Comparison of file archivers

On this page

General and technical information for a number of file archivers

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of file archivers. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. They are neither all-inclusive nor are some entries necessarily up to date. Unless otherwise specified in the footnotes section, comparisons are based on the stable versions—without add-ons, extensions or external programs.

General information

Basic general information about the archivers.

Legend: Free/no cost Paid Cost depends Open source (licenses) Proprietary

File archivers	Developer	Initial release	Platform	Latest release version	Latest release date	Status	License	Cost (USD)
7-Zip	Igor Pavlov	1999-01-02	Cross-platform	24.09¹	2024-11-29	Active	LGPL-2.1-or-later(RAR plugin is proprietary)	No cost
ALZip	ESTsoft	1999²	Cross-platform	12.22³	2024-02-07	Active	Proprietary	No cost⁴
Archive Manager(File Roller)	Paolo Bacchilega	2001-05-12	Cross-platform	44.3⁵	2024-05-19	Active	GPL-2.0-or-later	No cost
Archive Utility	Apple	2003-10-24	macOS			Active	Proprietary	Bundled⁶
Ark	KDE team	1997	Cross-platform	R14.1.2⁷	2024-04-18	Active	GPL-2.0-or-later	No cost
B1 Free Archiver	Adam Buyer	2011-08	Cross-platform	(Android), (Linux), (macOS), (Windows)	(Android), (Linux), (macOS), (Windows)	Active	Proprietary	No cost
BetterZip	MacItBetter	2006-05	macOS	5.3.4⁸	2023-04-11	Active	Proprietary	$29.95 USD
Commander One	Eltima Software	2015-08-04	macOS			Active	Proprietary	Standard at no cost.$29.95 Pro Pack.
Compressed Folders	Microsoft	1998-06-25	Windows	Windows 8.1	2013-08-27	Active	Proprietary	Bundled⁹
Disk ARchiver	Denis Corbin	2002	Cross-platform	2.7.16¹⁰	2024-12-08	Active	GPL-2.0-or-later	No cost
Expander	Haiku	2002	Haiku	R1/beta5¹¹	2024-09-13	Active	MIT	No cost
Filzip	Philipp Engel	Unknown	Windows	3.06¹²	2006-07-19	Inactive	Proprietary	No cost
FreeArc	Bulat Ziganshin	2007-11-01¹³	Cross-platform	0.666¹⁴	2010-05-20	Active	GPL-2.0-only	No cost
iArchiver	Dare to be Creative Ltd.	2007-10-21	macOS	1.4.1	2008-10-30	Inactive	Proprietary	$26
Info-ZIP(Wzip)	Samuel Smith	1989-03	Cross-platform	6.0	2009-04-29	Active	Info-Zip¹⁵	No cost
KGB Archiver	Tomasz Pawlak	2006-04-01	Cross-platform			Inactive	GPL-2.0-only	No cost
PeaZip	Giorgio Tani	2006-04-19	Cross-platform	10.5.0¹⁶	2025-06-15	Active	LGPL-3.0-or-later	No cost
PKZIP	Phil Katz	1989	Cross-platform	12.4¹⁷	2009-09	Active	Proprietary	$29.00
PowerArchiver	ConexWare	1999-03	macOS	2.00.01¹⁸ (macOS), 22.00.11¹⁹ (Windows)	2021-11-18 (macOS), 2024-12-24 (Windows)	Active	Proprietary	$22.95
StuffIt	Smith Micro Software	1987	Cross-platform	15.0.7²⁰	2011-12-01	Inactive	Proprietary	$49.99 Deluxe.²¹$79.99 French Deluxe.²²Windows: $14.99 Standard.²³$29.99 Deluxe.²⁴$49.99 French (or German) Deluxe.²⁵ ²⁶No cost for expander.
TAR	AT&T	1979, 1987 (pdtar), 1997 (star)	Cross-platform	3.5.2 (BSD tar), 1.35²⁷ (GNU tar), 1.6.0 (star)	2021-08-23 (BSD tar), 2023-07-18 (GNU tar), 2019-04-15 (star)	Active	BSD-2-Clause (BSD tar), GPL-3.0-or-later (GNU tar), public domain (pdtar), CDDL-1.0 (star)	No cost
The Unarchiver	Circlesoft	2006-07-01	Cross-platform	4.3.8²⁸	2024-05-16	Active	Proprietary	No cost
Terse	IBM	1984-07-01				Active	Proprietary	No cost
TUGZip	Christian Kindahl	2002-08-18	Windows	3.5.0.0²⁹	2008-04-02	Inactive	Proprietary	No cost
WinAce	e-merge GmbH	Unknown	Windows			Inactive	Proprietary	$29.00 Standard.$39.00 Plus.No cost for expander.³⁰
WinRAR	Eugene RoshalAlexander Roshal	1993	Cross-platform	7.11³¹	2025-03-24	Active	Proprietary	$29.³²No cost for expander.
WinZip	WinZip Computing, Inc	1991	Cross-platform	6.9.0³³ (Android), 7.11³⁴ (iOS), 10.0.6204³⁵ (macOS), 27.0.15240³⁶ ³⁷ (Windows)	2023-06-12 (Android), 2023-06-26 (iOS), 2023-03-21 (macOS), 2022-08-23 (Windows)	Active	Proprietary	$29.95 Standard.$49.95 Pro.
XAD(XADMaster.library)	Dirk Stoecker	1998	Cross-platform	13.1		Active	Proprietary	SharewareNo cost for non-commercial use.
Xarchiver	Giuseppe Torelli	Unknown	Cross-platform	0.5.4.25³⁸	2025-03-22	Active	GPL-2.0-or-later	No cost
ZipGenius	Matteo Riso of M.Dev Software	2003-05	Windows			Active	Proprietary	No cost
ZPAQ	Matt Mahoney	2009-03	Cross-platform	7.15³⁹	2016-09-22	Active	Public domainMIT⁴⁰	No cost
File archivers	Developer	Initial release	Platform	Latest release version	Latest release date	Status	License	Cost (USD)

