WinRAR offers to integrate itself to the shell so that you can access some of its most used commands without having to open the main interface. In the past, it was pretty common to split a huge file into multiple RAR files for sharing on the web. RAR is a proprietary format, so only WinRAR can create the archives. The top selling point of WinRAR is its ability in creating RAR archives.
Users who spend hours every day in front of their computers may use an alternative like 7-Zip, but people in general might choose WinRAR simply because it it mentioned a lot here and there. It is a good software and can be used for free so there is little reason not to like it.
WinRAR is a name that might pop up in everyone’s head whenever they have to compress some files or extract archives.