Comparison 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. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date. Unless otherwise specified in footnotes, comparisons are based on the stable versions without any add-ons, extensions or external programs.

General information

Basic general information about the archivers: creator/company, license/price etc.

	Creator(s)	First public release date	Latest stable version	Cost (USD)	Software license
7-Zip	Igor Pavlov	October 1, 2001	4.57	Free	LGPL, Proprietary (RAR plugin)
Alpha ZIP	Alpha ZIP	2004	1.3	$29.95	Proprietary
ALZip	ESTsoft	1999 (as a WinZip translation)	6.7	Free for personal use, $20 for commercial or government use	Proprietary
Archive Utility	Apple Inc.	October 24, 2003	6.3.3	Part of Mac OS X Core Services	Proprietary
Basic zip	A programmer	June 23, 2007	1.0	Free for personal uses, $10 for other uses to support software development	Proprietary
Beezer	Ramshankar	January 21, 2005	0.09	Free for non commercial use	Proprietary
BitZipper	Bitberry Software	2000	5.0.1	$24.95	Proprietary
bsdtar/libarchive	Tim Kientzle	2006	2.5.5	Free	BSD
Disk ARchiver	Denis Corbin	2002	2.3.0	Free	GPL
Filzip	Philipp Engel	?	3.06	Free	Proprietary
FreeArc	Bulat Ziganshin	2005	0.40	Free	GPL
tar	AT&T	1979	1.20	Free	Various
Info-ZIP (Wzip)	Samuel Smith	March, 1989	5.03 (as "WiZ")	Free	BSD-like
IZArc	IZSoftware	?	3.81.1550	Free	Proprietary
jZip	Discordia Limited	October 15, 2007	1.3	Free	Proprietary
KGB Archiver	Tomasz Pawlak	?	1.2.1.24	Free	GPL
PeaZip	Giorgio Tani	September 16, 2006 (as "Pea-Peach")	2.3a	Free	LGPL
PKZIP	Phil Katz	1989	11.0	$29.00	Proprietary
PowerArchiver	ConexWare	March, 1999	10.2	$19.95	Proprietary
Squeez	Speedproject	?	5.61.5260	€24.90	Proprietary
Scifer	Senthil Kumar R	September, 2008	BETA	Free	Proprietary
StuffIt	Allume Systems	1987	12	Free (email registration required) for expander; $49.99 Standard; $79.99 Deluxe	Proprietary
The Extractor	Urban Dahlberg	January 1, 2007	1.4	Free	Proprietary
The Unarchiver	Circlesoft	July 1, 2006	1.6.1	Free	LGPL
TUGZip	Christian Kindahl	August 18, 2002	3.5.0.0	Free	Proprietary
WinAce	e-merge GmbH	?	2.69	$29.00 Standard; $39.00 Plus	Proprietary
WinHKI	Hanspeter Imp	?	1.79	$29.00	Proprietary
WinRAR	Eugene Roshal / Alexander Roshal	1993	3.80	$29^[1]	Proprietary
WinRK	M Software Ltd. http://www.msoftware.biz	May 26, 2004	3.1.1	$29.95	Proprietary
WinUha	Salvatore Ravidà	June 9, 2003	2.0 RC1	Free
WinZip	WinZip Computing, Inc	1990s	12	$29.95 Standard; $49.95 Pro	Proprietary
XAD a.k.a. XADMaster.library	Dirk Stoecker	Circa 1998	13.1	Shareware, Free for non commercial use	Proprietary
ZipGenius	Matteo Riso of M.Dev Software	May, 2003	6.0.3.1150	Free	Proprietary
Zipeg	Leo Kuznetsov	November, 2006	2.4.0.923	Free	BSD-like
ZipitFree	MicroSmarts LLC			Free	Proprietary
ZipZag	Xtreme Soft	?	1.80	$19.95	Proprietary
	Creator(s)	First public release date	Latest stable version	Cost (USD)	Software license

Operating system support

The operating systems the archivers can run on without emulation or compatibility layer.

