Comparison of file archivers

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This article compares several notable file archiver utilities. Unless otherwise noted, comparisons are for full release versions (not prerelease) and for installations without extra aspects such as add-ons, extensions or external programs.

General information

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	25.01 [1]	2025-08-03	Active	LGPL-2.1-or-later (RAR plugin is proprietary)	No cost
ALZip	ESTsoft	1999 [a]	Cross-platform	12.22 [2]	2024-02-07	Active	Proprietary	No cost [b]
Archive Manager (File Roller)	Paolo Bacchilega	2001-05-12	Cross-platform	44.3 [3]	2024-05-19	Active	GPL-2.0-or-later	No cost
Archive Utility	Apple	2003-10-24	macOS			Active	Proprietary	Bundled [c]
Ark	KDE team	1997	Cross-platform	R14.1.2 [4]	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	5.3.4 [5]	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	Bundled [d]
Disk ARchiver	Denis Corbin	2002	Cross-platform	2.7.16 [6]	2024-12-08	Active	GPL-2.0-or-later	No cost
Expander	Haiku	2002	Haiku	R1/beta5 [7]	2024-09-13	Active	MIT	No cost
Filzip	Philipp Engel	Un­known	Windows	3.06 [8]	2006-07-19	Inactive	Proprietary	No cost
FreeArc	Bulat Ziganshin	2007-11-01 [e]	Cross-platform	0.666 [9]	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-Zip [10]	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	10.6.0 [11]	2025-08-09	Active	LGPL-3.0-or-later	No cost
PKZIP	Phil Katz	1989	Cross-platform	12.4 [12]	2009-09	Active	Proprietary	$29.00
PowerArchiver	ConexWare	1999-03	macOS	2.00.01 [13]   (macOS), 22.00.11 [14]   (Windows)	2021-11-18 (macOS), 2024-12-24 (Windows)	Active	Proprietary	$22.95
StuffIt	Smith Micro Software	1987	Cross-platform	15.0.7 [15]	2011-12-01	Inactive	Proprietary	$49.99 Deluxe. [16] $79.99 French Deluxe. [17] Windows: $14.99 Standard. [18] $29.99 Deluxe. [19] $49.99 French (or German) Deluxe. [20] [21] No cost for expander.
TAR	AT&T	1979, 1987 (pdtar), 1997 (star)	Cross-platform	3.5.2 (BSD tar), 1.35 [22]   (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	4.3.8 [23]	2024-05-16	Active	Proprietary	No cost
Terse	IBM	1984-07-01				Active	Proprietary	No cost
TUGZip	Christian Kindahl	2002-08-18	Windows	3.5.0.0 [24]	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. [f]
WinRAR	Eugene Roshal Alexander Roshal	1993	Cross-platform	7.12 [25]	2025-06-25	Active	Proprietary	$29. [26] No cost for expander.
WinZip	WinZip Computing, Inc	1991	Cross-platform	6.9.0 [27]   (Android), 7.11 [28]   (iOS), 10.0.6204 [29]   (macOS), 27.0.15240 [30] [31]   (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	Shareware No cost for non-commercial use.
Xarchiver	Giuseppe Torelli	Un­known	Cross-platform	0.5.4.25 [32]	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	7.15 [33]	2016-09-22	Active	Public domain MIT [34]	No cost
File archivers	Developer	Initial release	Platform	Latest release version	Latest release date	Status	License	Cost (USD)

Notes:

1. As a WinZip translation.
2. A general serial number was published on developer's website altools.com in August 2012.
3. Included with macOS Core Services.
4. Included in Microsoft Windows Windows Explorer shell since Windows Me.
5. v0.36
6. Linux & macOS only.

Operating system support

The following table identifies the operating systems that archivers can run on directly – without emulation or a compatibility layer.

File archivers	Windows	DOS	macOS	Linux	BSD	Other Unix	AmigaOS	Android	Windows Mobile	Windows Phone
7-Zip	Yes [a]	Command-line interface [b]	Yes [b]	Command-line interface [b]	Command-line interface [b]	Command-line interface [b]	Command-line interface	No	Yes	No
ALZip	Yes	Command-line interface [35]	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, bundled [c]	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	Yes [d]	Yes	No	Yes [e]	No
KGB Archiver	Yes [f]	Partial	Command-line interface	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Un­known	?
PeaZip	Yes [a]	No	Yes [36]	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 interface [g]	Command-line interface expander only [g]	X86, Command-line interface expander only [g]	No	No	Command-line interface expander only	Un­known	Un­known	?
WinRAR and RAR	Yes [a]	Yes	Command-line interface [h]	X86 and x86-64, Command-line interface [h]	Command-line interface [h]	Command-line interface [h]	Command-line interface expander only	Yes [37]	Yes	?
WinZip	Yes [a]	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:

1. A separate 64-bit Windows x64 Edition version is also available.
2. The Unix-like system port is known as p7zip. p7zip also is provided by FreeDOS.
3. Bundled with Windows 10 since insider build 17063
4. Also Acorn RISC OS, Atari, MVS, OS/2, VM/CMS, VMS and others.
5. General Windows CE version.
6. This program also has a POSIX version available.
7. The programs for other platforms are called Unace, do not have the same GUI, and can only perform decompression.
8. WinRAR is for Windows, RAR for other platforms.

