Archive name and parameters dialog: general options

WinRAR

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Archive name and parameters dialog: general options

The dialog contains the following items:

Destination archive name

Enter the name manually or press the "Browse" button to browse for the archive name. You may enter a name containing a disk letter or the full path to the archive.

Profiles

Opens the menu allowing to create new, organize and select compression profiles. Compression profiles allow you to quickly restore previously saved compression options or to specify default options for this dialog. WinRAR provides a few predefined profiles optimized for creating e-mail attachments, backup files and other operations. Please see the topic Compression profiles for more information.

Archive format (RAR, RAR5, ZIP)

Select format of newly created archive. You can specify RAR to use RAR 4.x compatible format, RAR5 for latest RAR 5.0 format or ZIP to create ZIP archive. Depending on archive format selected, some advanced options not supported by target format will be disabled. If you update an existing archive, this option is ignored and WinRAR uses the format of updating archive.

Compression method

Choose between "Store", "Fastest", "Fast", "Normal", "Good" and "Best" methods. "Store" writes files to archive at maximum speed and without compression. All following methods compress data, providing a higher compression ratio and lower speed when going from "Fastest" to "Best".

Dictionary size

This is a size of memory area used to find and compress repeated patterns in processing data. Larger compression dictionary sometimes allows to improve the compression ratio of big files, especially when creating a solid archive. But larger dictionary also decreases the compression speed and increases memory requirements. Compression needs about 6 times more memory than dictionary size. Decompression takes slightly more memory than just 1 dictionary size. If you expect your RAR 5.0 archive to be decompressed on all kinds of computers, including those with small memory, better avoid maximum dictionary sizes and select something in the middle, like 32 or 64 MB.

Maximum dictionary size for RAR 4.x archives is 4 MB. RAR 5.0 format allows to create archives with up to 1 GB dictionary in 64 bit WinRAR version and up to 256 MB in 32 bit WinRAR (up to 128 MB in Windows XP x86). Decompression needs less memory than compression, so both 32 and 64 bit WinRAR can decompress archives with all dictionary sizes including 1 GB provided that computer has more than 1 GB of available memory. ZIP format dictionary size is fixed to 32 KB.

Volume size in "Split to volumes, size" field

If you wish to create volumes, enter a size of single volume here. You can choose size units in the drop down list to the right of size field. In this list "B" means bytes, "KB" - kilobytes, "MB" - megabytes and "GB" - gigabytes.

It is allowed to enter decimal fractions using the decimal symbol defined in Windows regional settings.

Also it is possible to select units by appending one or two characters to volume size string. Lowercase 'k' means kilobytes, uppercase 'K' - thousands of bytes, 'm' - megabytes, 'M' - millions of bytes, 'g' - gigabytes, 'G' - billions (milliards) of bytes. "KB", "MB" and "GB" always mean kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes regardless of character case.

Volume size input field has the associated drop down list containing previously entered, predefined and defined by user values. You can use this list to quickly select any of items it contains. This list can be customized with Define volume sizes dialog. To activate it press "Define volume sizes…" button in Compression settings dialog.

If you are archiving to removable disks and using RAR format, you may select "Autodetect" from the list and WinRAR will choose the volume size automatically for each new volume.

Update mode

  • Add and replace files (default). Always replace archived files, which have same name as files to be added. Always add those files, which are not present in the archive.
  • Add and update files. Replace archived files only if added files are newer. Always add those files, which are not present in the archive.
  • Freshen existing files only. Replace archived files only if added files are newer. Do not add those files, which are not present in the archive.
  • Ask before overwrite. Ask for confirmation to overwrite archived files, which have same name as files to be added. Always add those files, which are not present in the archive.
  • Skip existing files. Do not replace archived files, which have same name as files to be added. Always add those files, which are not present in the archive.
  • Synchronize archive contents. Replace archived files only if added files are newer. Always add those files, which are not present in the archive. Delete those archived files, which are not present in the added files. It looks similar to creating a new archive, but with the one important exception: if no files are modified since a last backup, the operation is performed much faster than the creation of a new archive.

Delete files after archiving

Remove successfully archived source files.

Create SFX archive

Creates a self-extracting archive (exe file), which can be unpacked without using any other programs. You may select the type of SFX module and set a few other SFX parameters like a destination folder in the Advanced options of this dialog.

Create solid archive

Creates a solid archive. Usually gives higher compression ratios, but applies some restrictions. Read the description of solid archives for more details.

Add recovery record

Adds the recovery record, which may help to restore an archive in case of damage. You can specify the recovery record size in Advanced options of this dialog. Default value is 3% of total archive size.

Test archived files

Test files after archiving. This option is especially useful if "Delete files after archiving" is also enabled. In this case files will be deleted only if the archive had been successfully tested.

Lock archive

A locked archive cannot be modified by WinRAR. You may lock important archives to prevent accidental modification.

Set password

Set a password to encrypt archived files. It is valid only during a single archiving operation and overrides the default password entered in File menu. If the default password is present, it will be restored after the archiving operation is completed. If the default password was absent before starting archiving, it also will be absent after finishing the operation.

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