Notes:

Operating system support

The operating systems the archivers can run on without emulation or compatibility layer. Ubuntu's own GUI Archive manager, for example, can open and create many archive formats (including Rar archives) even to the extent of splitting into parts and encryption and ability to be read by the native program. This is presumably a "compatibility layer."

File archivers	Windows	DOS	macOS	Linux	BSD	Other Unix	AmigaOS	Android	Windows Mobile	Windows Phone
7-Zip	Yes⁴¹	Command-line interface⁴²	Yes⁴³	Command-line interface⁴⁴	Command-line interface⁴⁵	Command-line interface⁴⁶	Command-line interface	No	Yes	No
ALZip	Yes	Command-line interface⁴⁷	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
ALZip for Mac	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Archive Manager	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Archive Utility	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Ark	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
B1 Free Archiver	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
BetterZip	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
bsdtar/libarchive	Yes, bundled⁴⁸	No	Yes, bundled	Yes	Yes, bundled	Yes	Partial	Unknown	Unknown	No
Commander One	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Disk ARchiver	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Filzip	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
FreeArc	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
GNU tar	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
iArchiver	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Unknown	Unknown	?
Info-ZIP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes⁴⁹	Yes	No	Yes⁵⁰	No
KGB Archiver	Yes⁵¹	Partial	Command-line interface	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Unknown	?
PeaZip	Yes⁵²	No	Yes⁵³	Yes	Yes	No	No	Unknown	Unknown	?
PKZIP	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	?
PowerArchiver	Yes	Unknown	Yes	No	No	No	No	Unknown	Unknown	?
Star	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	?
StuffIt	Yes	Unknown	Yes	X86 only, older version (5.2.0?)	No	older version (5.2.0?)	No	Unknown	Unknown	?
The Unarchiver	Command-line interface	No	Yes	Command-line interface	No	No	No	Unknown	No	?
TUGZip	Yes	Unknown	No	No	No	No	No	Unknown	Unknown	?
WinAce	Yes	Command-line interface⁵⁴	Command-line interface expander only⁵⁵	X86, Command-line interface expander only⁵⁶	No	No	Command-line interface expander only	Unknown	Unknown	?
WinRAR and RAR	Yes⁵⁷	Yes	Command-line interface⁵⁸	X86 and x86-64, Command-line interface⁵⁹	Command-line interface⁶⁰	Command-line interface⁶¹	Command-line interface expander only	Yes⁶²	Yes	?
WinZip	Yes⁶³	Command-line interface	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Unknown	?
XAD	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	?
Xarchiver	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	?
ZipGenius	Yes	Unknown	No	No	No	No	No	Unknown	Unknown	?
ZPAQ	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Unknown	Unknown	?
	Windows	DOS	macOS	Linux	BSD	Unix	AmigaOS	Android	Windows Mobile	Windows Phone

