How to Open, Extract and Create RAR Files in Linux

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

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.

Which Package Do You Actually Need?

It helps to understand what each tool does before you install them, or skip one:

• unrar : This is the extraction-only tool. Use it when you only need to open and read RAR archives, not create them. It has a smaller footprint and fewer dependencies.
• rar : This is the full suite. It creates RAR archives, extracts them, and includes additional utilities for testing and repair. If you need to do anything beyond opening an archive, install rar.

In practice, most people install both. The disk space cost is negligible, and you’ll save yourself confusion later when you instinctively try to run rar on a system that only has unrar.

You can verify the version using the command:

unrar --version
rar --version

unrar --version
rar --version

One more thing worth noting: the --version option is not supported by every rar or unrar build, so commands such as unrar --version may return an Unknown option error. Instead, you can simply run the command without any options to confirm that the tool is installed:

unrar
rar

unrar
rar

As mentioned below:

For unrar:

For rar:

How to Extract (Open) a RAR File in Linux

This is the most common operation. Someone sends you an archive, you need to get the files out. Let’s walk through the scenarios you’ll encounter most often.

Extract to the Current Directory

If the RAR file is sitting in your current working directory and you want the contents extracted right there, run:

unrar x archive_name.rar

unrar x archive_name.rar

The x option extracts the files while preserving the directory structure stored inside the archive.

• Extracts files: Unpacks all files from the RAR archive.
• Preserves folders: Maintains the original folder hierarchy from the archive.
• Keeps file paths: For example, project/src/config.php will be extracted to the same relative path.
• Uses the current directory: Files are extracted directly where you run the command.
• Displays progress: The terminal shows the extraction process and any relevant messages.
• Reports issues: If errors or warnings occur, unrar displays them during the extraction process.

Extract to a Specific Folder

More often than you’d think, you don’t want files spilling into your current directory. Maybe you’re working in a staging area and want everything neatly contained.

unrar x archive_name.rar /path/to/destination/

unrar x archive_name.rar /path/to/destination/

Using a dedicated destination directory helps keep your files organized and prevents the archive contents from being mixed with other files.

Important points:

• Specify the destination: Replace /path/to/destination/ with the directory where you want to extract the files.
• Preserve the folder structure: The x option keeps the directory hierarchy stored in the archive.
• Create the directory first: Make sure the destination directory already exists before running the extraction command.
• Use mkdir -p: This command creates the required directory, including any missing parent directories.
• Check the path: A typo or incorrect destination path can cause the extraction to fail.
• Avoid clutter: Extracting to a dedicated folder makes it easier to manage and locate the archive contents.

If the destination directory doesn’t exist, create it first:

mkdir -p /path/to/destination/
unrar x archive_name.rar /path/to/destination/

mkdir -p /path/to/destination/
unrar x archive_name.rar /path/to/destination/

Verify Without Extracting: The Test Command

Before you extract an archive you’ve downloaded from the internet (or received from a client), it’s good practice to verify its integrity first. Running unrar t performs an integrity check without writing any files to disk:

unrar t archive_name.rar

unrar t archive_name.rar

The t option tells unrar to test the archive instead of extracting it.

Key benefits:

• Checks archive integrity: Verifies that the archive data can be read correctly.
• Validates file contents: Checks the CRC values stored for the archived files.
• Detects corruption: Helps identify damaged or incomplete archives before extraction.
• Does not extract files: The test runs without writing the archive contents to your disk.
• Useful for downloaded archives: Especially helpful for large files or archives transferred over unreliable connections.
• Saves troubleshooting time: Detecting problems before extraction can prevent issues later.

If the archive passes the test, unrar will report that the files are OK. If it detects corruption or missing data, the command will display an error so you can address the problem before attempting to use the extracted files.

How to Create a RAR Archive in Linux

Creating RAR archives is where the rar tool comes into its own. Whether you’re compressing a single config file or archiving an entire project directory, the approach is straightforward.

Compress a Single File

You can use the rar command to package an individual file into a RAR archive:

rar a project_config.rar config/application.yml

rar a project_config.rar config/application.yml

Here, a means add, which tells rar to add the specified file to an archive.

Key points:

• Create a new archive: If project_config.rar doesn’t exist, rar creates it automatically.
• Update an existing archive: If the archive already exists, the specified file is added to it.
• Preserve the original file: Creating the archive does not remove or modify the source file.
• Use the current directory: The RAR file is created in your current working directory unless you provide another path.
• Skip the extension: You can omit .rar from the archive name because rar adds it automatically.

For example:

rar a project_config config/application.yml

rar a project_config config/application.yml

This creates:

project_config.rar

project_config.rar

in the current directory and stores config/application.yml inside the archive.

Compress an Entire Directory

When you need to archive an entire directory and everything inside it, use the -r option with rar:

rar a -r project_backup.rar /var/www/myproject/

rar a -r project_backup.rar /var/www/myproject/

The -r option enables recursive compression, allowing rar to include files from subdirectories as well.

