Microsoft is finally adding RAR support in Windows 11

RAR is one of the most used file compression formats, though Windows has only supported ZIP files for now. But after 28 years, Microsoft is adding native support for RAR, the alternative file format to ZIP, in Windows 11.

Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer, Panos Panay, has shared details about new features being added to Windows 11 in a recent blog post. Specifically, native support for RAR, 7-Zip, and gz archives will soon be available to the general public.

Microsoft was able to achieve this by using the open-source libarchive project, which allows for the opening of numerous file compression formats.