Best Free File Archiver/Zip Utility
These utilities compress one or more files into one smaller file (sometimes called an "archive" or "zip" file). This normally saves space and transmission time. Zip files can normally be password-protected, so you can use this feature to protect your files.
One product that impressed me was 7-Zip. It can unpack a multi-part RAR volume embedded in a ZIP archive, and gives a meaningful error message when attempting to unpack a 256 bit encrypted WinZip archive. My only reservation is that it handles fewer archive types than some others. It only supports 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM, and DEB.
If multi-format capabilities are important to you, I'd recommend IZArc. It can read nearly 50 archive types including media formats like ISO, BIN, and IMG, and can write (and convert) to 12. It can also handle multi-part zip files, which 7-Zip can't. 7-Zip is a little more robust, while IZArc is a little more flexible. If you already use WinZip you'll find either 7-Zip or IZArc make excellent companion products. They can read just about all the major archive formats, including the widely used RAR.
jZip also supports multiple popular archive formats such as Zip, RAR, 7z, ISO, TAR, and GZip. It is fully compatible with archives created by other utilities such as WinZip, WinRar, and 7-Zip.
Strictly speaking, WinRar is shareware, but as it's available as an unlimited trial and is so popular, I've decided to include it. (If you don't register and pay, the program simply "nags", it doesn't stop working). Its ease of use places it as my top choice.
WinRAR's strong on general and multimedia compression, and works on non-RAR archive formats, ZIP compression and decompression, long filenames support, self-extracting archives (SFX), repairs damaged archives, authenticity verification, embedded file comments, and encryption. It supports Unicode filenames, so non-English filenames are no problem. You can manipulate many archive parameters at once, and view volume sequences as a single archive. WinRAR converts other archive formats to RAR, and allows searching for specified text and files in archives. WinRAR’s unpack feature supports ACE, BZ2, JAR, ISO, and ZIP.
7-Zip
Website: http://www.7-zip.org/
Download link: http://www.7-zip.org/
Author: Igor Pavlov
Current version: 4.57
Version date: December 6, 2007
Download file size: 840KB / 1103KB
License: 7z.dll: GNU LGPL and unRAR restriction, all other files: GNU LGPL
Operating systems supported: Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista. Command line version for Linux/Unix.
Additional software required: None
64 Bit capable: Yes
Portable version available: Yes, on http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/7-zip_portable
Non-English languages supported: Yes
IZArc
Website: http://www.izarc.org/
Download link: http://www.izarc.org/download.html
Author: Ivan Zahariev
Current version: 3.81
Version date: June 14, 2007
Download file size: 3.55MB
License: Freeware
Operating systems supported: Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP
Additional software required: None
64 Bit capable: Beta version (113KB)
Portable version available: Yes (IZArc2Go on the download page)
Non-English languages supported: Yes
Other relevant information: You can encrypt files using Rijandael - AES (256-bits) encryption
jZip
Website: http://www.jzip.com/
Download link: http://www.jzip.com/products.php
Author: Discordia Limited
Current version: 1.3 (1.4 Beta)
Version date: January 11th, 2008
Download file size: 2.31MB
License: Freeware
Operating systems supported: Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP
Additional software required: None
64 Bit capable: Unknown
Portable version available: Unknown
Non-English languages supported: Unknown
WinRar
Website: http://www.win-rar.com./
Download link: http://www.download.com/WinRAR/3000-2250_4-10007677.html?cdlPid=10745708
Author: Eugene Roshal / Alexander Roshal
Current version: 3.71
Version date: 1993 First public release date
Download file size: 1.15 MB
License: GNU Free Documentation License. Proprietary
Operating systems supported: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista
Additional software required: None
64 Bit capable: multithread support and Windows x64 shell integration
Portable version available: WinRAR Unplugged
Non-English languages supported: Non-English filenames can be handled
This software category is maintained by volunteer editor Mohamed Beg.
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ALzip. Nuf said.
My fav 100% freeware archiving util for windows is called Filzip
it's home is at: www.filzip.com
It supports: .ace, .arc. arj, .cab, .gz, .lha, .jar, .rar, .tar and of course .zip
it can also make self extracting .exe archives, and password protected archives
It has shell integration you can right click your file in explorer and get a nice context menu of compression/decompression options or if you like working out of a standard compression program gui interface that is available as well. If you want one easy to use program to handle all of your file archiving/extraction needs definitely check it out it is 100% free no bannerware, no time trail limit, no spyware, no nags. I think the author takes voluntary paypal donations. Def deserves a place on this page if you are representing the best.
