Freeware Archiving Programs

There is quite an assortment of archiving utilities to help you archive a number of pictures, documents, etc. into a single file, suitable for emailing or storing long term on a backup drive.

This relates somewhat to an article about replacing paid applications with freeware alternatives I wrote a long time back:

On a related and timely note, I have been tasked with uninstalling un-licensed WinZIP from our corporate workstations and replacing it with IZArc.

Like my company, many organizations have installed WinZIP on their corporate images because up until version 10, WinZIP never stopped working after the initial 45-day trial period was up. Granted, an annoying nag-screen would appear, but otherwise, you could easily use WinZIP FAR beyond the eval period with full functionality, even though you were blatantly opposing the license agreement. Many still to this day are using it, believing it is freeware (it never was).

Here’s a quick summary of some of the most popular archiving tools out there (note that this does not include utilities that are programs that include archiving as a secondary function like Total Commander).

I myself prefer IZArc…what’s your favorite?

IZArc

Version: 3.81 (4.0 now in beta)

Opens: (47 file types) 7-ZIP, A, ACE, ARC, ARJ, B64, BH, BIN, BZ2, BZA, C2D, CAB, CDI, CPIO, DEB, ENC, GCA, GZ, GZA, HA, IMG, ISO, JAR, LHA, LIB, LZH, MDF, MBF, MIM, NRG, PAK, PDI, PK3, RAR, RPM, TAR, TAZ, TBZ, TGZ, TZ, UUE, WAR, XXE, YZ1, Z, ZIP, ZOO

Archives to: (11 file types) .7z, .bh, .bza, .tar.bz2, .cab, .jar, .lha, .tar, .tar.gz, .zip, .yz1

Supports encryption? Yes (AES 128, 192, 256, ZIP 2.0)

Command-Line version: Yes

Portable? Yes

Other notes: Skinnable interface, free for corporate use.

JZip

Opens: (15 file types) .zip, .tgz, .rar, .tar, .7z, .bz2, .iso, .cab, .arj, .tpz, .gz, .z, .gzip, .taz, .tbz

Archives to: (5 file types) .zip, .7z, .gZip, .bZip2, .tar

Portable? No

Other Notes: free for corporate use (without add-ons), MSI version coming soon.

PeaZIP

Opens: (32 file types – 85+ if using plugins) ACE, ARJ, CAB, CHM, COMPOUND (MSI, DOC, XLS, PPT), CPIO, ISO, Java (JAR, EAR, WAR), Linux (DEB, PET/PUP, RPM, SLP), LHA/LZH, LZMA, Mac (DMG/HFS), NSIS, Open Office files, PAK/PK3/PK4, RAR, SMZIP, U3P, UDF, WIM, XAR, XPI, Z/TZ

Archives to: (10 file types) 7Z, ARC, BZ2, GZ, PAQ/LPAQ, PEA, QUAD/BALZ, TAR, UPX, ZIP

Portable? No

Other Notes: Free for corporate use, interface uses drop downs a bit more than the other offerings. Not as ‘WinZIP’-like in this regard.

7Zip

Opens: (18 file formats) ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z

Archives to: (5 file types) 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR

Supports encryption? Yes (AES 256)

Command-Line version: Yes

Portable? Yes