I haven't came accross a single rar file for years. Last was when I was a teenager in the mid/late 90's downloading pirated games/app.
It seems to be still fairly widely used in Germany in non-programming environments(game mods etc.).
Don't Use RAR
41–50 of 218 posts
Re: Don't Use RAR
#42This is conflating archive format with compression algorithm. The very broad statement "7-Zip achieves a better compression ratio, but it is much slower to compress than RAR" should be demonstrated over all compression levels with a curve of compression-ratio vs time. I am skeptical RAR cannot be outperformed by 7zip in at least some situations. The license is the strongest argument to not use RAR.
> The license is the strongest argument to not use RAR. Why? Most of the daily tools that keep business world running are closed source. Excel. Or Photoshop. Or Windows/MacOS itself. But RAR license and not being open source is now pushing it too far? Really?
Its okay to have some business spesific software be closed source, say Excell. But an archive is needed every time you download a collection of files from a government website, or make GDPR request for your data to google.
So by choosing RAR you would be forcing millions of people, maybe entire country to use that company's product and giving them power. Is there any good reason for that?
Re: Don't Use RAR
#43Does anyone know why RAR is better compression-wise than the two more modern standards?
It doesn't seem like it's been updated in a long time, and I would have expected modern software from two of the best houses in the world to handily beat it. Is it that good, or is it a matter of priorities, or something else?
Re: Don't Use RAR
#44Good luck trying to send a file compressed with Zstd or Brotli to people and have them know what to do with them. I’d certainly have to google to figure out how to open one of those. And I’m an engineer and aware that those formats exist.
Re: Don't Use RAR
#45The rar license prohibits writing a compatible compressor? What kind of nonsense is that? I clicked the license link and there is a scary looking anti-reverse-engineering clause, but 1) that sounds legally dubious given how the program is distributed; and 2) there is a FOSS decompressor, and studying that may be sufficient to write a compressor without examining the non-free official compressor. The article is right…
Clearly people who write licences want us to believe they are lawmakers. We need to clamp down on this and put them back in their place.
Re: Don't Use RAR
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Microsoft ASF/WMA also has a similar limitation, where it disallows writing an open source implementation if you use the official format specification. Luckily it is too mostly irrelevant nowadays.
> Microsoft ASF/WMA also has a similar limitation, Doesn't mean it would in court.
If you've got the resources to mount a credible legal defence against Microsoft
Re: Don't Use RAR
#47Quoted post unavailable.
7z is also Russian.
Re: Don't Use RAR
#48I was hoping this would be about OAuth 2.0 Rich Authorization Requests[1]!
[1] https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-oauth-rar
Re: Don't Use RAR
#49No post body was provided.
Re: Don't Use RAR
#50RAR is a full-blown backup format* while 7zip is "just" an archive format. So comparisons are somewhat mood.
But even I as a RAR fan and license holder have to agree. For the average joe, sending email attachments, zip or 7z is enough.
* It can safe all three file timestamps (From nanoseconds precision (with NTFS), down to only 2 seconds precision (if you want to shave of a view bytes)), ACLs, ADS, Hard and Soft Links, Unix devices. It can add restore data to protect from bit rot. It deduplicates identical files. Variable length part-files. Skips already compressed files. etc. etc. (+ the GUI supports settings-profiles, which i really miss in 7zip.)