Notes:

Archiver features

Information about what common archiver features are implemented natively (without third-party add-ons).

File archivers	Data compression	Shellintegration	Password protection	Multiple volumes	Self extraction	File repairing	Batch conversion	Unicode file /directory names⁶⁴	Encryption	Filename Encryption
7-Zip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ALZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes⁶⁵	No	Unknown	Unknown
Archive Manager	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Archive Utility	Yes	Yes	No	Unknown	No	No	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Unknown
ARJ	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Ark	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
B1 Free Archiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
BetterZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
bsdtar/libarchive	non-tar formats⁶⁶	Yes	zip	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	7z, zip, rar	7z, zip, rar
Commander One	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes for 7z
Disk ARchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Filzip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	No	No	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
FreeArc	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
GNU tar	No⁶⁷	Yes	No	Yes	No	Separate	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Unknown
iArchiver	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Unknown	Unknown
Info-ZIP	Yes	No⁶⁸	Yes	Yes⁶⁹	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes⁷⁰	ZipCrypto (weak) and AES⁷¹	No
KGB Archiver	Yes	Not enabled by default	Yes	Unknown	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Unknown
PeaZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes⁷²	Yes⁷³	Yes
PKZIP	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Separate	Separate	No	Yes	Yes	Unknown
PowerArchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes⁷⁴	Yes	Yes	Yes
StuffIt	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown
The Unarchiver	No⁷⁵	some formats	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes⁷⁶	Yes	Unknown
TUGZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Unknown
WinAce	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Unknown
WinRAR and RAR	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes⁷⁷	Yes	Yes⁷⁸	Yes	Yes
WinZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes⁷⁹	Yes	Yes	Yes
XAD	No⁸⁰	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Xarchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
ZipGenius	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Unknown	Yes	No	Unknown	Unknown
ZPAQ	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	No	Unknown	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Unknown
	Data compression	Shellintegration	Password protection	Multiple volumes	Self extraction	File repairing	Batch conversion	Unicode file /directory names⁸¹	Encryption	Filename Encryption

Notes:

Archive format support

Reading

Information about what archive formats the archivers can read. External links lead to information about support in future versions of the archiver or extensions that provide such functionality. Note that gzip, bzip2 and xz are compression formats rather than archive formats.

File archivers	ZIP	TAR	GZ	BZ/BZ2	7z	XZ	RAR	LHA/LZH	ACE	SIT	SITX	ARJ	KGB	DAR	ARC	CAB	ALZ	ISO/CD Image	ZPAQ
7-Zip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No⁸²	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
ALZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
TAR	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Archive Utility	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No⁸³	No
Ark	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
B1 Free Archiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No⁸⁴	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
BetterZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
bsdtar/libarchive	Yes	Yes	Yes⁸⁵	Yes⁸⁶	Yes	Yes⁸⁷	Partial⁸⁸	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
cpio	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Commander One	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Disk ARchiver	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Filzip	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
FreeArc	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	No⁸⁹	No	No	Yes	No	No	No⁹⁰	Yes	No	Yes	No
GNU tar[2]	No⁹¹	Yes	Yes⁹²	Yes⁹³	No⁹⁴	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
iArchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No
Info-ZIP	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
KGB Archiver	Yes	No	No	No	No	Unknown	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
PeaZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
PKZIP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
PowerArchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Star ⁹⁵	No⁹⁶	Yes	Yes⁹⁷	Yes⁹⁸	Yes⁹⁹	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
StuffIt	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
The Unarchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial	Yes	Partial¹⁰⁰	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
TUGZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
WinAce	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
WinRAR	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
WinZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes¹⁰¹	Yes	No	No	No	Yes¹⁰²	No	No	Yes¹⁰³	Yes	No	Yes	No
XAD	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Partial	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Xarchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
ZipGenius	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes¹⁰⁴	Yes	No	No	Yes¹⁰⁵	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
	ZIP	TAR	GZ	BZ/BZ2	7z	XZ	RAR	LHA/LZH	ACE	SIT	SITX	ARJ	KGB	DAR	ARC	CAB	ALZ	ISO/CD Image	ZPAQ

