What's up with .rar files lately?

[RavensFan]

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed how frequently people are attaching .rar files lately?

I don't understand why people are using .rar when Windows handles the could old .zip file format natively for years.  .rar and .7zip requires someone to download a third party application to be able to read them.  Even if I wanted to go through that trouble, I'm not allowed to install them on my work PC.

I'd like to suggest that .rar be made a blocked file extension on the forums.

[crossrulz]

My company forces WinZip on us, which can handle the rar format.  I'm not sure about the 7z format.  So I can support the rar file, but this is a minority.  I fully agree with blocking rar files.  And while we are looking at the block list, there are some LabVIEW extensions that are blocked.  I don't remember which ones at the top of my head, but these should be reexamined.

[markwni]

Hi @crossrulz & @RavensFan,

Thanks for bringing this up. I will do some research on the rar file and prevalence in use. For reference, here's the current list of allowed file endings. If you see something to remove or add, let me know and we'll discuss.

Thanks!

Spoiler

7z,bld,bmp,c,cap,cfg,chm,cir,cpp,cs,csv,ctl,da,ddd,ddf,digiproj,dll,doc,docx,dot,dotx,dsb,eip,emp,ewprj,flxproj,gbr,gcdl,gcomp,gif,gmrd,grsc,grtm,gpal,gconversion,gtype,gvi,gviweb,gz,h,html,icd,ico,ini,ipk,jpg,jpeg,l4p,l4t,lep,lks,llb,log,lvaddon,lvcompile,lvdd,lvdist,lvlib,lvm,lvproj,lvproject,lvprojx,m,mp4,mp11,ms10,ms11,ms12,ms12,ms13,ms14,ms7,ms8,ms9,msm,nimanifest,nivsprj,nitrace,nipkg,ogp,pdf,png,pps,ppt,pptx,pxiproj,prz,py,rtf,scr,seproj,seq,sli,smuproj,spy,sud,tar,task,tca,tdm,tdms,tdr,tdrm,tdv,tsw,tuc,tui,txt,uir,uri,vascr,vb,vbai,vbs,vhd,vi,vim,vip,vipc,vit,vix,wbassets,wbx,wmv,wsp,xctl,xls,xlsx,xlt,xltx,xsl,xslt,z,zip,sit,llb,rar

[altenbach]

What's more interesting are things that are not on the list, i.e. attachments that can do direct harm if executed (e.g. *.exe, *.bat, etc.). Would't it be much simpler to keep a list of forbidden extensions and allow the rest?

I am questioning this entire thing with allowed extensions because anything can be zipped up and attached if needed.

(we already have the download all attachment as zip. Why can't we mirror that with an upload equivalent where multiple attachments (i.e. more than one!) will always automatically reduce to a single zip file, which would make the "download as zip" obsolete!).