What are CBZ files? CBZ files are zipped file archives that have had their extention renamed from .zip to .cbz
What are CBR files? CBR files are rarred file archives with their extention changed from .rar to .cbr
That's nice... but why? These are the extentions associated with the rather excellent CDisplay program, a very good way of reading digital comics.
Can CDisplay read zip and rar files? Yes but you have to run the program then open them manually.
So why rename them? By making file extension associations it means when you double click on a CBR or CBZ file it will open in CDisplay automatically. Zip and Rar extensions are more likely associated with an archive program and you're likely to want to keep it that way.
So what's so good about this CDisplay program? It's a good way of viewing image archives and has a lot of options for presentation and moving through archives, many of which are optimised for comics.
So where do I get it? Here: hxxp://wxw.geocities.com/davidayton/CDisplay ,
What if I don't like CDisplay. How do I read CBR and CBZ files then? You can rename them back to ZIP and RAR files, open them with archiving software and read them any way you please.
How do I make my own CBR and CBZ files? Archive the files as you would normal and just rename them with the different extentions.... yes, it's that simple!
I've opened a CBR or CBZ file and the pages are out of order. What gives? The most likely cause for this is that the files have not been named appropriately. A prime suspect is numbering 1,2,3... rather than 01,02,03 which means page 10 will come before page 2 and 3. The best way to fix it would be to unzip/rar the file and rename it yourself (it's a bit of a pain though). There are some directory structures with multiple issues per archive it can have trouble with as well. I tend to unarchive these packs and archive and rename each issue individually. It may take a while but it makes them easier to read.
I can't open the archive at all. CDisplay just hangs. Help. This could be for a number of reasons. Possibly a corrupt archive or download. One easy thing to try is to change the extention from CBR to CBZ or vice verse as the archive may have been incorrectly named to begin with. Another option is to try to unarchive the file and see if you get any errors when you do that.
