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UnRAR vs bsdtar (libarchive): catalog facts
UnRARbsdtar (libarchive)
Free

Freeware under the RARLAB licence; creating RAR archives needs the paid WinRAR or RAR.

Free

Free and open source with no paid tier.

Windows, Command line Windows, Linux, Command line
  • Official RAR extractor from the format's developer
  • Free to use
  • One tool reads many formats, including zip, rar and ISO
  • Automatic format and compression detection
  • Extraction only, cannot create RAR archives
  • Not open source
  • Writes fewer formats than it reads; rar is read-only
  • Command-line only
Downloadable app Downloadable app
Closed source Open source
License: Freeware License: BSD-2-Clause
No account needed No account needed
Works offline Works offline

Checked October 2, 2026

Checked September 23, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.