What this command does

• a : Adds files to a RAR archive.
• -r : Recursively includes files from subdirectories.
• project_backup.rar : Name of the archive.
• /var/www/myproject/ : Directory to compress.
• The original files remain unchanged.
• The resulting archive is created in the current working directory unless a different output path is specified.

Compress Everything in One Go With Wildcards

On busy servers, you’ll often want to quickly archive all files of a certain type, for instance, all log files in a directory:

rar a logs_backup.rar *.log

rar a logs_backup.rar *.log

This grabs every .log file in the current directory and bundles them into logs_backup.rar. No need to specify each file by name. The wildcard * handles it.

You can get more specific if needed:

rar a error_logs.rar error*.log

rar a error_logs.rar error*.log

This targets only files starting with error and ending with .log useful when you have log rotation schemes generating files like error-2026-08-01.log, error-2026-08-02.log, and so on.

How to Password-Protect a RAR Archive

If you’re archiving anything sensitive, client data, server configurations, credentials, you should password-protect the archive. RAR makes this straightforward, with one caveat I’ll mention below.

Creating an Encrypted Archive

Use the -p flag when creating the archive:

rar a -p sensitive_backup.rar /var/www/myproject/

rar a -p sensitive_backup.rar /var/www/myproject/

When you press Enter, rar will prompt you twice:

Enter password (will not be echoed):
Re-enter password:

Enter password (will not be echoed):
Re-enter password:

Note that the password characters are not displayed on screen as you type, not even as asterisks. This is intentional; it prevents someone from reading your password over your shoulder. Just type it blind and press Enter.

One critical thing I want to stress: there is no password recovery for RAR archives. If you lose the password, the archive contents are effectively gone. There’s no backdoor, no forgot-password flow. Write your passwords down and store them somewhere safe if there’s any chance you might forget them.

Extracting a Password-Protected Archive

When you try to extract a protected archive, unrar will ask for the password:

unrar x protected_archive.rar

unrar x protected_archive.rar

It will prompt:

Enter password for protected_archive.rar:

Enter password for protected_archive.rar:

Type your password and press Enter. If the password is correct, extraction proceeds normally. If it’s wrong, unrar will tell you the CRC check failed, which in plain English means the file couldn’t be decompressed with the password you provided.

One practical note: if an encrypted archive contains multiple files and you enter the wrong password, unrar won’t automatically retry. You’ll see an error for each file. If you’re certain you have the right password but it’s failing, double-check your keyboard layout, a surprising number of password issues come from an accidental Num Lock or a different input method.

Splitting Large RAR Archives Into Parts

This is where RAR genuinely shines and why many server admins reach for it over ZIP in specific situations. When you have a file that’s too large to upload, share via email attachment limits, or fit onto a USB drive, splitting it into smaller parts is the solution.

How the Size Splitting Works in Practice

The -v flag lets you specify the maximum size for each part. You can use k for kilobytes, m for megabytes, or g for gigabytes:

rar a -v10m large_backup.rar /path/to/large_directory/

rar a -v10m large_backup.rar /path/to/large_directory/

This creates archive parts of approximately 10 MB each, such as:

large_backup.part1.rar
large_backup.part2.rar
large_backup.part3.rar

large_backup.part1.rar
large_backup.part2.rar
large_backup.part3.rar

Supported size units

A few practical notes from experience:

• Always keep parts together. Moving split archives to different locations can break the extraction if the parts can’t find each other.
• Test the first extraction on the intended target. If you’re splitting an archive to upload to a cloud service, download and test extraction there before declaring the job done.
• Parts must be extracted in order. If even one part gets corrupted during transfer, you may lose data from that chunk onward. This is where the recovery record feature (-rr flag) becomes valuable for important archives.

Listing Contents and Testing Archive Integrity

Two operations that don’t get enough attention: listing archive contents and running integrity checks. Both are quick and can save you from unpleasant surprises.

Listing What’s Inside Without Extracting

Before extracting an archive, you may want to see what files it contains. Use:

unrar l archive_name.rar

unrar l archive_name.rar

The l command (short for “list”) outputs a table with each file’s name, size, date, and permissions as stored in the archive. No files are written to disk.

I use this constantly when I’m handed an archive and need to figure out if it contains a flat list of files or a nested directory structure. It tells me exactly where everything will end up when I extract it.

Verifying Archive Integrity

As mentioned earlier, the t flag tests an archive without extracting:

unrar t archive_name.rar

unrar t archive_name.rar

The t option tests the archive and checks whether its contents can be read correctly.

This is the equivalent of a checksum verification. Every file inside the archive has a CRC (cyclic redundancy check) value stored during creation. When you run unrar t, it recalculates the CRC for each file and compares it against the stored value. A mismatch means the file was corrupted somewhere along the way.