Author wrote:
"...Filzip fell behind its competitors and bugs did not get fixed..."
Oh, BTW: I forgot to mention the down sides of AlZip (they are minor to me, but may be important so I must mention them)-
1) It is free only for personal use. Do not try to use it in a corporate environment unless you talk to them first. Please don't ruin this for the rest of us, the developers need to make money too.
2) It is not portable - at least not yet.
3) It only works in Windows, though they do have support from Win98 through Vista.
4) It is a Korean product, which means if you don't read Korean you may have a difficult time with their site. (thought they have a very good english site as well, it is at http://www.altools.com/ALTools/ALZip.aspx) It should only cause problems if you attempt to go to alzip instead of altools. Very minor, but confusing if someone is not aware.
Lastly, I do want to mention that I do not have any affiliation with the company other than as an end user. Though I have chatted with one of their evangilists who frequents DonationCoder.com. Enough of that, check out their site for more details.
I agree with the question about AlZip. I have been using this product for quite a while and find it to be the best all-around product available. It can compress in 12 formats and decompress 36 IIRC. It handles the big three formats (7z, zip, rar) admirably, and several others including their own alz format. The only downside is it cannot create rar files, but nothing can except WinRar because RarLabs will not release the rights for anyone to use their compression algorithm. It is their right, of course, but it is a pitty. What I like about the alz format is it can be turned into SFX (self-executing files) just like WinRar and WinZip does (though I believe WinZip ends up making them exe files). In the end, I find AlZip a great alternative to WinRar in every way, since I can open rar files (and most others), while creating archive files in many of the formats as well. It is kind of like the Swiss Army Knife of the compression archive world.
I've used WinRAR for a very long time now; I keep looking for free things to replace it but finding that pretty much I hate everything else's interface. Someday I'll be able to give them money ^_^. 7zip is ok, I keep it around now to fill in the gaps. It's pretty good once you get to the actual archival interface, but I find the main screen of 7zfm.exe annoying for some reason. Maybe I can find an invocation to put in XYPlorer that will take me right to the archive creation page.
7z is handy when you really need the abosulte smallest size, or when you need to scramble the file headers so gmail dosen't go "oh noes, there's an executable file in here!" when you're trying to send an fSekrit note to yourself or whatever -- I have a lot of files encrypted with a key of "z" for that reason :). Haven't had a chance to see if you can do that with winrar.
Glad I came and read here, though, since I'm trying to put together a portable programs directory and while I could live with that I'd rather avoid it if it's not too hard to do. I usually go to http://www.rarlabs.com/ as I think it's the developer's page for WinRAR, but they don't have the portable one there ^_-. (BTW, using 7z to unpack the installer for WinRAR is just kinda strange ... :)
Might look into jZip for the home computer, but it also looks less portable.
--Star Weaver Dosn't Have A Login Here Yet
Hello there;
It's pretty much the same really using one program or combining more than one to get the results that satisfy your itch. On this website you will find that the combinations available will do most archiving work, as yet nothing is capable of covering all fields in this category but believe me we are striving to get that one also, and as the certainty exists that the net will live on so does the fact that we will prevail. Perhaps not what you were hoping for but the night is still young and we must go on. Thanks for the input.
I have problems with IZArc's encryption/decryption: it has made my Quicken backup data unusable. It also corrupts files encrypted with dsCrypt. For example, try encrypting a spreadsheet with dsCrypt. Then use IZArc to archive the encrypted spreadsheet with AES encryption. You will not be able to recover your original spreadsheet. I have posted the problem in IZArc's Forum but have had no response. A solution would be huge for me---my hard disk crashed and am trying to recover my Quicken backup data---which I encrypted with IZArc.
For heavy files (máx 2Gb), I use WinUHA. It's great.
I prefer 7-Zip over any other compression utility I've tried, including commercial ones like WinZip and WinRAR. Of course, I mostly only use it to unpack usenet binaries, so perhaps more exacting users have had different experiences than mine.
Hello your experience justifies the needs that fit your criteria, and I feel as an individual that is all one can hope to achieve. Ambitions are useful tools for improving insight and experience but can also turn out to be a waste of valuable man-hours.
So as far as it goes the information you are seeking for will surely arrive as our surfers frequent this website.
