WinRAR : RAR versus ZIP

WinRAR is able to create archives in two different formats: RAR and ZIP. Here is a comparison of these formats:

ZIP archives

The main advantage of ZIP format is its popularity. For example, most archives on Internet are ZIP archives. So if you are going to send an archive to somebody, but you are not sure that your addressee has WinRAR to extract the archive contents, it might be a good idea to use the ZIP format. Though, you may also send a self-extracting archive. Such archives are slightly larger, but can be extracted without external programs.

Another ZIP advantage is speed. ZIP archives are usually created faster than RAR.

RAR archives

Typically RAR format provides better compression than ZIP, especially in the solid mode. WinRAR multi-volume archives in RAR format allow more functions like self-extracting volumes.

RAR format has also a few important features missing in ZIP, such as the recovery record allowing to reconstruct damaged data and locking important archives to prevent their accidental modification.

Both RAR and ZIP formats are able to handle files of practically unlimited size (up to 8,589,934,591 GB).

Tutorial archiving files from the command line with WinRAR

The common command line syntax for archiving files is:

WinRAR A [ -switches ] <Archive> [ Files ] [ @File lists ]

For example, if you wish add the file LETTER.TXT to the archive LETTERS.RAR, type:

WinRAR A LETTERS.RAR LETTER.TXT

If an archive extension is not specified, WinRAR will use the default archive format selected in the default compression profile, but you may override it by specifying either .RAR or .ZIP extension.

The next example: add all *.WAV files to the solid RAR archive Songs:

WinRAR A -S Songs.RAR *.WAV

It is also possible to list the files to be archived in a file, rather than listing them in the command line. In this case the name of text file, containing the list of files to be archived, must be given in the command line. This is indicated by placing the symbol @ before this file name. Thus, you can create a file Binaries, containing the strings *.exe and *.com and execute the command:

WinRAR A TOOLS.ZIP @Binaries

to add all files with .EXE and .COM extensions from the current folder to ZIP archive TOOLS.

Window containing statistics is displayed during the archiving process. If you wish to break archiving, click on "Cancel" button in the command window. You may press "Background" button in this window to minimize WinRAR to the tray. If archiving is completed without problems, WinRAR terminates. Diagnostic message window is displayed in case of error.

See Command-line interface for detailed descriptions of commands and switches.

How to archiving files from the WinRAR shell

First, you need to run WinRAR. Double-click or press Enter on the WinRAR icon. You can also start it from the Windows "Start menu": enter "Programs" then "WinRAR" and then run the "WinRAR" item.

When WinRAR is running, it displays a list of files and folders in the current folder. You need to go to the folder, which contains files to archive. You may use Ctrl+D, the disks list below the toolbar or click on the small disk icon in the bottom left corner, to change the current disk. Press BS, Ctrl+PgUp, small "Up" button below the toolbar or double-click on the folder named ".." to go to the parent folder. Press Enter, Ctrl+PgDn or double-click on any other folder to enter that folder. Ctrl+\ will set the root disk or archive folder as the current folder.

When you have entered the folder with the desired files, select the files and folders, which you are going to archive. This may be achieved by using Shift + arrow keys or the mouse as in Windows Explorer and other Windows programs. It is also possible, in WinRAR, to select files using Space or Ins keys. "Gray +" and "Gray -" keys on the numeric keypad allow the selection of groups of files using file masks.

Having selected one or more files, click on the Add button at the top of the WinRAR window, press Alt+A or select the "Add files to archive" command in the Commands menu. Enter the destination archive name in the dialog box which appears or simply accept the default name. You may select, in this dialog, the format of the new archive ( RAR or ZIP), compression level, volume size and other archiving parameters. This dialog described in details in Archive name and parameters dialog topic. Click on the OK button when you are ready to create the archive.

During the archiving process, a window will be displayed showing operation statistics. If you wish to break the archiving process, click on the Cancel button in the command window. You may press the "Background" button in this window to minimize WinRAR to the tray. When archiving is completed, the command window disappears and the newly created archive becomes the currently selected file.

It is also possible to add files, to an existing RAR archive, using drag-and-drop. Select the desired archive in the WinRAR window and press Enter (or double click) on its name. RAR will read the archive and display its contents. You may now add files to the archive by simply dragging them from another program and dropping to WinRAR.

