Picture this: You’ve been handed SSH access to a client’s production server. Your job is to pull logs, create RAR Files in Linux, and bring them for analysis. Simple enough, until you realize the directory you need to archive contains hundreds of files, and the upload limit on the client’s portal only accepts archives under 50 MB.
You could zip everything. But the logs total 200 MB uncompressed, and you need the archive to split cleanly into parts so each chunk uploads independently. That’s when someone on the team says: “Just use RAR”.
If you’ve heard of RAR but never quite understood when or why you’d reach for it on a Linux server, this guide is for you. We’re going to walk through everything from what the RAR format actually is, to extracting your first archive, creating password-protected archives, splitting large files, and knowing when RAR is the right tool versus when something like ZIP or tar would serve you better.
By the end, you’ll be comfortable working with RAR files on any Linux machine, and more importantly, you’ll know when to reach for a different tool altogether.
TL;DR
- RAR is a compressed archive format that handles large file splitting and optional encryption well
- On Ubuntu/Debian, install with sudo apt-get install unrar rar
- Extract with unrar x archive.rar or unrar x archive.rar /destination/
- Create with rar a archive_name.rar files_or_folder
- Add -p flag for password protection; use -v[size] to split archives
- Test archives before sharing with unrar t archive.rar
- For most Linux use, ZIP and tar.gz are more widely compatible, but RAR wins for split archives and Windows cross-compatibility
What Is the RAR Format? Why Does It Still Exist?
RAR stands for Roshal Archive, named after its original developer Eugene Roshal. It is a compressed archive format used to store one or more files in a single archive. It first appeared in the early 1990s as a Windows-native format designed to compress files more efficiently than the prevailing options at the time.
The format gained massive popularity on Windows through WinRAR, the de facto tool for handling .rar files on that platform. Even today, you’ll frequently encounter RAR archives when downloading software, game mods, or shared project files from the internet. It’s everywhere, which is precisely why Linux server administrators need to know how to handle them.
Over time, RAR developed several capabilities that set it apart:
- Solid compression: RAR groups similar files together during compression, which can produce smaller archive sizes compared to compressing the same files individually.
- Recovery records: Optional built-in error recovery data lets RAR reconstruct minor archive corruptions.
- Split archives: You can break a large archive into multiple smaller files (like archive.part1.rar, archive.part2.rar, etc.), which is genuinely useful for circumventing upload size limits or fitting files onto smaller storage media.
- Password protection: AES-256 encryption is available, keeping archive contents private.
For technical details about RAR’s encryption, recovery records, and archive structure, see the official RAR 5.0 format documentation.
That said, RAR is a proprietary format. The official tools (rar and unrar) are closed-source, which matters in some enterprise or open-source-first environments. This is one reason you will see many Linux admins defaulting to ZIP or tar.gz instead.
You can learn more about the RAR file format it’s work from RARLAB.
A Quick Comparison With ZIP and tar.gz
Before we go further, let’s look at how RAR stacks up against the two most common alternatives you’re likely to encounter on Linux.
RAR tends to squeeze out a bit more size reduction than ZIP, especially with mixed file types. Its split archive feature is genuinely harder to replicate with ZIP without a workaround. That said, if you’re working in a purely Linux environment, tar.gz is far more integrated, you’ll find it in cron jobs, backup scripts, and system tooling across virtually every distribution.
Before You Start: Installing the RAR Utilities
Here’s something that trips up a lot of beginners: Linux doesn’t ship with RAR support out of the box. Ubuntu, Debian, and most other distributions don’t include these tools in the base installation, you have to add them yourself.
The good news? It’s a quick install from the default repositories.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install unrar rar
That’s it. Two commands and you’re ready.
If you need the official RAR package for Linux, you can also find it on the RARLAB download page.
Read Full Article: https://serveravatar.com/rar-files-in-linux
Top comments (2)
Great practical guide for Linux users. The sections on split archives, password protection, and testing rar files are especially useful for server and DevOps workflows. The comparison with zip and tar.gz also makes it easier to understand when RAR is actually the better choice.
Thank you for the thoughtful feedback!
Glad to hear you found the article useful.
Really appreciate you reading and sharing your thoughts!