WinRAR is going away as Windows finally adds this much-needed feature

You've probably used a RAR file at some point if you've been downloading files from the internet. Data can be compressed using RAR files while maintaining excellent quality, resulting in a good format for packaging it up to be downloaded later. Users have been installing third-party software to perform this for them for years because Windows hasn't natively supported this format.

The most widely used is WinRAR, and because of how frequently it is used, it has taken on a life of its own in the IT world. By extracting RAR files to a folder with WinRAR, you can access the data they contain. Although the service is ostensibly a premium one, users can continue using it for free indefinitely by ignoring the request to start a paid subscription. Everyone is aware that only the hippest folks purchase WinRAR.

But those times might be finally coming to an end now. Using the libarchive open-source project, we introduced native compatibility for numerous different archive formats, including tar, 7-zip, rar, and gz. You can now experience better archive functionality performance on Windows during compression, according to Microsoft's blog post.

The Verge reports that an upgrade with support for those formats should arrive within the next few days. In addition to these adjustments, Microsoft is introducing a number of new features, Windows Copilot and Dev Home, which will incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into Windows' services and are primarily targeted at developers.

Pour one out for WinRAR since Microsoft has just revealed that Windows 11 will come with native support for RAR and a number of additional archive formats that Windows fans have been waiting for for decades. Perfect, if you catch my drift, if you're drowning in files.

Windows CEO Panos Panay writes in a blog post today, "We have added native support for additional archive formats, including tar, 7-zip, rar, gz, and many others, using the libarchive open-source project." You can now experience faster archive functionality while compressing files on Windows.

Microsoft said that later this week, support for the new formats should become available in a new work-in-progress build. Microsoft said this week at a Build session that an update to Windows 11 will be made available to everyone in September and allow opening these extra archive formats. According to Microsoft product manager Sharla Soennichsen, "We also plan to provide support for creating those files in those formats in 2024."

In either case, Windows 11 users will benefit greatly from the addition of tar, 7-zip, rar, and other programs. You won't need to download any additional programs in order to access these files. Though hopefully a little better than the native ZIP support is the integration.

The team and I are thrilled to be attending Build again this year with the developer community. Because of the widespread use of Windows 11, Windows has experienced amazing growth over the past year. In fact, with a 24% YoY rise in the number of monthly devices used for development, one of the most interesting areas driving that growth for Windows has been developers themselves.

Developers are leading this revolution, which will be characterized by AI as the defining technology of our time. We can equip developers and our common customers with the tools they need to help them influence the future and make their impact on the world. The extraordinary effects AI is having across industries and on our daily lives are only now beginning to become apparent. To meet this new era of AI, the team and I are eager to highlight the next steps we are taking on our journey with Windows 11.

• We're announcing Windows Copilot, making it the first PC operating system to offer centralized artificial intelligence (AI) support to make it simple for individuals to take action and complete tasks.

• In order to better serve their consumers and boost engagement on native Windows applications, we are extending Bing Chat plugins to Windows, allowing developers to integrate their apps within Windows Copilot.

• With new hardware support from AMD, Intel, Nvidia, and Qualcomm, we are launching a new hybrid AI loop to facilitate AI development across platforms and via Azure to clients.

• We're introducing Dev Home, a tool made to increase developer productivity on Windows.

• New AI features and interactions are now available in the Windows Microsoft Store.