At Last, Windows Will Natively Get RAR Support

Get ready to say goodbye to WinRAR as Microsoft said that Windows 11 is set to natively support RAR along with other archive formats that Windows users have been waiting a long time for.

Windows chief Panos Panay made the announcement in a blog post today, boasting the improved archiving functionality of Windows 11.

“We have added native support for additional archive formats, including tar, 7-zip, rar, gz and many others using the libarchive open-source project,” Panay said.

“You now can get improved performance of archive functionality during compression on Windows,” he added.

Expect the new build to roll out to Windows machines soon.

Enhanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities

Panay also added that there will be enhanced AI support for Windows 11 through Windows Copilot.

“We’re thrilled to introduce Windows Copilot. Windows is the first PC platform to provide centralized AI assistance for customers. Together, with Bing Chat and first- and third-party plugins, you can focus on bringing your ideas to life, completing complex projects and collaborating instead of spending energy finding, launching and working across multiple applications,” Panay said in his blog post

Windows Copilot will also bring ChatGPT integration to your machine.

“With Bing and ChatGPT plugins in Windows Copilot, people will not only have access to augmented AI capabilities and experiences, but you as developers will also have new ways to reach and innovate for our shared customers. We welcome you to be part of the Windows Copilot journey by continuing to invest in Bing and ChatGPT plugins so your investments will carry forward to Windows Copilot,” Panay added.

Expect Windows Copilot to roll out in preview for Windows on June 11. (GFB)