Keep up the vigil it invariably pays off.
Hi
I think the WinRAR has some disabled features like checking archives.
Hello James;
Perhaps a little more Specificity may help so lets have your Protracted view.
We are sure to find a solution.
As far as I can remember, only IZArc was able to compress to a resulting file larger than 4GB. 7-zip unfortunately failed to do that. WinRAR and WinZIP of course can do that. Others free archivers couldn't (it was a year or two ago). If I remember correctly, a newer ZIP format (ZIP64) is required (it's not the same as 64 bits operating systems).
And if you need to zip/unzip from a program, try SharpZipLib. I've also found a COM+ wrapper for it (so I can zip/unzip from a VBS script).
I use 7-zip for its portability and reliability. I routinely create archives containing several thousand files, and found IZArc, for all its user-friendliness, choked on jobs that WinZip and 7-Zip manage, although . For that reason, I wouldn't suggest IZArc without careful testing first.
As a normal user of zip files in general the product is useful, however perhaps some one who uses zip files as a profession with many files to handle may agree with you.
Please keep this kind of information comming it definitely will help save our surfers to this website time and effort of what not to use.
Thanks for the information.
A unique extractor is Universal Extractor, which is capable of extracting contents of the most common installers. It's not perfect and it's still under development, but it is very handy.
http://www.legroom.net/software/uniextract
As with many other programs use of the product by persons of your ilk realize amendments are needed but the developers are the ones who can accommodate us, so till then we use and do the best with what is free.
Thanks for your information.
Sorry, you didn't understood.
- What do you mean "persons of your ilk" ???, what about your ilk?
- First, it's 100% free, no nag screens, no ads, no trial.
- Second the "amendments" to refer are support for the latest installers, I'm not saying the program needs debugging.
- Third, you can't find the features this program provides neither in Winrar or Izarc, this program is a enhanced upacker.
Go for it!
HI there;
It is not the practice of this website to be derogatory to its esteemed surfers in any way what so ever therefore I will not ask you to look up the word ilk.
Just let me rephrase the expression.
A person who has had your experience of certain situations that has made you more critical and therefore accept your findings as an experience to be noted and to learn from.
The new competitor is FreeArc - http://freearc.org/Default.aspx
It's very efficient (compression/time) and is actively developed.
Well that 's what I call an enthusiast, thanks for finding another zip; I will look into its efficiencies and give a report shortly.
Thanks again.
What about ALzip?
Hi there that's another one I'll look into and give you its information shortly.
Regards and all the best.
If anyone is looking for a program only to un-archive files I would give ExtractNow a try. It's small, fast, simple and stable.
Supports ZIP, RAR, ISO, BIN, IMG, IMA, IMZ, 7Z, ACE, JAR, GZ, LZH, LHA, TAR, SIT archive formats.
http://www.extractnow.com/
Well what do you know, another for the grinder?
Will give info shortly.
Thanks again, keep it coming.
izarc 381, Full Windows Vista compatible!
actually, they support vista 32 bit since 3.80. check their change log:
Version 3.8 Build 1510
-Fixed: Shell context menu under Windows Vista (Now IZArc is 100% Vista (32-bit) compatible)
-Fixed: Confirm File Overwrites when extracting *.tar.gz archives
-Fixed: Compress folders with file names beginning with dot (.test)
-Fixed: Shortcuts working directory when do CheckOut
-Fixed: Modify and update files in subfolders
-Fixed: Drag and Drop folder from an archive to Windows Explorer does not extract subfolders
-Fixed: Extraction process is terminated if some error occurs
-Fixed: Extract multi-volume ARJ archives
-Fixed: Check for update
-Fixed: Zip SFX archive crashes when is unable extracting directory to be created
-Added option to compress/extract archives in background (low process priority)
-Added 7-Zip SFX creation support
-Updated UnRar library
-Some small improvements
-Updated translations
One that I have tried is Peazip - http://peazip.sourceforge.net
I did try IzArc but there is a bug with explorer context menu integration causing the right click menu to occasionally be very slow especially with network drives ( IzArc Forum ). At the time of writing there was no fix so I switched to PeaZip.
I second the peazip recommendation.
I tried 7-zip but I disliked its layout. I was sticking with a program called QuickZip, since it was free and still familiar in layout to winzip.
But I found and fell in love with peazip. Small, very snazzy looking, several nice features like secure file deletion, compare, and encrypt with AES. Its the bees knees.
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