	Windows	DOS	Mac OS X	Linux	BSD	Unix	AmigaOS
7-Zip	Yes^[1]	Command-line interface^[2]	Command-line interface^[2]	Command-line interface^[2]	Command-line interface^[2]	Command-line interface^[2]	No
Alpha ZIP	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
ALZip	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Archive Utility	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Basic zip	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Beezer^[6]	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
BitZipper	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
bsdtar/libarchive	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Disk ARchiver	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Filzip	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
FreeArc	Yes	Command-line interface	No	Yes	No	No	No
GNU tar	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Info-ZIP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
IZArc	Yes	?	No	No	No	No	No
jZip	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
KGB Archiver	Yes^[5]	Partial	No	Yes	No	No	No
PeaZip	Yes	?	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
PKZIP	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
PowerArchiver	Yes	?	Command-line interface	No	No	No	No
Scifer	Yes	Command-line interface	No	Command-line interface	Command-line interface	Command-line interface	No
Squeez	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
StuffIt	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
StuffIt Expander	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
The Extractor	Yes	?	No	No	No	No	No
The Unarchiver	No	?	Yes	No	No	No	No
TUGZip	Yes	?	No	No	No	No	No
WinAce	Yes	Command-line interface	Command-line interface	Command-line interface	No	No	No
WinRAR	Yes	Yes	Command-line interface^[4]	Command-line interface^[4]	Command-line interface^[4]	Command-line interface^[4]	No
WinRK	Yes	?	No	No	No	No	No
WinZip	Yes	Command-line interface	No	No	No	No	No
XAD	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ZipGenius	Yes	?	No	No	No	No	No
Zipeg	Yes	?	Yes	No	No	No	No
ZipZag	Yes	?	No	No	No	No	No
	Windows	DOS	Mac OS X	Linux	BSD	Unix	AmigaOS

Notes:

^ There is a special 64-bit version for Windows x64 Edition also available.
^ The Unix-like system port is known as p7zip. p7zip also is provided by FreeDOS.
^ The programs for other platforms are called Unace, do not have the same GUI, and can only perform decompression.
^ The programs for other platforms are called RAR.
^ This program also has a POSIX version available.
^ Beezer works on BeOS and ZETA platforms only.

Archiver features

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

	Data compression	Shell integration	Password protection	Multiple volumes	Self extraction	File repairing	Batch conversion	Unicode file / directory names^[5]
7-Zip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Alpha ZIP	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	No	No
ALZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes^[8]	No
Archive Utility	Yes	Yes	No	?	No	No	Yes	?
ARJ	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
Basic Zip	Yes	No	No	?	No	No	No	?
Beezer	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	No	No	No	?
BitZipper	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes^[4]	Yes	Yes
bsdtar/libarchive	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Disk ARchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Filzip	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	No	No	?
FreeArc	Yes	File extension only	Yes	?	Yes	Yes^[3]	No	Yes
GNU tar	Yes^[2]	Yes	No	Yes	No	Separate	Yes	Yes
Info-ZIP	Yes	No	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	?	No
IZArc	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
jZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
KGB Archiver	Yes	Not enabled by default	Yes	?	Yes	No	No	?
PeaZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
PIM	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
PKZIP	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Separate	Separate	No	No
PowerArchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes^[7]
Scifer	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	?
Squeez	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
StuffIt	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
StuffIt Expander	No^[1]	No	Yes	?	Yes	No	Yes	?
The Extractor	No^[1]	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	No	Yes	?
The Unarchiver	No^[1]	No	?	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
TUGZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
WinAce	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
WinRAR	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes^[3]	Yes	Yes^[6]
WinRK	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
WinZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	No	No
XAD	No^[1]	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	?	?	?
ZipGenius	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	?	Yes	No
Zipeg	No^[1]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
ZipZag	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Data compression	Shell integration	Password protection	Multiple volumes	Self extraction	File repairing	Batch conversion	Unicode file / directory names^[5]

Notes:

^ Application is only for decompression.
^ GNU tar calls the external programs gzip and bzip2 to perform compression; these external programs usually come with systems that contain GNU tar.
^ Allows adding of a variable amount of redundancy for much better error recovery. See also RAR (file format).
^ BitZipper uses various methods to extract data from damaged files.
^ 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. Currently, only supported by 7z (7-Zip), RAR (WinRAR), RK (WinRK), and Tar (GNU Tar) archives.
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ Commandline batch compression is available only for ZIP and ALZ formats.

