Turn a RAR into a ZIP that opens anywhere.
Convert a RAR file to a ZIP in your browser, with nothing uploaded: each file is taken out, checked and packed again, and the ZIP is read back first.
By Suraj Kumar3 min read
On many computers and phones, a RAR needs a program of its own. A ZIP opens by itself on Windows, on a Mac and on phones. When you want to pass files on, turning the RAR into a ZIP saves the person at the other end a download. KeepSimp does it in your browser.
Two steps.
Open Convert RAR to ZIP and drop the RAR on it. Its files are listed. Press Save as a ZIP.
The same button is on the Zip and archive tool whenever an archive that is not a ZIP is open.
What happens to the files.
Each file is taken out of the RAR on your device and checked against the checksum the RAR keeps for it. Then the files are packed again, folders and all, into a new ZIP. The ZIP is read back before it is offered, so you never get one that is missing a file without being told.
Pictures, videos and other archives are stored in the ZIP as they are, since packing them again saves almost nothing. A solid RAR is often a little smaller than the ZIP made from it.
A locked RAR.
A RAR locked with a password cannot be opened yet, so it cannot be turned into a ZIP either. The page names it as locked. If you can, ask the sender for the files as a ZIP instead.
And from ZIP to RAR?
That is not offered. RAR is RARLAB's format and only WinRAR makes it. A ZIP opens in more places than a RAR does, so it is the easier thing to send anyway.
Everything stays on your device. The files are taken out into the browser's private storage for this site while the ZIP is made, and that storage is emptied when you leave the page.
Further reading
Topics: rar to zip · convert rar to zip · rar to zip online · change rar to zip · rar converter · rar to zip without uploading
A little less theory. A little more doing.
Try it on your own terms, with a free browser tool.
Try the tool