WinRAR Quick start: extracting files from the command line

Common command line syntax to extract files with full paths:

WinRAR X [ -switches ] <Archive> [ Files ] [ @File lists ] [ Destination folder\ ]

To extract files, ignoring paths:

WinRAR E [ -switches ] <Archive> [ Files ] [ @File lists ] [ Destination folder\ ]

For example if you wish extract the file LETTER.TXT to the current folder from the archive LETTERS.RAR, use the following command:

WinRAR X LETTERS.RAR LETTER.TXT

Archive extension is optional and may be omitted.

The next command extracts all *.WAV files from the archive Songs to the folder Audio:

WinRAR X Songs *.WAV Audio\

It is also possible to list the files to be extracted in a file, rather than listing them in the command line. In this case the name of text file, containing the list of files to be extracted, must be given in the command line. This is indicated by placing the symbol @ before this file name. Thus, you can create a file Binaries, containing the strings *.exe and *.com and execute the command:

WinRAR X TOOLS @Binaries

to extract all files with EXE and COM extensions from the archive TOOLS to the current folder.

Window containing statistics is displayed during the extraction process. If you wish to break extraction, click on "Cancel" button in the command window. You may press "Background" button in this window to minimize WinRAR to the tray. If extraction is completed without problems, WinRAR terminates. Diagnostic message window is displayed in case of error.

See Command-line interface for detailed commands and switches description.

WinRAR Command line syntax

It is possible to perform WinRAR commands from the command line. Common command line syntax is described below:

WinRAR <command> -<switch1> -<switchN> <archive> <files...> <@listfiles...> <path_to_extract\>

Command	Character combination specifying the function to be performed by WinRAR. See the list of WinRAR commands here.
Switch	Switches are used to define a specific type of operation, compression strength, type of archive, etc. See the list of WinRAR switches here.
Archive	The name of the archive to process.
Files	The name(s) of files to be processed.
Listfiles	Listfiles are plain text files that contain names of files to process. File names should start at the first column. It is possible to put comments to the listfile after // characters. For example, you may create backup.lst containing the following strings: c:\work\doc\*.txt//backup text documents c:\work\image\*.bmp//backup pictures c:\work\misc and then run: winrar a backup @backup.lst You may specify both usual file names and list files in the same command line.
Path_to_extract	Used only with commands e and x, indicating the folder in which to place extracted files. If this folder does not exist, it will be created.

 

Notes

a) If neither files nor listfiles are specified, then *.* is implied and WinRAR will process all files;

b) If archive extension is not specified when creating an archive, WinRAR will use the default archive format selected in the default compression profile, but you may override it by specifying either .rar or .zip extension.

If no archive extension is specified when extracting, WinRAR assumes .rar, so * means all archives with .rar extension. If you need to process all archives without extension, use *. mask. *.* mask selects all files. You can use wildcards in archive name in most operations, such as extraction, test and many others, but wildcards are not allowed when archiving and deleting.

c) Switches entered on the command line override the same configuration settings;

d) For commands c, e, s, t, rr, k and x wildcards may be used in the archive name. Thus it is possible to process more than one archive with a single command. Moreover, if you specify -r switch with these commands, they will search for archives in subfolders;

e) Some commands and switches are applicable only to RAR archives, some both to RAR and ZIP and some to all archive formats. This is dependent upon the functionality provided by the archive format;

f) Commands and switches are not case sensitive, you may write them both in upper and in lower case;

g) If any component of command line contains spaces, enclose it to quotes.

Examples

1. add the folder "c:\latest data" to archive Info.rar

WinRAR a Info.rar "c:\latest data"

2. unpack the archive Info.rar to folder d:\data

WinRAR x Info.rar d:\data\

Learn more Option Dialogs in IDM

In Options dialog you may edit all IDM settings. Dialog has nine tabs:

• General
• File Types
• Connection
• Save To
• Downloads
• Proxy
• Site logins
• Dial-Up
• Sounds

General tab

General tab can be used to change IDM System integration options: automatic startup, integration options into browsers, URL clipboard monitoring. IDM integrates into Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla , Netscape, and many other popular browsers by default.

