CAB to RAR Converter

Transform CAB archives into RAR format online for free

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CAB to RAR in Clicks

Repackage your Windows-only CAB archives into the widely recognized RAR format — no command-line tools or technical skills needed.

Works in Any Browser

No plugins, no extensions, no downloads. Just open convertio.tools in your browser, upload a CAB file, and get RAR output.

Files Stay Private

All uploaded CAB archives are removed immediately after processing, and converted RAR files are deleted within 24 hours.

How to convert CAB to RAR

1

Select files from Computer, Google Drive, Dropbox, URL or by dragging it on the page.

2

Choose rar or any other format you need as a result (more than 200 formats supported)

3

Let the file convert and you can download your rar file right afterwards

About formats

CAB (Cabinet) is a compressed archive format developed by Microsoft for efficient software distribution and Windows component packaging. Introduced around 1996, CAB files serve as the container format for Windows Installer packages (.msi), Windows system updates, driver distributions, and ActiveX component downloads. The format supports three compression algorithms — MSZIP (Microsoft's Deflate implementation), Quantum (statistical compression), and LZX (an LZ77 variant with Huffman coding optimized for executable files) — with LZX typically delivering the highest ratios. CAB archives organize files into folders (compression units) where files within the same folder are compressed as a continuous stream for improved ratios, and archives can span multiple volumes for distribution on size-limited media. One advantage is deep Windows ecosystem integration — CAB files are handled natively by Windows without third-party software, used in everything from OS installation media to driver packages and system updates. The LZX compression algorithm provides another strength, achieving particularly strong compression on compiled code and PE executables, which is ideal for the format's primary role in software distribution. Microsoft's makecab tool ships with every Windows installation, and CAB extraction is built into Windows Explorer. The format continues to serve as infrastructure for Windows deployment and update mechanisms across enterprise and consumer environments.
Developer: Microsoft
Initial release: 1996
RAR (Roshal Archive) is a proprietary compressed archive format created by Russian software engineer Eugene Roshal in March 1993, distributed through the WinRAR archiver that became one of the most widely installed Windows applications worldwide. The format uses a sophisticated compression algorithm that has evolved through several major versions (RAR 1.3, 2.0, 3.0, 5.0), with each revision improving compression ratios and adding features. RAR5, the current version, employs a dictionary-based algorithm with dictionary sizes up to 1 GB and supports optional BLAKE2sp hashing for integrity verification. The format provides solid compression (treating multiple files as a continuous stream), multi-volume archive splitting, recovery records for repairing damaged archives, AES-256 encryption for both content and filenames, and Unicode filename support. One advantage is reliable error recovery — RAR's recovery record feature can reconstruct damaged archive portions, a capability that made it popular for distributing large files across unreliable connections and Usenet posts. Strong compression performance is another key strength: RAR consistently ranks among the top formats for general-purpose compression ratios, particularly on heterogeneous file collections. While the compression algorithm is proprietary and creating RAR archives requires licensed software, the decompression code is freely available, and extraction is supported by virtually every archiving tool across all platforms. RAR remains one of the most common archive formats encountered online.
Developer: Eugene Roshal
Initial release: March 1993

Frequently Asked Questions

Why convert a CAB file to RAR?

RAR provides solid compression with built-in error recovery records, which helps protect archive integrity — something CAB doesn't offer.

What programs can open RAR archives?

WinRAR is the official tool. 7-Zip, PeaZip, and The Unarchiver (macOS) also extract RAR files without any issues.

Does converting CAB to RAR lose any data?

No. The conversion preserves every file and folder from the original CAB archive — nothing is lost or altered in the process.

Can I batch convert several CAB archives to RAR?

Yes — upload multiple CAB files in a single session on convertio.tools and they will all be converted to RAR individually.

Is there a size restriction for CAB to RAR conversion?

Convertio supports generous file sizes for free users, and even larger files are handled with a subscription plan.

Do I need WinRAR installed to create the RAR file?

Not at all. Convertio.tools handles the entire conversion server-side, so you do not need any archive software on your machine.

CAB to RAR Quality Rating

4.9 (28 votes)
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