How to Check the Installed unrar Version

This guide outlines how to determine the exact version of the unrar utility installed on your operating system. Whether you are running Linux, macOS, or Windows, verifying your unrar version ensures you have the necessary features, security patches, and compatibility required to extract modern RAR archive formats.

Method 1: Check Directly via the Command Line (Linux, macOS, Windows)

The simplest way to check your unrar version is by invoking the command in your terminal or command prompt without any arguments.

Open your terminal (Terminal on Linux/macOS, Command Prompt or PowerShell on Windows) and run:

unrar

The tool will print a header banner at the top of the output before displaying the usage instructions. The banner includes the version number:

UNRAR 6.24 freeware      Copyright (c) 1993-2023 Alexander Roshal

In this example, the installed version is 6.24.

Method 2: Check Using Package Managers

If you cannot run unrar directly (for example, if it is not in your system's PATH), you can query your system's package manager to verify the installed version.

Debian, Ubuntu, and Derivatives

dpkg -l | grep unrar

Alternatively:

apt list --installed unrar

RHEL, CentOS, and Fedora

rpm -q unrar

Arch Linux and Manjaro

pacman -Q unrar

macOS (via Homebrew)

brew list --versions unrar

Distinguishing Between unrar and unrar-free

On many Linux distributions, two different versions exist:

  1. unrar (Non-free): Maintained by Alexander Roshal (RARLAB). It supports all RAR formats, including RAR5. Its banner displays UNRAR <version> freeware Copyright (c) 1993-202X Alexander Roshal.
  2. unrar-free: An open-source alternative maintained by the Free Software Foundation. It primarily supports older RAR archives and lacks RAR5 support.

To verify which one you have, run:

unrar --version

If your system uses unrar-free, it will recognize the standard GNU --version flag and output:

unrar 0.0.1 (or similar GNU unrar version)

The original RARLAB unrar does not use GNU-style double-dash flags and will display its default help screen with the Roshal copyright notice instead.