IDM supports basic and advanced browser integration types. For basic browser integration you can check what type of integration is used for a browser by selecting the browser and clicking on details button. In basic browser integration you can add a browser by using "Add Browser..." button. IDM determines the version of the browser and will integrate into it.

IDM has a special module (IEMonitor.exe) for click monitoring in IE-based browsers (MSN Explorer, Avant, MyIE, some versions of AOL etc.) that runs separately from the main process of IDM. This module can be turned on/off using "Run module for click monitoring for IE-based browsers" checkbox.

IDM can show its Download panel on a web-player in a browser when IDM detects a multimedia request from the web-player

The advanced browser integation can be used to integrate IDM into any application that uses FTP, or HTTP protocols. If you find any problems with advanced browser integration, you may turn it off and use basic browser integration.

If you need to integrate IDM into a new browser, or any application that use HTTP and FTP download protocols, please check  "Detect New Applications" box. Then when you run this application, and try to download a file that has a file type from IDM list of automatically started downloads, IDM will take over the download from this application and add the application to the list of browsers.

Keys button let you select different keyboard keys to force or prevent downloading with IDM. When you press on the Keys button, "Using special keys" dialog will appear. You may select a combination of one or more keys suitable for your web browser. Note that Opera and OLD Mozilla based browsers can be integrated with IDM using plugins. This integration type does not support special keys to prevent or force downloading with IDM from these browsers.If you want to prevent or force downloading with IDM by pressing special keys, you should use "Advanced browser integration".

File Types tab

File Types tab can be used to change the list of file types that will be taken over from a browser and downloaded by IDM.

You can prevent IDM from downloading from specified sites. If you don't want IDM to take over all downloads from a particular site, you may add it to "don't start downloading" list. You may use asterisk to match any number of characters. For example *.tonec.com will match ftp.tonec.com, www.tonec.com, www.games.tonec.com, and etc.

You can also prevent IDM from downloading from specified web-addresses. You can add/remove web addresses in "The list of addresses exceptions" dialog that appears when you press on "Edit list..." button.

Connection tab

In connection tab you must select the speed of your Internet connection. That is necessary for the optimal use of your bandwidth. Try to avoid setting "Max Connection Number" to values greater than four. Large number of connections (file segments) can deteriorate file transfer performance and may result in higher resource usage on the server you are downloading from. This may lead to some limits or other protective measures from local system administrators. On the other side, larger number of connections can increase the speed very significantly if you have a cable modem or a highly utilized (shared) Internet connection.

You can set individual numbers of connections (numbers of threads to download) for the servers in Exceptions table. You may need it for the servers that limit the number of connections from the same client. This is also useful for ftp servers that limit the number of connections to 1 or 2.

If you want to set download quotas on the usage of your Internet connection, you should set IDM Download Limits. It's useful for links that have some kind of fair access policy (like Direcway, Direct PC, Hughes, etc.). Let's say you set 40MB/hour or not more than 150MB every 4 hours, and IDM will download the maximum it can, and then resume automatically at a later time. This way you can download large files at the maximum possible speed.

Save To tab

Save To defines the default "save to" directory for a selected category. You can also change this directory by picking Properties item in the right click menu of a selected category in the main IDM window. Downloaded file will be saved to the default directory of an appropriate category. But you can change the directory to save the file before downloading in Download File Info dialog. If "Remember last save path" box is checked and you have changed the directory in Download File Info dialog, then the default "save to" directory will change for all subsequent downloads in this category.

Temporary Directory defines the path where all temporary files should be stored. You may need to change this directory only if default location doesn't have enough free disc space.

Downloads tab

In Dialogs group box you can control how IDM dialogs are displayed. Select "Don't show" item in Download progress list box, if you don't want to see "Download Progress" dialog at all. If you don't like to see "Download Progress" dialog appearing in front of all other windows, select "Show minimized". You can disable "Download Complete" dialog using "Show download complete dialog" box.

Internet Download Manager also supports the silent mode when all clicked files are automatically saved to the default directory. If you don't want to see start, progress and download complete dialogs, you may disable them. Just uncheck "Show start download dialog", "Show download complete dialog" and select "Don't show" item in Download progress list box.

