What Are .r34 Files?

In some cases, computer users compress files or data to make them more “portable” or easier to store. Among the many types of compressed file extensions, those labeled .r34 work much the same way as other compressed file types.

1. Purpose

   • Files with the extension .r34 are a derivative of .rar files. Like .rar files, .r34 files are compressed files from a multi-volume archive, functioning as data containers. Basically, .r34 files are the thirty-fourth part of a total volume of compressed .rar files. Unpacked .r34 files contain one or many compressed files that must be extracted before they can be used. This type of file supports Unicode for non-English file names and features AES-128 encryption, an advanced worldwide standard for data protection.

   Compatibility

   • Compressed .r34 files must be opened, or unpacked, with an extraction tool, also known as a data compression utility, file extractor or file unpacker. Free programs such as WinRAR, the original extraction program for .rar files, and BitZipper open .r34 files, as does the free utility Universal Extractor, also known as UniExtract. Pay-to-use file extraction and compression programs such as WinZip fit the bill for opening and extracting .r34 files.

   Similar Files

   • Files with the .rar or .r34 extension aren't the only type of compressed files. Other compressed file types include .zip files, .arj files, .tar.gz files and .tgz files. Less commonly, compressed files with the extensions .arc, .as, .b64, .bz, .cab.lzh, .gz, .pf, .uu, .uue, .tbz, .tbz2 and .zoo appear. Many of the file extraction utilities that open .r34 files also unpack these file types.

   Extraction

   • To extract a file that has been compressed into an .r34 file – the thirty-fourth volume of a .rar file – every split part of the file must be in the same directory. When unpacking, users must extract the first volume first. From there, the file extraction utility locates and decompresses all the necessary parts of the file for regular use.