Adding Files to an Existing Archive

If you’ve already created an archive and need to add more files to it later, you don’t need to recreate the whole thing from scratch. Use the a command with the existing archive name:

rar a existing_archive.rar new_file.txt

rar a existing_archive.rar new_file.txt

rar will open the existing archive and append the new file. This is useful for ongoing backup scenarios where you’re incrementally adding data to an archive over time.

RAR vs ZIP vs tar.gz: Which Should You Actually Use?

This is a question I get asked a lot, and the honest answer is: it depends on your environment and what you’re trying to achieve.

Each archive format has different strengths. Right choice depends on requirements.

Use RAR when:

• You need to split a large archive into smaller parts for transfer or storage
• You’re working with Windows users who will need to open the archive on their machines
• You want built-in recovery records for important archives
• Maximum compression ratio is a priority over open-source tooling

Use ZIP when:

• You need broad compatibility across platforms with zero additional software
• You want to work with open-source tools only
• You need to create password-protected archives but prefer a non-proprietary format

Use tar.gz when:

• You’re working in a Linux-only or Unix environment
• You want the compression integrated into system scripts and cron jobs
• You’re archiving files that will be extracted on other Linux servers
• You need speed over maximum compression

Practical recommendation: For Linux-to-Linux server backups, tar.gz is often the simplest choice. RAR can be useful when you specifically need its archive features or compatibility with an existing RAR-based workflow.

Common Issues and How to Fix Them

Over the years, a handful of RAR problems come up repeatedly. Here are the ones I’ve encountered most frequently and how to resolve them.

1. “Command Not Found” After Installation

If you see:

bash: unrar: command not found

bash: unrar: command not found

the unrar command may not be installed or may not be available in your PATH.

Try:

sudo apt-get install unrar rar

sudo apt-get install unrar rar

Then verify the installation:

which unrar<br>which rar

which unrar<br>which rar

as mentioned below:

You can also check the installed packages:

dpkg -L unrar | grep bin

dpkg -L unrar | grep bin

as mentioned below:

Possible causes:

• unrar was not installed.
• The installation failed.
• The executable isn’t available through your current PATH.

2. CRC or Corrupted Archive Errors

If this command:

unrar t archive_name.rar

unrar t archive_name.rar

reports CRC errors, the archive may be corrupted.

Possible solutions

• Download the archive again.
• Verify that the download completed successfully.
• Check all parts of a split archive.
• Confirm that no archive volume is missing.
• Ask the sender to recreate or resend the archive if necessary.

For split archives, one damaged or missing volume can prevent successful extraction.

3. Files Extract to the Wrong Location

If you run:

unrar x archive.rar

unrar x archive.rar

without specifying a destination, the contents are extracted into the current directory.

Before extracting, check your location:

pwd

pwd

You can also list the archive contents first:

unrar l archive.rar

unrar l archive.rar

To extract into a dedicated directory:

mkdir -p /path/to/destination/
unrar x archive.rar /path/to/destination/

mkdir -p /path/to/destination/
unrar x archive.rar /path/to/destination/

Tip: Always verify the destination before extracting a large archive. Avoid using broad commands such as rm -rf * as a cleanup method unless you are completely certain you are in the correct directory.

4. Permission Denied

If extraction fails with a permission-related error, check the archive and destination permissions:

ls -l archive.rar

ls -l archive.rar

Check your current user:

id

id

If the destination requires elevated privileges, you may need:

sudo unrar x archive.rar /destination/

sudo unrar x archive.rar /destination/

Be careful when using sudo

Extracting files as root can result in files being owned by root, which may prevent your regular user from modifying them later.

Before using sudo, consider:

• Whether you actually need elevated privileges.
• Whether the destination directory is writable by your user.
• Whether the extracted files should belong to your regular account.

Conclusion

RAR provides a practical way to create, extract, inspect, test, password-protect, and split archives in Linux. With commands such as rar, unrar, and options like -r, -p, and -v, you can handle everything from individual files to large server backups directly from the terminal. Understanding these commands makes archive management faster and more convenient, especially when working with remote servers.

Before using an archive in a production environment, it’s a good practice to check its contents and verify its integrity with commands such as unrar l and unrar t. For Linux-focused workflows, tar.gz may often be the simpler choice, while RAR is useful when you need features such as split volumes or compatibility with existing RAR-based workflows. With the right commands and a few basic precautions, managing RAR files on Linux becomes straightforward.

FAQs

Next Steps

If you found this guide useful, you might also find these helpful:

• How to Delete Large Directories in Linux Quickly
• Linux File Permissions Explained: Read, Write, and Change Permissions
• How to Kill a Running Process in Linux
• What is Linux Server Hardening: Step-by-Step Security Guide

About the Author

Meghna Meghwani is a technical writer focused on Linux, Ubuntu, VPS hosting, server management, WordPress, PHP, Node.js, cloud hosting, and DevOps. She creates beginner-friendly tutorials, practical hosting guides, troubleshooting articles, and server security content designed to help developers and businesses manage applications and servers more efficiently.