You have a CBR file but don't know about it and can’t find a way to open it for reading. For whatever reasons you are curious about this kind of file, this guide by SwifDoo PDF will be helpful. Here is a simple-to-understand and detailed explanation of what a CBR file is and how to open and convert it to a PDF.
What Is a CBR File?
A CBR file can be considered as the abbreviation of a Comic Book RAR Archive file. It is also usually called a Comic Book Reader File. With the .cbr file extension, this type of file contains sequential images for presenting comic books or collections of illustrations. The CDisplay comic book and image viewer first made the file famous.
The images in a CBR file are compressed and often in JPEG, PNG, or GIF format. Although CBR files with these images are actually saved in the RAR file format, they are renamed to the CBR format to indicate the content type.
Some similar files created for storing and displaying digital comic books include CBZ, which stores pictures in the ZIP file format. The comic archiving files in CBR or other file formats/extensions can be contained inside CBC files.
How to Open a CBR File
CBR file openers and readers are available for Windows and Mac PCs and laptops, and some are mobile.
CDisplayEx is an application many readers use to open a .cbr file on Android and Windows. The Windows-based ComicRack, Comic Seer, and CBR Reader are other comic book readers that support the .cbr file type. If you need to read a CBR file on a Mac, Simple Comic and Calibre are good choices. The open-source Calibre is also compatible with Linux and macOS. Manga Viewer enables you to open CBR archives on iPhone and iPad.
How to open a CBR file with CDisplayEx on Windows:
- Start the downloaded and installed CDisplayEx;
- Go to File and click Load Files to select your CBR file;
- Import, open, and read the CBR file.
How to open CRB files with ComicRack on Windows:
- Launch the comic archive file reader software;
- Click the Tools menu to choose Open Book in the top right corner;
- Select All Files from the drop-down menu on the right side of the File name;
- Double-click the .cbr file for instant opening and access.
You can follow a similar method to open any CBR comic book file with the rest of the mentioned CBR file viewers.
CBR VS PDF
PDF has lots of advantages over the digital comic book format.
- Merging, compressing, and reducing PDF file size are much easier than CBR files;
- CBR files don't store metadata, but PDFs can;
- You can search copy and navigate through the same page number order in a PDF while not in a CBR file;
- A CBR file requires a dedicated comic book reader application to open, but PDF files are more accessible and universal.
How to Convert CBR to PDF
People often like to convert CBR to PDF for convenient editing, modifying, or reading. You can use SwifDoo PDF to convert a CBR file to a PDF document. When you open your file in a reader app, export the pages as images without losing quality or screenshot them, choose Convert > Image to PDF in SwifDoo PDF, add the images, choose Create a New PDF, and start to convert the CBR – now images to a PDF in one click.
If you want to open a CBR file as a PDF, online CBR file converters like FreeConvert.com and CloudConvert can help. To convert a CBR file to a PDF, upload your comic book RAR file to the converter, choose PDF as the output format, and click the Convert button.
Or, some CBR file readers can act as CBR file to PDF converters. For example, click the Folders tab in ComicRack, locate the folder where the file is, right-click on the comic book that appears, choose Export Books, select the file format as PDF, and specify the saving path to convert the CBR file into PDF.