Internet Download Manager is optimized for speed and it starts to download a file while showing "Download File Info" dialog. Thus while you are thinking about where to place a file after downloading on "Download File Info" dialog, the file may be downloaded partially or completely. If you use IDM scheduler and want to download the file later, or just want to add it to the queue, you may not need to start downloading the file on this dialog. In this case you should uncheck "Start download immediately while showing Download File Info dialog" box.

Sometimes Internet servers erroneously change file modification time with every download request. In this case IDM scheduler starts downloading such files from the scratch. To avoid it and to resume downloads correctly, you will need to check "Ignore file modification time changes when resuming a download" box.

If you would like to run antiviral software on download completion, you should type or browse the complete path to the executable file (see picture). If IDM knows about necessary parameters for a given executable file name, it will set them automatically. Otherwise you will have to set them manually in "Command line parameters" according to antiviral software documentation. If no parameters are set, IDM will execute antiviral software appending the complete path to a downloaded file.

Proxy tab

Proxy/Firewall tab can be used to make settings for your proxy servers. Find button can be used to copy proxy settings from Internet Explorer or Netscape Communicator. "Use FTP in PASV" option means that passive mode of FTP protocol will be used. You should turn this option on of you are behind a firewall or a proxy server. You can also specify login information if your proxy server demands authorization.

You may type Internet addresses where IDM won't use proxy servers. You may use asterisk to match any number of characters. For example *.tonec.com will match ftp.tonec.com, www.tonec.com, www.games.tonec.com, and etc.

Site Logins tab

Site Logins tab (available only in registered version) is used for making a list of login information for the sites that demand authorization. You can add different login information for different directories of the same web site. Click on New button to add new URL and Username/Password information.

Dial Up tab

If standard Windows Dial-Up service is used, IDM can edit phone book records for your connections. In list box you can select a connection to use with IDM. If your computer is connected to the Internet, IDM shows this connection by default. Otherwise IDM shows the last used connection. If you run IDM for the first time, IDM selects first record from your phone book.

After selecting connection, you can change username and password. You can save username and password in phone book by clicking on Apply button. Check Save Password box if you don't want to enter password every time you start IDM. You can also set the number of redials (0 - endlessly) and time interval between them. Click on OK button to save changes or on Cancel to discard them.

Sounds tab

IDM can play different sounds for different download events. On this tab you can select sound files and set events.

Tip: You can use standard Windows sounds stored in windows/media folder to play on events. To set a sound, select an event, click on Browse button, find a file to play and then check the event in the checkbox. You can test selected sound by using Play button.

How to integrate IDM into IE right click menu

1. Download a specific link or all links in the selected text from an html page.

If you right click on a link in Internet Explorer, you will see "Download with IDM" menu item. Just pick this item to start downloading the link with IDM. You may also select a text in Internet Explorer, and pick "Download with IDM" to add all links in the selected text to IDM.

This way of downloading files is useful if IDM couldn't take over the download automatically.

2. Download several files from an html page.

You can download several files from an html page. IDM can import all or selected downloads linked to a web page to the main download list. Just click with right mouse button on the web page and select "Download All Links with IDM" in popup menu. See below.

After picking Download All Links with IDM menu item on any place of the page, IDM displays a dialog to import downloads from this page. See below.

At the same time IDM starts checking all downloads to find out file sizes and types. You may wait until IDM finishes, and shows its final results. 

Then check the boxes for the files that you need to download with IDM. You can use Hide HTML files checkbox to filter html pages, and Check All, Uncheck All buttons to check all, or uncheck all downloads. See below.

You can select a download and press on edit button to change download location, description, save path, file name, and other attributes.

Having selected and edited downloads, click on OK button to add them to the main download list of Internet Download Manager. IDM also adds these downloads to the download queue. You can start downloads by selecting them, and by clicking on resume button, or you can start all downloads by picking "Downloads->Start Queue" menu item.

If you had other files in the queue, you can move imported downloads to the top of the queue. Click on Scheduler button, select necessary downloads using Ctrl or Shift keys with mouse clicks, and move selected downloads up using up arrow button.

