What are the best archivers?

Question

17

Options
Considered

159

User
Recs.

Mar 10, 2021

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

The Best 1 of 17 OptionsWhy?

Best archivers?	Price	Platforms	Last Updated
90 7-Zip	Free	Windows, Unix-like (only CLI)	Mar 10, 2021
-- Peazip	-	Windows, Unix-like	Mar 22, 2020
-- Bandizip	-	WIndows, macOS	Dec 31, 2020
-- Winrar	-	Windows	Feb 9, 2020
-- jZip	-	Windows, Linux, BSD, ReactOS	Aug 24, 2015

See Full List

16 Other Options Considered

Bandizip

Top Con

Adware

HonorableBragi's Experience

Latest version adds nagging / advertisements through update reminders, can't be turned off in Free version. See More

Specs

Platforms:WIndows, macOS

Top Con

Nagware

ExcellentKratos's Experience

Free experience is ruined with the release of version 7 See More

SpiritedLanCaihe's Experience

This is the best and fastest zipping program I have found and its free. See More

See All

BetterZip

Top Pro

Cleans up Archives for better cross OS interoperability

Remove Mac specific files from archives for archives that look and behave well on Windows. See More

Top Con

Limited create / edit archive formats

BetterZip can create archives with these formats: ZIP, TAR, TGZ, TBZ, TXZ (new), 7-ZIP, and — using the external commandline utility — RAR. See More

Top Pro

Direct Mode

Allows editing an archive without decompressing Direct Mode lets you add files to archives without additional steps like saving. This is especially useful for large archives. You can also directly delete files from archives, rename files inside an archive, and move them around – all without recompressing. See More

Top Con

Not free

Top Pro

Presets and automated workflows

Powerful features allow automation of common tasks. For example archives with applications in them can be extracted to the desired Application folder, then the archive itself will be placed in the trash, and BetterZip will exit all with the click of a button. Applescript can also be used to do more complicated tasks. See More

Top Con

Only available for macOS

Top Pro

Quick Look functionality

Quick Look is great, it lets you look inside the archive fast to see how it is organized or if there are any suspicious files you would rather not have extracted. See More

See All

ArcThemALL!

Top Pro

Free and open source

ZipItFree

Add Video or Image

Ashampoo Zip Free

Add Video or Image

Zipware

Add Video or Image

TUGZip

Add Video or Image

Winzip

Top Con

Not free

There is no free version of WinZip. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

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score 56 · Accepted Answer

7-Zip

Top Pro

Free and open source

7-Zip is licensed under GNU LGPL, and the *.7z format has support across all major operating systems. There should be no trouble opening the archives under any operating system, and no need to deal with messages bugging you to register or pay for the app. Source code can be found here. See More

Top Con

Does not support data recovery

It's not possible with 7-zip to add data recovery records to the archive which could repair minor integrity errors. See More

Daniel Spencer's Experience

7-zip is a little clunky but the functionality is great for a free tool. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Unix-like (only CLI)

Top Pro

High compression .7z format

Their own file format .7z that ships with 7-Zip is one of the best compression formats. 7z file format is usually more compact than Zip. See More

Top Con

GUI looks dated

Could use a new fresh user interface. See More

Yanis's Experience

Yep, the best ! See More

Top Pro

Lightweight

Starts quickly. See More

Top Pro

Unobtrusive

No nag screen. See More

Top Pro

Very fast compression/decompression

7z is muli-threaded, allowing it to do very fast compression and decompression. See More

Top Pro

Explorer right-click menu integration

Makes it easy to open any archive file, or create new archives, without having to go open another program first. See More

See All

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The Best 1 of 17 OptionsWhy?

My Recommendation for 7-Zip

My Recommendation for 7-Zip

Free and open source

Does not support data recovery

High compression .7z format

GUI looks dated

Lightweight

Unobtrusive

Very fast compression/decompression

Explorer right-click menu integration

16 Other Options Considered

My Recommendation for Peazip

My Recommendation for Peazip

Supports over 150 archive types

Very clumsy interface

Multi-platform

Open Source (LGPLv3)

Supports PAQ8

My Recommendation for Bandizip

My Recommendation for Bandizip

Adware

Nagware

My Recommendation for Winrar

My Recommendation for Winrar

Create and repair (proprietary) RAR format

Expensive

Can be used after trial period

Ugly, old icon

Annoying reminder popup to buy license on each program launch

My Recommendation for jZip

My Recommendation for jZip

Default installation options include adware

Totally free

Avast! Antivirus automatically deletes the installer because of the optional adware installer included in it

Sleek interface

My Recommendation for BetterZip

My Recommendation for BetterZip

Cleans up Archives for better cross OS interoperability

Limited create / edit archive formats

Direct Mode

Not free

Presets and automated workflows

Only available for macOS

Quick Look functionality

My Recommendation for ExtractNow

My Recommendation for ExtractNow

Lightweight

Auto-delete old zip files after extraction options

In-depth settings

Batch processing from windows explorer's right-click menu

Minimalist interface

My Recommendation for HaoZip

My Recommendation for HaoZip

Discontinued

Has a built in image viewer

Potentially dangerous

Advanced features

My Recommendation for ArcThemALL!

My Recommendation for ArcThemALL!

Free and open source

My Recommendation for B1 Free Archiver

My Recommendation for B1 Free Archiver

Webapp unarchiver available on their website

Multiplatform

Free

My Recommendation for ZipItFree

My Recommendation for ZipItFree

My Recommendation for Rar Zip Extractor Pro

My Recommendation for Rar Zip Extractor Pro

Formats for packing: "*.zip", "*.gz", "*.bz2", "*.7z", "*.xz", "*.iso", "*.lzma", "*.cpio", "*.ar", "*.lzip", "*.lzop", "*.lz4".

Not free

Formats for unpacking: "*.zip", "*.7z", "*.bz2", "*.bzip2", "*.gz", "*.gzip", "*.tgz", "*.tar", "*.rar", "*.xz", "*.cab", "*.iso", "*.lzma", "*.cpio", "*.ar", "*.lzip", "*.lzop", "*.lz4".

My Recommendation for Ashampoo Zip Free

My Recommendation for Ashampoo Zip Free

My Recommendation for Zipware

My Recommendation for Zipware

My Recommendation for TUGZip

My Recommendation for TUGZip

My Recommendation for Winzip

Formats for packing: ".zip", ".gz", ".bz2", ".7z", ".xz", ".iso", ".lzma", ".cpio", ".ar", ".lzip", ".lzop", ".lz4".

Formats for unpacking: ".zip", ".7z", ".bz2", ".bzip2", ".gz", ".gzip", ".tgz", ".tar", ".rar", ".xz", ".cab", ".iso", ".lzma", ".cpio", ".ar", ".lzip", ".lzop", ".lz4".