The older version CAR can only decompress. The new SAPCAR utility can work with both formats (.CAR &. There the new extension ".SAR" was born and the new utility was named SAPCAR. Because of this, it was necessary to create a new extension. Therefore, the internal structure of the compressed files slightly changed.
![file archive utility windows file archive utility windows](https://cdn.theunarchiver.com/img/unarchiver-screenshot-01.png)
In SAP release 4.6C SAP decided to enhance the functionality of the CAR utility a bit. The extensions of all compressed files were named ".CAR" as well.
![file archive utility windows file archive utility windows](https://www.gatewaycontainersales.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Secure-document-storage-shelving-fitted.jpg)
In the past SAP developed the tool and named it CAR. There does not exist a graphical interface as used to from WinZip. The syntax is similar to the in the unix enviroment used TAR utility (tar -xvf. SAPCAR and CAR are both command line based tools. SAR files with Winzip, because you would no longer benefit with shrinking down in the size. This utility reaches up to 90-95% compression ratio similar to Winzip for text files - binary files are not compressed that good, as this is just not possible. The compressed files are having the extension ".CAR" or ".SAR". On Windows Operating Systems, the executables are called SAPCAR.EXE and CAR.EXE. SAPCAR (older version was called CAR) is a compress utility (similar to winzip, tar, zip, gz, etc.), that is used by SAP to compress and decompress nearly all delivered files and executables. SAPCAR online help with all supported command line options and further examples.
![file archive utility windows file archive utility windows](https://support.kaspersky.com/images/common_6239_0313-320614.png)
Winzip and Easyzip 2000 as GUI based tools.'7-Zip' - a totally free file archiver with highest compression ratio - far better than WinZip.