Notes:

Writing

Information about what archive formats the archivers¹⁰⁶ can write and create. External links lead to information about support in future versions of the archiver or extensions that provide such functionality. Note that gzip, bzip2 and xz are compression formats rather than archive formats.

File archivers	ZIP	TAR	GZ	BZ2	7z	XZ	RAR	LHA/LZH	ACE	SIT	SITX	ARJ	KGB	DAR	ARC	CAB	ALZ	ISO/CD Image	ZPAQ	Special
7-Zip	Yes	Yes	Yes¹⁰⁷	Yes¹⁰⁸	Yes	Yes¹⁰⁹	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
ALZip ¹¹⁰	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Unknown	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Unknown	No
Archive Manager	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No¹¹¹	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	No	No
Archive Utility	Yes	No	No	No	No	Unknown	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Ark	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No¹¹²	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
B1 Free Archiver	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
BetterZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
bsdtar/libarchive	Yes	Yes	Yes¹¹³	Yes¹¹⁴	Yes	Yes¹¹⁵	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Commander One	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Disk ARchiver	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Filzip	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Unknown	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	No
FreeArc	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
GNU tar	No	Yes	Yes¹¹⁶	Yes¹¹⁷	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
iArchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Info-ZIP	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
KGB Archiver	Yes	No	No	No	No	Unknown	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	No
PeaZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
PKZIP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Unknown	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	No
PowerArchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes¹¹⁸	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	.bh (BlakHole) by ZipTV
Star	No	Yes	Yes¹¹⁹	Yes¹²⁰	Yes¹²¹	Yes¹²²	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
StuffIt	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Unknown	No¹²³	Yes	No¹²⁴	Yes	Yes	No	No	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	No
TUGZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	No¹²⁵	Yes	No¹²⁶	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Unknown	No
WinAce	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Unknown	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Unknown	Unknown	Yes	Unknown	Yes	No
WinRAR	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
WinZip	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No¹²⁷	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	ZIPx
Xarchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No¹²⁸	Yes	No	Unknown	Unknown	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	No
ZipGenius	Yes	Yes¹²⁹	Yes¹³⁰	Yes¹³¹	Yes	Unknown	No	Yes¹³²	No	No	No	No	No	No	Unknown	Yes¹³³	No	No	No
ZipZip.pro	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
	ZIP	TAR	GZ	BZ2	7z	XZ	RAR	LHA/LZH	ACE	SIT	SITX	ARJ	KGB	DAR	ARC	CAB	ALZ	ISO/CD Image	ZPAQ	Special

Notes:

Uncommon archive format support

PeaZip has full support for Brotli, Zstandard, various LPAQ and PAQ formats, QUAD / BALZ / BCM (highly efficient ROLZ based compressors), FreeArc format, and for its native PEA format.

7-Zip includes read support for .msi, cpio and xar, plus Apple's dmg/HFS disk images and the deb/.rpm package distribution formats; beta versions (9.07 onwards) have full support for the LZMA2-compressed .xz format.¹³⁴