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.

	ZIP	TAR	GZ	BZ/BZ2	7z	RAR	LHA/LZH	ACE	SIT	SITX	ARJ	KGB	DAR	ARC	CAB	ALZ	ISO/CD Image	WIM	SQX	RK	BH
7-Zip	Yes^[8]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No^[1]	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Alpha ZIP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
ALZip^[6]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Archive Utility	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No^[7]	No
Basic Zip	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Beezer	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes^[10]	Yes^[10]	Yes^[10]	No	No	No	Yes^[10]	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
BitZipper	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
bsdtar/libarchive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Disk ARchiver	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Filzip	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
FreeArc	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
GNU tar^[2]	No^[2]	Yes	Yes^[2]	Yes^[2]	No^[3]	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
IZArc	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
jZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	?	?	Yes	?	Yes	No
KGB Archiver	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	No	No	No	?
PeaZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
PKZIP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	?	?	Yes	?	?	No
PowerArchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
Squeez	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	?	?	Yes	?	?	No	Yes	No	No
StuffIt	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	?	?	?	?	?	No
StuffIt Expander	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
The Extractor	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	?	?	?	?	?	No
The Unarchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	?	?	?	?	?	No
TUGZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
WinAce	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	?	?	?	?	?	No	No	No	Yes
WinRAR	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Partial	No	No	No	No
WinRK	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	?	?	?	?	?	No	No	Yes	No
WinZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes^[4]	Yes	No	No	No	Partial^[5]	No	?	Partial^[5]	Yes	No	Yes	No
XAD	Yes^[9]	Yes^[9]	Yes^[9]	Yes^[9]	Yes^[9]	Yes^[9]	Yes^[9]	Yes^[9]	Yes^[9]	Yes^[9]	Yes^[9]	Yes^[9]	Yes^[9]	Yes^[9]	Yes^[9]	Yes^[9]	Yes^[9]	No
ZipGenius	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes^[11]	Yes	No	No	Yes^[11]	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
Zipeg	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	?	?	?	?	?	No
ZipZag	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	ZIP	TAR	GZ	BZ/BZ2	7z	RAR	LHA	ACE	SIT	SITX	ARJ	KGB	DAR	ARC	CAB	ALZ	ISO/CD Image	WIM	SQX	RK	BH

Notes:

^ Used to, but no longer does, due to technical and legal issues. More info
^ GNU tar calls external programs[1] (like compress, gzip or bzip2 or any other programs working with abstract streams and supporting the "-d" option) to perform (un)compression, and allowing you to implement your own filters^[2]. These external programs may be shipped with your Operating System.
^ GNU tar let you to implement your own filters[3], allowing you to use others compression program (p7zip, ...) and others filters (GPG, ...).
^ Starting from version 11.
^ Requires external program. More info
^ ALZip also reads: alz, ace, arc, arj, b64, bh, bhx, bin (hex files), bin (CD images), bz2, cab, ear, enc, gz, ha, ice, iso, jar, lcd, lha, lzh, mim, pak, rar, tar, tgz, uue, uu, war, xxe, z, zip, zoo, 7z, and 001
^ Archive Utility itself is unable to open ISO files, but Disk Utility, which also comes with Mac OS X, is able to mount them as virtual disks.
^ Decompression of ZIP archives can fail with 7-Zip, depending on which archiver was used for the ZIP.
^ XAD is modular and supports virtually up to 300 archive methods and file types. Its GUI (Voodoo-X) supports 80 archive types. So all archives included in the comparison list should be (more or less) managed by XAD.
^ Requires external programs.[4]
^ Requires external program.[5]

Writing

Information about what archive formats the archivers can write and create. External links lead to information about support in future versions of the archiver or extensions that provide such functionality.

