No, avast! really shouldn't modify the scanned file (actually, it opens the file in read-only mode, so it shouldn't be possible at all).
I'd suggest to compare the files to see the differences, if there are any. (so, for example, if WinRAR announces that the file was modified, don't close the dialog, go to the TEMP folder, find the mentioned file, copy it somewhere else, extract it from the original archive to a different location and compare these two files - e.g. using the FC /b command.