References

"HISTORY of the 7-Zip". Retrieved 3 December 2024. https://7-zip.org/history.txt ↩
As a WinZip translation. ↩
"알집 v12.22 출시!". 7 February 2024. Archived from the original on 11 February 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240211104123/https://altools.co.kr/product/ALZIP ↩
A general serial number was published on developer's website altools.com in August 2012. ↩
"44.3 · Tags · GNOME / File Roller". 19 May 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2024. https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/file-roller/-/tags/44.3 ↩
Included with macOS Core Services. /wiki/MacOS ↩
"Official Trinity Desktop Environment R14.1.2 release". Retrieved 27 June 2024. https://mirror.git.trinitydesktop.org/cgit/tdeutils/tag/?h=r14.1.2 ↩
Robert. "MacItBetter". Retrieved 31 October 2023. https://macitbetter.com/blog/ ↩
Included in Microsoft Windows Windows Explorer shell since Windows Me. /wiki/Microsoft_Windows ↩
"Release v2.7.16". https://github.com/Edrusb/DAR/releases/tag/v2.7.16 ↩
"Haiku R1/beta5 has been released!". 13 September 2024. Retrieved 13 September 2024. https://www.haiku-os.org/news/2024-09-13_haiku_r1_beta5/ ↩
"Filzip home. Try a great, free zip program". https://www.filzip.com ↩
v0.36 ↩
"Freearc news". https://web.archive.org/web/20161122120044/http://freearc.org/News.aspx#0.60 ↩
"Info-ZIP License". spdx.org. https://spdx.org/licenses/Info-ZIP.html ↩
https://github.com/peazip/PeaZip/releases/tag/10.5.0. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help) https://github.com/peazip/PeaZip/releases/tag/10.5.0 ↩
"Latest Product Updates - Support Center - PKWARE Support Site". Archived from the original on 30 May 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20100530055049/http://www.pkware.com/support-desktop/product-updates ↩
"PowerArchiver for MacOS". Retrieved 2 October 2022. https://www.powerarchiver.com/download-powerarchiver/ ↩
"PowerArchiver 2023 – update to version 22.00.11". https://www.powerarchiver.com/2024/12/24/powerarchiver-2023-update-to-version-22-00-11/ ↩
"StuffIt Updates". Smith Micro Software. Archived from the original on 2011-12-06. Retrieved 2015-03-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20111206080544/http://www.stuffit.com/support/updates.html ↩
"StuffIt Deluxe English|German|Japanese". Smith Micro Software. Archived from the original on 2014-07-08. Retrieved 2011-12-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20140708003628/http://store.smithmicro.com/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=13939 ↩
"StuffIt Deluxe Mac French". Smith Micro Software. Archived from the original on 2013-09-19. Retrieved 2011-12-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20130919054319/http://store.smithmicro.com/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=11883 ↩
"StuffIt Windows (Standard)". Smith Micro Software. Archived from the original on 2014-07-07. Retrieved 2011-12-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20140707221122/http://store.smithmicro.com/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=11448 ↩
"StuffIt Deluxe Windows". Smith Micro Software. Archived from the original on 2015-01-16. Retrieved 2011-12-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20150116020215/http://store.smithmicro.com/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=11446 ↩
"StuffIt Deluxe Windows French". Smith Micro Software. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2011-12-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304191525/http://store.smithmicro.com/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=12525 ↩
"StuffIt Deluxe Windows German". Smith Micro Software. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2011-12-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304082152/http://store.smithmicro.com/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=12526 ↩
Sergey Poznyakoff (18 July 2023). "tar-1.35 released [stable]". Retrieved 26 July 2023. https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/info-gnu/2023-07/msg00005.html ↩
"The Unarchiver | Top Free Unarchiving Software for macOS". Archived from the original on 29 July 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240729175831/https://theunarchiver.com/ ↩
"TUGZip - News". http://www.tugzip.com/news/ ↩
Linux & macOS only. ↩
https://www.rarlab.com/. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help) https://www.rarlab.com/ ↩
"WinRAR and RAR support site". Retrieved 2 July 2016. https://www.rarlab.com/shop2rarlab.php?prod=winrar ↩
"Android: Version 6.9.0; Updated on Jun 12, 2023". 12 June 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.winzip.android ↩
