RAR - What's new in the latest version

Version 3.00

1. We introduced WinRAR 3.0 discount program, so a single user license now is only $29.

As always, already registered users do not need to pay again. RAR 1.x - 2.x registration is valid for 3.0 too.

Also do not forget that we have a lot of regional sites processing RAR registrations. Complete list is available in rar_site.txt.

2. Compression algorithm improved. Changes include:

a) dictionary size is increased to 4 MB, this helps to increase compression on large data sets;

b) a special algorithm for text data, based on Dmitry Shkarin's PPMII sources: ftp://ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pub/pc/pack/ppmdh.rar

We express our sincere gratitude and respect to Dmitry for his excellent PPMII;

c) special preprocessing algorithms for 32-bit x86 executables, Itanium executables, true color data, audio data and tables. In many cases significantly increasing compression;

d) now RAR chooses the best combination of algorithms automatically, so "Multimedia compression" mode and switch -mm are obsolete.

By default, RAR uses only the general compression algorithm in the "Fast" and "Fastest" compression methods (-m1 and -m2), advanced algorithms such as audio and true color processing are enabled only in "Normal"..."Best" (-m3..-m5) modes, the advanced text compression is activated only in "Good" and "Best" compression (-m4..-m5). This default can be overridden using the -mc switch.

RAR 3.0 archives can be unpacked by any RAR version beginning from RAR 2.9, currently it is 2.9 and 3.0. RAR 3.0 can unpack archives created by all older RAR versions.

3. Encryption algorithm is changed to AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) with 128 bit key length.

4. Francesco Indrio <naradamoon>, <naradamoon> has once again done a nice job redesigning WinRAR graphics.

5. "Wizard" command helps novice users to perform basic archive operations in simple, step by step mode. Just click on Wizard button on the toolbar and choose an operation which you want to perform.

6. "Send archive by email" option in the "Files" part of archiving dialog. Your email program must support MAPI interface, otherwise this option will not work.

In the command line mode you may use -ieml[.][addr] switch to send a created archive by email.

7. WinRAR adds "Compress and email" item to Explorer context menu.

8. Default volume naming scheme is changed from volname.rar, volname.r00, ..., to volname.part001.rar, volname.part002.rar, etc. Switch -vn and "Old style volumes names" option in the archiving dialog allow to use the old extension based scheme.

9. Added support of so called recovery volumes (.rev files), which can be used to reconstruct missing files in a volume set. One .rev file allows to reconstruct one missing RAR volume, for example, 5 .rev files are able to reconstruct any 5 volumes.

In WinRAR you may create recovery volumes either specifying their number in the archiving dialog or using "Protect" command inside of the first volume.

In the command line RAR it can be done by the command 'rv[n]' or switch -rv[n].

RAR and WinRAR automatically use .rev files to reconstruct missing volumes when unpacking or testing a volume set. It is also possible to double click on .rev file in WinRAR shell or use the command 'rc' in the command line to force reconstructing.

I wish to thank developers of Mirror program, who invented this idea and proposed to implement it in WinRAR.

10. SFX modules:

a) Windows SFX modules now support archives larger than 4 GB and Unicode names;

b) It is possible to replace the standard SFX icon with your own. Just specify the icon file name in "Load SFX icon from the file" field of "Advanced SFX options/Text and icon" dialog.

c) new "Shortcut=DestType,SrcName,DestFolder,Description" SFX script command allows to create shortcuts to unpacked files on Desktop, Start Menu, Start Menu/Programs or Startup.

This feature is also available through "Shortcuts" list in the "Advanced SFX options" WinRAR dialog;

d) modified syntax of TempMode SFX script command. It now uses comma instead of '@' as a question and title separator. It is important only for those users, who write SFX script manually instead of specifying SFX parameters in WinRAR "Advanced SFX options" dialog;

e) "Delete" SFX script command and "Files to delete" field in "Advanced SFX options" dialog may include wildcard masks. For example:

Delete=*.tmp

f) removed "Allow external signature" advanced SFX option and the corresponding "ExtSign" script command. RAR 3.0 archive format includes the end of archive marker, so SFX module automatically stops extraction when reaching the end of archive and all data appended to archive are ignored by default;

g) if you specified INF file in SFX "Setup" command, SFX will attempt to install it instead of opening its contents in Notepad as in the previous version;

h) the new DOS SFX module is 32-bit, so it is not limited to 64 KB dictionary more and can unpack any RAR 3.0 archives regardless of dictionary size;

i) "SFX options" button in the archiving dialog opens directly "Advanced SFX options" without intermediate selection of SFX module. If you need to change SFX type, use "Module" page in the advanced SFX options.

Please note that new SFX modules are able to unpack only RAR 3.0 archives. They must not be used with archives created by older RAR versions.

11. Switch -hp<pwd> can be used instead of -p<pwd> to encrypt both file data and file headers, so such information as file names, sizes, comments will not be visible without a password.

"Encrypt file names" option in the password dialog provides the same function in WinRAR shell.

12. Added support for ISO9660 (.iso) file format, which is widely used to store CD images. WinRAR is able to browse and unpack contents of ISO files. WinRAR also supports Joliet extension of ISO9660 and displays long file names inside of Joliet CD images.

13. Using switch -mc you may set advanced compression parameters such as prediction order and memory size for the text compression algorithm. It is also possible in WinRAR shell using "Compression..." button in the "Advanced" part of archiving dialog.

