convert downloads to playable format

[thatdonnyguy]

sometimes when i DL a torrent it creates a folder as normal for the file. sometimes it has a bunch of files that say ro1 ro2 etc and a zip file. how do i convert this into a playable folder like the rest are. i used to know how to do this but i been away for a bit. thanks in advance. i am sure this has been covered many times but i don't see it.

[Peter]

- it's a "RAR" file, basically an archive, which has been split up.
- you can play this directly SOMETIMES using VLC media player. you just grab the .RAR or .R00 file into the VLC and it should play.

- most often you can't do this though, or you just want to extract it anyway...
for that, grab the free and open-source 7-Zip program from here: https://7-zip.org/
install it.

once done, right click either the .RAR file or the .R00 file (sometimes the .rar is absent) and then pick 7-Zip -> Extract To "..." option.

- sadly this RAR method will take up twice the space now, because you have to keep the split rars if you want to seed your torrent and you need the extracted version to actually "use it". this splitting has been on the scene for decades, it's been a thing if I know correctly because back in the day, internet was slow and unstable. and if one piece didn't download OK, you could re-fetch that one piece only. a lot of torrent trackers already banned this kind of behavior and they only allow the extracted content on the site. but, not all of them are like this.

[thatdonnyguy]

thank you so much!!

[DanielWatson]

- it's a "RAR" file, basically an archive, which has been split up.
- you can play this directly SOMETIMES using VLC media player. you just grab the .RAR or .R00 file into the VLC and it should play.

- most often you can't do this though, or you just want to extract it anyway...
for that, grab the free and open-source 7-Zip program from here: https://7-zip.org/
install it.

once done, right click either the .RAR file or the .R00 file (sometimes the .rar is absent) and then pick 7-Zip -> Extract To "..." option.

- sadly this RAR method will take up twice the space now, because you have to keep the split rars if you want to seed your torrent and you need the extracted version to actually "use it". this splitting has been on the scene for decades, it's been a thing if I know correctly because back in the day, internet was slow and unstable. and if one piece didn't download OK, you could re-fetch that one piece only. a lot of torrent trackers already banned this kind of behavior and they only allow the extracted content on the site. but, not all of them are like this.

Thank you for answering, I also thanks for the link. You made my day