	ZIP	TAR	gzip	bzip2	7z	RAR	LHA	ACE	StuffIt	StuffIt X	ARJ	KGB	DAR	ARC	CAB	ALZ	ISO/CD Image
7-Zip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Alpha ZIP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
ALZip^[7]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	?
Archive Utility	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Basic Zip	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?	?	?	?	?
Beezer	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes ^[8]	Yes ^[8]	Yes ^[8]	No	No	No	Yes ^[8]	No	No	No	No	No	No
BitZipper	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
bsdtar/libarchive	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Disk ARchiver	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
Filzip	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	?	?	?	?	?
FreeArc	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
GNU tar	No	Yes	Yes^[1]	Yes^[1]	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
IZArc	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
jZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?	?	?	?	?
KGB Archiver	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	?	?	?	?	?
PeaZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
PKZIP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?	?	?	?	?
PowerArchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Squeez	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	?	?	Yes	?	?
StuffIt^[4]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	?	?	?	?
TUGZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No^[2]	Yes	No^[5]	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	?
WinAce	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	?	?	Yes	?	Yes
WinRAR	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
WinRK	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?	?	?	?	?
WinZip	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	?	Yes	No	No	No
ZipGenius	Yes	Yes^[9]	Yes^[9]	Yes^[9]	Yes	No	Yes^[10]	No	No	No	No	No	No	?	Yes^[9]	No	No
ZipZag	Yes	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
	ZIP	TAR	GZ	BZ/BZ2	7z	RAR	LHA/LZH	ACE	SIT	SITX	ARJ	KGB	DAR	ARC	CAB	ALZ	ISO/CD Image

Notes:

^ GNU tar calls the external programs gzip and bzip2 to perform compression; these external programs usually come with systems that contain GNU tar.
^ Requires rar.exe from WinRAR.
^ Requires external program. More info
^ StuffIt Expander not included in this list because it only expands archives.
^ Requires Ace32.exe from WinAce.
^ The Extractor and XAD are not included in this list because they only expand archives.
^ ALZip can also write to the following formats: BH, JAR, and LZH
^ Requires external program.[6]
^ Updating archives is not supported.[7]
^ Requires external program.[8]

Comparison of efficiency

Numbers in the table below are meant for comparison purposes and are approximate. [9] The percentage figures are the percentage "size of the compressed file compared to size of the uncompressed file": the lower the percentage, the better compression.

Name	Text %	Text time (s)	Executables %	Executables time (s)	Raw images %	Raw images time (s)
7-zip	19	18.8	27	59.6	50	36.4
bzip2	20	4.7	37	32.8	51	20.0
rar	23	30.0	36	275.4	58	52.7
advzip	24	21.1	37	70.6	57	41.6
gzip	25	4.2	39	23.1	60	5.4
zip	25	4.3	39	23.3	60	5.7
lha	27	3.7	40	13.2	61	9.3

Note: RAR version used was an old version that is different from current versions (see source).

Uncommon archive format support

Some archivers support file extraction from .msi and .iso formats as well. These include WinRAR, PowerArchiver, ALZip, IZArc, and 7-zip.

PeaZip has full support for various LPAQ and PAQ formats, QUAD and BALZ (highly effcient ROLZ based compressors), FreeARC format, and for its native PEA format.

References

^ WinRAR and RAR support site

External links

SQUEEZECHART: See which archiver performs best on the world's largest file sets
Maximum Compression - Comparison of many archivers
Lossless Data Compression (links and spreadsheets)
Archive Comparison Test
Compression Tools Compared, Linux Journal, September 2005
Comparison of various softwares of compression (french)

[1] WinRAR and RAR support site

[1]

General information

Operating system support

Archiver features

Archive format support

Reading

Writing

Comparison of efficiency

Uncommon archive format support

See also

Corpora

References

External links