14. Switch -ms allows to specify files, which will be stored without compression. For example, -msrar;zip;jpg. It helps to increase archiving speed without noticeable loss in the compression ratio.

The same option is available in WinRAR shell through "Files to store without compression" field in the advanced part of the archiving dialog.

15. "Info" command now is available also outside of archives, when working with uncompressed files. One task of this command is getting information about selected files, another is performing miscellaneous operations with groups of archives. After the files scan step is completed, you may switch to other pages of the dialog and apply commands like "Comment" and "SFX" to all found RAR and ZIP archives.

"Info" replaces "Estimate" command, which function is available as a part of the information dialog. Amount of estimation information is reduced, because an accuracy of Estimate results was not enough to provide reliable results for different compression methods.

16. "Comment", "Protect", "SFX", "Lock" and "Extract" WinRAR commands can be also used outside of archives. Their buttons are disabled by default, but you may enable them in toolbar settings or use "Commands" menu. "Repair" command is also available inside of archives.

17. "Test archived files" WinRAR option and the command line switch -t allow to test files after archiving. This option is especially useful in combination with the move command, so files will be deleted only if archive had been successfully tested.

18. "Backup" part of the archiving dialog provides two new file time selecting modes allowing to archive files modified before or after the specified date.

19. Switches -ta<date> and -tb<date> allow to add or extract files modified after or before the specified date. Date format is YYYYMMDDHHMMSS. It is allowed to insert separators like '-' or ':' to date string and omit trailing fields. For example, the following switch is correct: -ta2001-11-20.

20. Switch -ver tells RAR to keep old file versions in archive when adding their new versions.

The corresponding WinRAR shell option is "Keep previous file versions" in "Backup" part of archiving dialog.

21. "My Network Places" item is added to WinRAR address bar, so you may browse the network in WinRAR file list. The address bar also includes some other shell folders like "My Computer" and "My Documents".

22. When you press "Up one level" toolbar button or Backspace in the disk root, WinRAR will display the disks list in the file panel.

23. It is possible to copy and paste archived and usual files in WinRAR with Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V keys. For example, you may select some files in archive, press Ctrl+C, open a folder in Explorer and press Ctrl+V to unpack selected files to that folder.

24. "Pause" button added to the operation progress window. Archiving progress window is now displaying time left instead of total estimated time.

25. CRC32 column is displayed inside of RAR, ZIP, ACE and ARJ archives. CRC32 is the special control sum calculated basing on file data and it may help to detect either two archived files are the same without unpacking them. Same files always have the same CRC32 value.

26. When "Put each file in separate archive" option in the archiving dialog is enabled, WinRAR uses a text entered in the archive name field as the destination folder for created archives. Previous versions ignored the archive name in the "separate archives" mode.

27. "Extract archives to subfolders" option in the extraction dialog. It is available only when more than one archive is unpacked. It will place unpacked contents of each archive to separate subfolder, which name will be generated basing on the archive name.

28. Switch -ad appends an archive name to destination path. It may be useful when unpacking a few archives at once, so files from each archive will go to separate folder.

29. "Extract each archive to separate folder" item is present in Explorer context menu when unpacking a group of archives.

30. Two new options in WinRAR "Settings/General":

a) "Allow history in dialogs";

b) "Start in wizard mode".

31. Switch -af<type> allows to define a type of new archive in WinRAR command line. <Type> can be 'rar' or 'zip'. For example, 'winrar a -afzip arc' will create arc.zip archive.

This switch is supported only by WinRAR. Console RAR is not able to create ZIP archives.

32. Switch -en disables adding "end of archive block".

33. Now RAR can update encrypted solid archives.

34. "Exit" button is added to the toolbar. It is disabled by default, you may enable it manually with "Select buttons..." in WinRAR settings.

35. "Select toolbar buttons" dialog allows to change the order of toolbar buttons. Just select buttons to move and press "Up" or "Down". Also you may drag buttons directly on the toolbar while holding down the ALT key.

36. "Word wrap" option in "Settings/Viewer" selects the default wrapping mode in new internal viewer windows.

37. Console RAR sends error messages to stderr instead of stdout.

38. New '+' modifier for -ag switch allows to place the date string before a base archive name.

39. In the extraction dialog the entered folder is opened in the folders tree automatically as you type, with a small delay about 0.5 second. Also you may locate the currently entered folder name in the tree pressing "Display" button.

40. It is possible to use wildcards in the path part of file mask in -x switch and "Files to exclude" field of the archiving dialog. For example, -x*\temp\*.

41. Switch -ilog accepts the optional log file name parameter. For example, -ilogc:\log\backup.log.

42. Improved Chinese and Japanese (DBCS encoded) names processing in ZIP archives (RAR format already supported such names since WinRAR 2.80). But anyway, it is recommended to use RAR format for such names, because it uses more portable Unicode encoding instead of ZIP DBCS.

43. WinRAR uses new visual styles of Windows XP controls.

44. Improved processing of "Group Policies" settings. Earlier it was possible to open a disk disabled in the policies by pressing "Up" button inside of archive or entering its path in the address bar.

45. Console rar.exe executed from NT service is continuing to run after user's logoff.

46. If you attempt to close the command window and an archiving or extraction operation is already performing for more than one minute, WinRAR will ask for confirmation.

47. WinRAR recognizes and processes TAR @LongLink records. GNU TAR uses them to store names longer than 100 characters in TAR archives.

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