Tutorial how to Download with IDM in automatic mode

This method to start downloads is the easiest one. IDM takes over downloads from Internet Explorer, MSN Explorer, AOL, Opera, Mozilla and Netscape browsers, and starts downloading files automatically when users click on download links.

If you click on a download link in Internet Explorer or in another browser, IDM will take over and accelerate this download. In this case you don't need to do anything special, just browse the Internet as you usually do. IDM takes over a download from Internet Explorer if its type matches the list of types/extensions. The list of file types/extensions to download with IDM can be edited in Options->General. If IDM has taken over a download, it shows the following dialog

Download File Info Dialog

If you click on Download Later button, URL (web address) will be added to the list of downloads, but the download process doesn't start. If you click on Start Download button, IDM will start downloading the file immediately. IDM lets you associate your downloads with IDM categories. IDM suggests the category and the default download directory according to file type. You may edit categories, delete and add new categories in the main IDM window. If you want to see the contents of a zip file before downloading, you may click on Preview button.

IDM will take over any download if you hold down the CTRL key while clicking its download link in Internet Explorer. (you should check "Use CTRL key with IE click monitoring" box in "IDM Options->General").

If you hold down the ALT key while clicking on a download link in IE, IDM will not take over the download and let Internet Explorer download the file. (you should check "Use ALT key with IE click monitoring" box in "IDM Options->General")

If you don't want IDM to take over any downloads from a browser, turn off the browser integration in IDM options. After turning off or on the browser integration in "IDM Options->General", don't forget to restart the browser.

Remember if Internet Download Manager had problems downloading file, you should press Alt while clicking on a link to let the browser process the download.

Important things you have to know in IDM

The main window shows a list of downloaded files. This list includes additional information about downloaded files like file size, download status, estimated time to complete, current download speed and download description. You can sort the list by any column by clicking on a column header.

Download control buttons (Add URL, Start/Resume, Stop, Stop All, Delete, Delete All Completed, Options, Scheduler, Start Queue, Stop Queue, Tell A Friend) are located above the list. They can be in active or disabled state depending on what actions are possible for the current selection of downloads.

Click on Tell a Friend button to tell your friends about Internet Download Manager!

You can add a new file to download with Add URL button. You can either enter new URL in the text box or select URL from existing ones. You can also specify login information if the server demands authorization by checking "Use authorization" box.

If URL format is valid, "Save As" dialog will appear where you can type file description and choose the path where the file is to be saved. Alternatively you can add description later in "Download Properties" dialog. There are three buttons on the bottom of the dialog window. If you want to cancel the download, press on Cancel button.

If you want to start downloading immediately, press on Start/Resume Download. That will bring file IDM file download dialog. The dialog let you get an additional control over the download. It also shows download progress, average download speed, estimated time to complete, current download state, whether resume is supported by the server, etc. The dialog also has a chart to display download progress for each downloaded file segment.

You can press Pause button to postpone downloading, or Cancel to stop download and to close the dialog. You can always resume download at any time. Note that Resume button restarts download from the last saved position only if remote server supports this function.

Stop button stops downloads for selected files. You can also stop download by pushing Cancel button in File Download dialog or by closing the dialog. Stop All button stops all downloads in progress.

Delete button deletes selected files from the download list. It's enabled only for complete or paused file downloads. If file download is not complete, IDM will ask for the confirmation to delete it from the list.

Delete Completed button (available only in registered versions) deletes all complete downloads from the list.

Scheduler button starts Scheduler dialog window where you can set a time to download files in queues or assign synchronization tasks.

All main controls are also available in File menu as well as in Popup menu with the right mouse click on a file in the Download List.

You can pick Properties item in popup menu to see/edit properties of the selected file. You can change the location to save file, add description, change URL or server login information (username and password).

Categories

In the left side of the main part of the window is a tree of download categories. Internet Download Manager offers the categories feature to organize and manage your files.  If you don't need it, you may simply close Categories window and don't select any categories when downloading files. Every download category has a name, a default download directory and a list of associated file types. IDM has several predefined categories like Music, Video, Programs, Documents, etc. You may delete, edit them, or add your own categories.

