Free online RAR to ZIP converter

An upload portal, recipient, or device may accept ZIP archives but reject RAR files. The conversion extracts the RAR contents and creates a new ZIP archive; renaming .rar to .zip does not change the archive format.

RAR format

RAR is a proprietary archive format created by Eugene Roshal and commonly created with WinRAR or the rar command-line tool. It can store files and folders, use compression, encrypt contents and filenames, add recovery data, and split one archive into parts such as backup.part1.rar, backup.part2.rar, and later parts.

RAR archives are common in software downloads, media collections, backups, and multipart transfers. Current versions of Windows 11 can extract many RAR archives, but Windows does not create RAR files; 7-Zip, WinRAR, and PeaZip can extract them.

ZIP format

ZIP is a broadly supported archive format. Windows File Explorer, macOS Finder, and most Linux archive utilities can open ZIP files, while Windows and macOS can create basic ZIP archives without separate software.

ZIP is useful for email attachments, upload systems, and recipients who need an archive supported by built-in operating-system tools. Its compressed size can be larger or smaller than the original RAR because the archive is recompressed with different methods and settings.

Convert the archive

Use the converter on 101convert.com to upload the RAR file, select ZIP output, run the conversion, and download the ZIP file. Password-protected RAR archives require the correct password; their contents must be decrypted before a ZIP archive can be created.

For local conversion, extract the RAR archive first, then create a ZIP from the extracted files. 7-Zip is a suitable desktop option on Windows and Linux:

1. Right-click the RAR file and choose 7-Zip → Extract to archive-name\, or open it in 7-Zip File Manager and extract its contents.
2. Check that the extracted files and folder structure are complete.
3. Select the extracted files or folder, then choose 7-Zip → Add to archive….
4. Set Archive format to zip, enter a filename ending in .zip, and select OK.

With 7-Zip at the command line, extract to a directory and archive that directory:

7z x archive.rar -opackage
7z a -tzip archive.zip package

This command places the package directory itself inside archive.zip. To place only its contents in the ZIP, run the archive command from inside package and add its contents.

Compatibility and data caveats

Conversion does not reduce the quality of documents, images, audio, video, or other files stored in the archive. Only the archive container and compression are replaced, so the resulting ZIP may take a different amount of space.

For a multipart RAR set, keep every part in the same directory and extract only the first part, usually archive.part1.rar or archive.rar. Do not convert each part separately; missing or damaged parts can prevent extraction.

RAR-specific features do not transfer to ZIP, including recovery records, solid-archive layout, and some comments and encryption metadata. ZIP passwords are not automatically retained; if encryption is needed, create a new password-protected ZIP. AES-encrypted ZIP files may not open in older built-in archive tools, while traditional ZIP encryption is more compatible but weak.

Open and extract the completed ZIP to a new folder before deleting the original RAR archive.