files on Windows 10.

Expand “Browse Post Topics” below to go straight to a topic.

Browse Post Topics

How to Open RAR Files on Windows 10 with 7-Zip

How to Open RAR Files on Windows 10 with WinRAR

You can also open RAR files with a program called WinRAR. Here are the steps to download, install and use WinRAR to open RAR files…

• Open Win-RAR.com from a browser on your PC.
• Then, on the right side of the WinRAR page, click Download WinRAR.

How to Open RAR Files on Windows 10 Online (Extract.Me)

The last 2 methods of opening RAR files required downloading and installing software. If you do not want to install any software, use the steps in this section to extract the contents of your RAR file.

• Open Extract.me from a browser on your PC. Then, click Choose a file from your computer link.

• Navigate to the folder containing your RAR file, highlight the file. Then, at the bottom right of the window, click Open.

• Open the folder you saved the downloaded ZIP file, right-click the file and select Extract All.

• Then, on the bottom right of the next screen, click Extract.

It is very easy to open RAR files on Windows 10! I hope you found this Itechguide helpful. If you found it helpful, kindly vote Yes to the “Was this post Helpful” question below.

Alternatively, you could ask a question, leave a comment or provide feedback with the “Leave a Reply” form found towards the end of this page.

Finally, for more Windows 10 Itechguides, visit our Windows 10 How-To page.

Victor Ashiedu

Victor Ashiedu is the Managing Editor of www.itechguides.com. Before he started www.itechguides.com, he worked in IT for close to 20 years. Having done all things tech all his career, he now focuses on making tech easier for others. Victor writes «How to» guides, «Fix it» guides, reviews and buying guides.

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I followed your methods and it’s workable for me. Really this method is very simple and helpful for open rar files on windows 10. It’s Very nice description with all images. Anybody can understand it very easily. Keep sharing!

15 Best Free Zip & Unzip Programs

Free file extractors for ZIP, RAR, 7Z, TAR, & other compressed formats

Free file extractor software helps you extract the one or more files contained within a compressed file, ending in extensions like ZIP, RAR, 7Z and many others. Compressing files is a very common practice to help keep downloads and backups organized and small.

These programs — commonly called zip or unzip programs — are usually small, easy to install, ​and support lots of common compression formats.

File extractor programs are also sometimes referred to as packer/unpacker, zipper/unzipper, or compression/decompression programs. Regardless of what they’re called, they all do the same thing — and the ones we’ve listed below do it for free!

PeaZip

Integrates with Windows Task Scheduler.

No built-in Mac support.

PeaZip is a free file unzipper program that can extract content from over 180 archive file formats, some of which are common and others that are lesser-known.

In addition to decompressing files, PeaZip can also create new archives in over 10 formats. These can be password-protected and encrypted with 256-bit AES encryption, as well as secured with a keyfile for added protection.

PeaZip has some advanced features, too, like scheduled archives and support for creating self-extracting files.

Reliable AES-256 encryption.

For personal or commercial use.

Heavy on system resources.

7-Zip is likely one of the most widely known file archiving and extracting software, with support for a wide range of popular file formats.

Dozens of archive file types can be opened with 7-Zip, and you can create a new archive in a few popular formats. You can also create self-extracting files in the EXE format that can be launched and extracted without using any decompression software — this is great if you’re sending an archive to someone but you aren’t sure if they have the proper software to extract files.

7-Zip integrates with Windows Explorer so that you can right-click an archive file to pull the content out.

Something else we like about 7-Zip is that it doesn’t try to install extra software or toolbars during setup. However, one downside is that there isn’t a portable 7-Zip available from the developer.

UnzipLite is another free decompressor program that’s based on the 7-Zip project, so it looks and functions nearly identical to 7-Zip.