 

 

 

 

Right clicking on a categories item will show a menu to allow you to add a new categories, or to edit or delete existing items. When adding a category, you may choose the file extensions to associate with the category, and you may select the default download directory where to place the files of this category.

 

 

 

 

 

For example, Documents category could have the following extensions "doc pdf xls txt" and the following default download category "c:\downloads\documents".

IDM will suggest the category and the folder automatically when you download or save files that match the list of file types. If you disable save file dialogs in IDM options, IDM will place downloads to their designated folders automatically.

IDM Queues

IDM has 2 main queues: download queue and synchronization queue. Also you can create any number of additional queues.

You can schedule the start and the stop times of download/synchronization queues, or you can start and stop download queues manually. The main IDM list of downloads has "Q" column that shows which queue downloads belong to.

 

 

 

 

The icon with three yellow files means that the download belongs to the main download queue, three green files icon stands for the main synchronization queue. The icon with two yellow and the icon with two green files show that the download belongs to an additional download queue and an additional synchronization queue correspondingly. If a queue is scheduled for the start, then its icon has a small clock sign.

The categories field of the main IDM window has "Queues" node that shows the list of queues.

 

 

 

When you select a queue in the list, the main IDM list of downloads shows only the files that belong to the selected queue. The queues in this list have a simple and convenient context menu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To display context menu you can either right click on the queue, or select the queue and press context menu button on the keyboard.

When you add a new file to download, IDM adds it to the main download queue by default, and IDM deletes the file form the download queue when its download is complete.

You can move or add files from one queue to another with the following ways:

• using corresponding menu item in the context menu of the main download list
• using "drag and drop" from the main download list to the list of queues on the main IDM window
• using "drag and drop" from the list of files to the list of queues on IDM scheduler dialog, Note that downloaded files won't move to the download queues (only to synchronization queues)

Starting and stopping queues

When IDM queue is started, IDM downloads one or several files from the queue at the same time. The number of files to download at the same time can be set for each queue individually on Scheduler -> "Files in the queue" tab.

You can also start (stop) queue processing with the following ways:

• you can press "Start Queue" and "Stop queue" on the main IDM toolbar to start and stop main download queue
• you can use drop-down buttons located near "Start Queue" and "Stop queue" buttons on the toolbar to start/stop other queues. When you click on drop-down buttons, IDM shows the list of queues to select from.

  

• you can pick "Downloads->Start Queue->[Corresponding Queue name]" or "Downloads->Stop Queue->[Corresponding Queue name]" menu items from IDM main menu
• you can pick Start or Stop menu items from queue context menu in the list of queues in "Categories" window
• you can start and stop queues in Scheduler dialog using "Start Now" and "Stop" buttons
• you can also schedule the time to start the queue as well as the time to stop queue processing on Scheduler dialog

How is Dynamic Segmentation and Performance in IDM Work?

IDM Features:

• Dynamic file segmentation that uses in-half division rule
• Full reuse of connections that have finished downloading of assigned segments without additional connect and login stages
• Selectable timeout time and number of connections to tune IDM to your particular connection type

Dynamic file segmentation and connection reuse

Internet Download Manager has optimized file download logic. IDM divides downloaded file on file segments dynamically, unlike other download accelerators that divide downloaded file in segments once just before download process starts. Dynamic segmentation gives significant download performance improvement. When file download starts, it's unclear how many connections may be opened. When new connection becomes available IDM finds the largest segment to download and divide it in half. Thus new connection starts downloading file from the half of the largest file segment. IDM minimizes the time needed for negotiations with servers and keeps all connections busy.

On a progress bar pink lines show start positions, blue - downloaded segments, white - the segments to download.

Once a connection has downloaded a segment (when blue bar comes to a pink line) and if the next connection has not started to downloaded its segment yet, IDM reassignes the segment to the first connection. If the next connection has started to downloaded its segment, first connection helps other slowly working connections by dividing the largest segment in half. IDM won't divide the segment only when its size is too small for this connection type.

When connections have finished downloading all segments, IDM will assemble segments into one file.

IDM saves all file positions several times per minute. Thus after you stoped/paused downloading or even after unexpected power shutoff, IDM will resume download and assemble file correctly.

Pink lines on the picture are new start positions after Resume