"App store: Version History 7.11; Jun 26, 2023". 26 June 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023. https://apps.apple.com/app/id500637987 ↩
"MacOS Version History: 10.0.6204 Mar 21, 2023". 21 March 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/winzip/id1553016842?mt=12 ↩
"WinZip 27.0.15240". 23 August 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2023. https://winzip.en.lo4d.com/download ↩
"WinZip (64-bit) August, 24th 2022". 24 August 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2023. https://www.filehorse.com/download-winzip-64/ ↩
"Release 0.5.4.25". 22 March 2025. Retrieved 31 March 2025. https://github.com/ib/xarchiver/releases/tag/0.5.4.25 ↩
"Release 7.15". 22 September 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2018. https://github.com/zpaq/zpaq/releases/tag/7.15 ↩
"ZPAQ site". Retrieved 2020-08-04. http://mattmahoney.net/dc/zpaq.html ↩
A separate 64-bit Windows x64 Edition version is also available. /wiki/Windows_XP_editions#Windows_XP_Professional_x64_Edition ↩
The Unix-like system port is known as p7zip. p7zip also is provided by FreeDOS. /wiki/Unix-like ↩
The Unix-like system port is known as p7zip. p7zip also is provided by FreeDOS. /wiki/Unix-like ↩
The Unix-like system port is known as p7zip. p7zip also is provided by FreeDOS. /wiki/Unix-like ↩
The Unix-like system port is known as p7zip. p7zip also is provided by FreeDOS. /wiki/Unix-like ↩
The Unix-like system port is known as p7zip. p7zip also is provided by FreeDOS. /wiki/Unix-like ↩
"Command Line ZIP Interface - use scripts to automate zip tasks". Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20120227055125/http://www.altools.com/ALTools/ALZip/Features/Command-Line.aspx ↩
Bundled with Windows 10 since insider build 17063 ↩
Also Acorn RISC OS, Atari, MVS, OS/2, VM/CMS, VMS and others. ↩
General Windows CE version. /wiki/Windows_CE ↩
This program also has a POSIX version available. /wiki/POSIX ↩
A separate 64-bit Windows x64 Edition version is also available. /wiki/Windows_XP_editions#Windows_XP_Professional_x64_Edition ↩
"PeaZip for Darwin / macOS". Retrieved 15 December 2021. https://peazip.github.io/peazip-macos.html ↩
The programs for other platforms are called Unace, do not have the same GUI, and can only perform decompression. /wiki/GUI ↩
The programs for other platforms are called Unace, do not have the same GUI, and can only perform decompression. /wiki/GUI ↩
The programs for other platforms are called Unace, do not have the same GUI, and can only perform decompression. /wiki/GUI ↩
A separate 64-bit Windows x64 Edition version is also available. /wiki/Windows_XP_editions#Windows_XP_Professional_x64_Edition ↩
WinRAR is for Windows, RAR for other platforms. ↩
WinRAR is for Windows, RAR for other platforms. ↩
WinRAR is for Windows, RAR for other platforms. ↩
WinRAR is for Windows, RAR for other platforms. ↩
"RAR - Android Apps on Google Play". Retrieved 2 July 2016. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rarlab.rar ↩
A separate 64-bit Windows x64 Edition version is also available. /wiki/Windows_XP_editions#Windows_XP_Professional_x64_Edition ↩
Extracting/adding file and/or directory names into archive in either UTF-7, UTF-8 or UTF-16/UCS-2 encoding to support single file/directory name which contains characters from different languages. More recent versions of the zip file format have support for Unicode filenames. /wiki/UTF-7 ↩
Commandline batch compression is available only for ZIP and ALZ formats. ↩
Traditionally, tar, cpio, or pax calls the external programs gzip and bzip2 to perform compression; these external programs usually come with systems that contain the archiver. This is the case for GNU tar. BSD tar uses its own implementation, since it also has to deal with archive formats that do their own compression. /wiki/GNU ↩
Traditionally, tar, cpio, or pax calls the external programs gzip and bzip2 to perform compression; these external programs usually come with systems that contain the archiver. This is the case for GNU tar. BSD tar uses its own implementation, since it also has to deal with archive formats that do their own compression. /wiki/GNU ↩
Many shells have built-in zip file support. Windows Explorer has "Send To"->"ZIP-compressed folder". /wiki/Windows_Explorer ↩
Unicode and volumes since version 3.0 (2008). AES since 3.1 (in beta). ↩
Unicode and volumes since version 3.0 (2008). AES since 3.1 (in beta). ↩
Unicode and volumes since version 3.0 (2008). AES since 3.1 (in beta). ↩
