The size of a RAR archive, as well as the size of any single file within a RAR archive, is limited to 8,589,934,591 GB (that's 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 bytes!). Note that to create archives larger than 4 GB, you need to use NTFS, as older file systems do not support such large files.

The size of a ZIP archive, as well as the size of any single file within a ZIP archive, is of course limited to 2 GB. Click here for a more detailed comparison.

In general the RAR archive format is much better optimized for heavy tasks involving huge number of files and gigabytes of disk space.

Why register?
These are your benefits when buying a WinRAR / RAR registered license:

YOU CAN CONTINUE TO USE WinRAR / RAR LEGALLY.
You may use WinRAR / RAR in commercial and other environments. As stated in our license text (License.txt is included with every download) and as is common practice in shareware, any user can test the software for free for a certain period of time (up to 40 days) by using our WinRAR free download service. If you like the software and want to keep using it, you are required to purchase a license in order to keep using the software legally.

ADDITIONAL SECURITY.
With a Full Personal License you will be able to sign archives with your personal Authenticity Verification Code. For WinRAR and RAR for Linux (v 2.60 and above), information concerning the creator, last update time and archive name, is included in every new and updated archive. The main advantage of this authenticity verification code is a significant increase in the strength of the registration code and thus it's use as a means of identification of the origin of a sealed archive. Your AV code also a great way to advertise your name or company name to all your archive users!

LOGGING / Log errors to file feature.
With this feature you can write error messages and information on archive damage to the file rar.log to your \WinRAR folder. This feature is very useful to find the sources of any archive damage, e.g. in the case of downloaded, or large archives.

UNLIMITED FREE UPGRADES!
Purchasing the full version entitles you to ALL future WinRAR/RAR releases, on that same OS platform, including all the latest features, absolutely free. WinRAR and RAR are continuously under development, to implement new technologies and adding customer recommended features. As new and improved versions will be available to you on a regular basis, we suggest that you bookmark this site so that you can check here regularly.
Best of all, by registering you are encouraging the author, Alexander Roschal to further develop and improve WinRAR/RAR, making new releases possible .

FREE EMAIL SUPPORT. 
For your free email support contact us. When a major version number is changed, it may be deemed necessary, due to the activities of hackers, to change the registration method. If this happens it will be prominently advised on this site, you will then need to contact us with full details of your original registration.

40 DAY TRIAL VERSION LIMITATIONS.
Depending on the specific version you are using, the more advanced features may be disabled until you either buy WinRAR or buy RAR licence(s).   

Registration procedure
After you purchase your RAR or WinRAR registration we will do our very best to send your registration key file to your e-mail address within 1 working day of receiving your details and registration fee. Your key will be registered to the AV code you provided on the Checkout page. More...