| ZIP | RAR | |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossless | Lossless |
| Metadata | - | - |
| Open / royalty-free | ✓ | - |
| Defined by | - | RARLAB |
| Since | 1989 | - |
| Best for | sending several files to anyone | nothing new, so convert it to ZIP |
ZIP
The archive everyone can open without installing anything.
RAR
Proprietary archive, common on download sites. Free to read, not to create.
Questions
ZIP or RAR: which is smaller?
It depends on the content; see our measured benchmarks on the conversion pages.
Can I convert ZIP to RAR?
Not on this site yet.
And RAR to ZIP?
Yes, as well.