UTF-8 file/path-names support was completed in release 3.0.1 on Unix systems, and in release 5.8.0 on Windows systems. GUI UTF-8 support for full internationalization of the application was completed in release 2.2.0. Optionally, extended characters can be set to be replaced by jolly "?" character for exporting scripts to legacy systems; scripts creation screen informs if commands are ANSI-safe, OEM-codepage-safe (on Windows), or requires UTF-8 compliant environment to run (system, command interpreter, etc).[38] ↩
Command-line batch compression and expansion requires free add-on software downloaded from the WinZip website. ↩
Does support Unicode names, but not under the default (initial) option settings: the user must tick "Use OEM conversion for filenames" under "General" on the "Miscellaneous" tab in the Configuration dialog to enable Unicode name support. Full support for Unicode files names by default is supported only for 7-Zip and RAR archive formats. ↩
Application is only for decompression. ↩
Application is only for decompression. ↩
Allows for a variable amount of error correction. See also RAR (file format). /wiki/Error_correction_code ↩
In WinRAR 3.60, when opening 7-Zip archives which contains Unicode file/directory names, they will not be displayed correctly. There will be no problem extracting them, however. ↩
Command-line batch compression and expansion requires free add-on software downloaded from the WinZip website. ↩
Application is only for decompression. ↩
Extracting/adding file and/or directory names into archive in either UTF-7, UTF-8 or UTF-16/UCS-2 encoding to support single file/directory name which contains characters from different languages. More recent versions of the zip file format have support for Unicode filenames. /wiki/UTF-7 ↩
Used to, but no longer does, due to technical and legal issues. ↩
Archive Utility itself is unable to open ISO files, but Disk Utility, which also comes with macOS, is able to mount them as virtual disks. /wiki/Disk_Utility ↩
B1 Free Archiver for Android and B1 Online Archiver support ARJ format. ↩
Supports these formats as compression stream of other archive formats like tar.bz2 or iso.xz but does not support the format as an archive itself, as they are not archive formats. See the above explanation for tar. ↩
Supports these formats as compression stream of other archive formats like tar.bz2 or iso.xz but does not support the format as an archive itself, as they are not archive formats. See the above explanation for tar. ↩
Supports these formats as compression stream of other archive formats like tar.bz2 or iso.xz but does not support the format as an archive itself, as they are not archive formats. See the above explanation for tar. ↩
libarchive has issues reading RAR formats, some partial reads are unsupported hence broken for generic usage.[39] ↩
Used to, but no longer does, due to technical and legal issues. ↩
FreeARC uses .arc as its filename extension, but this format is not the same as the traditional ARC file. /wiki/ARC_(file_format) ↩
Tar implementations call external programs (like compress, gzip or bzip2 or any other programs working with abstract streams and supporting the "-d" option) to perform (de)compression, and allowing you to implement your own filters.[g] These external programs may be shipped with your operating system. /wiki/Compress ↩
Tar implementations call external programs (like compress, gzip or bzip2 or any other programs working with abstract streams and supporting the "-d" option) to perform (de)compression, and allowing you to implement your own filters.[g] These external programs may be shipped with your operating system. /wiki/Compress ↩
Tar implementations call external programs (like compress, gzip or bzip2 or any other programs working with abstract streams and supporting the "-d" option) to perform (de)compression, and allowing you to implement your own filters.[g] These external programs may be shipped with your operating system. /wiki/Compress ↩
Used to, but no longer does, due to technical and legal issues. ↩
Tar implementations call external programs (like compress, gzip or bzip2 or any other programs working with abstract streams and supporting the "-d" option) to perform (de)compression, and allowing you to implement your own filters.[g] These external programs may be shipped with your operating system. /wiki/Compress ↩
Tar implementations call external programs (like compress, gzip or bzip2 or any other programs working with abstract streams and supporting the "-d" option) to perform (de)compression, and allowing you to implement your own filters.[g] These external programs may be shipped with your operating system. /wiki/Compress ↩
Tar implementations call external programs (like compress, gzip or bzip2 or any other programs working with abstract streams and supporting the "-d" option) to perform (de)compression, and allowing you to implement your own filters.[g] These external programs may be shipped with your operating system. /wiki/Compress ↩
Tar implementations call external programs (like compress, gzip or bzip2 or any other programs working with abstract streams and supporting the "-d" option) to perform (de)compression, and allowing you to implement your own filters.[g] These external programs may be shipped with your operating system. /wiki/Compress ↩
Tar implementations call external programs (like compress, gzip or bzip2 or any other programs working with abstract streams and supporting the "-d" option) to perform (de)compression, and allowing you to implement your own filters.[g] These external programs may be shipped with your operating system. /wiki/Compress ↩
Only partial support for reading proprietary SITX format.[41] ↩
Starting from version 11. ↩
Requires external program.[42] ↩
Requires external program.[42] ↩
Requires external program.[43] ↩
Requires external program.[43] ↩
The Extractor and XAD are not included in this list because they only expand archives. ↩
If there are more than one, files must be grouped in a .tar before being compressed. ↩
If there are more than one, files must be grouped in a .tar before being compressed. ↩
If there are more than one, files must be grouped in a .tar before being compressed. ↩
ALZip can also write to the following formats: BH, JAR, and LZH ↩
Archive Manager (previously known as "File Roller") is a front-end only and requires appropriate command-line programs be installed. Programs like bzip2, gzip, tar, zip usually come with systems that contain Archive Manager. writing in .rar format requires a commercial program.[44] ↩
Ark is a front-end only and requires appropriate command-line programs be installed. Programs like bzip2, gzip, tar, zip usually come with systems that contain Ark; writing in .rar format requires a commercial program.[45] /wiki/Front_end_processor_(program) ↩
supports the formats as stream compression of other archive format and can create compressed format like tar.bz2 or iso.xz but cannot create an archive in these formats ↩
supports the formats as stream compression of other archive format and can create compressed format like tar.bz2 or iso.xz but cannot create an archive in these formats ↩
supports the formats as stream compression of other archive format and can create compressed format like tar.bz2 or iso.xz but cannot create an archive in these formats ↩
Tar implementations call the external programs gzip and bzip2, 7z, xz, ... to perform compression; these external programs usually come with systems that contain tar. ↩
Tar implementations call the external programs gzip and bzip2, 7z, xz, ... to perform compression; these external programs usually come with systems that contain tar. ↩
it require console rar.exe, and the path to it -- specified in Options . it can be taken from WinRAR software . PowerArchiever also doesn't support separate definition of the Dictionary Size and Compression Method . ↩
Tar implementations call the external programs gzip and bzip2, 7z, xz, ... to perform compression; these external programs usually come with systems that contain tar. ↩
Tar implementations call the external programs gzip and bzip2, 7z, xz, ... to perform compression; these external programs usually come with systems that contain tar. ↩
Tar implementations call the external programs gzip and bzip2, 7z, xz, ... to perform compression; these external programs usually come with systems that contain tar. ↩
Tar implementations call the external programs gzip and bzip2, 7z, xz, ... to perform compression; these external programs usually come with systems that contain tar. ↩
Stuffit supported file formats[46] ↩
Stuffit supported file formats[46] ↩
Requires rar.exe from WinRAR. ↩
Requires Ace32.exe from WinAce. ↩
Requires external program(if you are using WinZip 11.1 or earlier).[47] ↩
Xarchiver is a front-end only and requires appropriate command-line programs be installed. Programs like bzip2, gzip, tar, zip usually come with systems that contain Xarchiver; writing in .rar format requires a commercial program.[48][49] ↩
Updating archives is not supported.[43] ↩
Updating archives is not supported.[43] ↩
Updating archives is not supported.[43] ↩
Requires external program.[43] ↩
Updating archives is not supported.[43] ↩
"HISTORY of the 7-Zip". www.7-zip.org. 2010-04-15. Retrieved 2010-04-24. http://www.7-zip.org/history.txt ↩

General information

Operating system support

Archiver features

Archive format support

Reading

Writing

Uncommon archive format support

See also

Further reading

References