Archiver features

The following table indicates which archivers implement various archiver features natively – without third-party add-ons.

File archivers	Data compression	Shell integration	Password protection	Multiple volumes	Self extraction	File repairing	Batch conversion	Unicode file / directory names [a]	Encryption	Filename Encryption
7-Zip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ALZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes [b]	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 formats [c]	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	No [c]	Yes	No	Yes	No	Separate	Yes	Yes	Un­known	Un­known
iArchiver	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Un­known	Un­known
Info-ZIP	Yes	No [d]	Yes	Yes [e]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes [e]	ZipCrypto (weak) and AES [e]	No
KGB Archiver	Yes	Not enabled by default	Yes	Un­known	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Un­known
PeaZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes [f]	Yes [g]	Yes
PKZIP	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Separate	Separate	No	Yes	Yes	Un­known
PowerArchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes [h]	Yes	Yes	Yes
StuffIt	Yes	Yes	Yes	Un­known	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Un­known
The Unarchiver	No [i]	some formats	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes [i]	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	Yes [j]	Yes	Yes [k]	Yes	Yes
WinZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes [g]	Yes	Yes	Yes
XAD	No [i]	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	Shell integration	Password protection	Multiple volumes	Self extraction	File repairing	Batch conversion	Unicode file / directory names [a]	Encryption	Filename Encryption

Notes:

1. 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.
2. Commandline batch compression is available only for ZIP and ALZ formats.
3. 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.
4. Many shells have built-in zip file support. Windows Explorer has "Send To"->"ZIP-compressed folder".
5. Unicode and volumes since version 3.0 (2008). AES since 3.1 (in beta).
6. 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]
7. Command-line batch compression and expansion requires free add-on software downloaded from the WinZip website.
8. 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.
9. Application is only for decompression.
10. Allows for a variable amount of error correction. See also RAR (file format).
11. 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.

Archive format support

Reading

The following table identifies the archive formats that each archiver can read. 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	No [a]	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	No [b]	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	No [c]	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	Yes [d]	Yes [d]	Yes	Yes [d]	Partial [e]	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	No [a]	No	No	Yes	No	No	No [f]	Yes	No	Yes	No
GNU tar [2]	No [h]	Yes	Yes [h]	Yes [h]	No [a]	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 [h]	No [h]	Yes	Yes [h]	Yes [h]	Yes [h]	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	Partial [i]	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	Yes [j]	Yes	No	No	No	Yes [k]	No	No	Yes [k]	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	Yes [l]	Yes	No	No	Yes [l]	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:

1. Used to, but no longer does, due to technical and legal issues.
2. 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.
3. B1 Free Archiver for Android and B1 Online Archiver support ARJ format.
4. 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.
5. libarchive has issues reading RAR formats, some partial reads are unsupported hence broken for generic usage. ^[39]
6. FreeARC uses .arc as its filename extension, but this format is not the same as the traditional ARC file.
7. GNU tar lets you implement your own filters, ^[40] allowing you to use other compression programs (p7zip, ...) and filters (GPG, ...).
8. 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.
9. Only partial support for reading proprietary SITX format. ^[41]
10. Starting from version 11.
11. Requires external program. ^[42]
12. Requires external program. ^[43]

Writing

The following table identifies the archive formats that each archiver ^[a] can write and create. 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	Yes [b]	Yes [b]	Yes	Yes [b]	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
ALZip [c]	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	No [d]	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	No [e]	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	Yes [f]	Yes [f]	Yes	Yes [f]	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	Yes [g]	Yes [g]	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	Yes [h]	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	.bh (BlakHole) by ZipTV
Star	No	Yes	Yes [g]	Yes [g]	Yes [g]	Yes [g]	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
StuffIt	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Un­known	No [i]	Yes	No [i]	Yes	Yes	No	No	Un­known	Un­known	Un­known	Un­known	Un­known	No
TUGZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Un­known	No [j]	Yes	No [k]	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	No [l]	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	ZIPx
Xarchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No [m]	Yes	No	Un­known	Un­known	Yes	Un­known	Un­known	Un­known	Un­known	Un­known	Un­known	No
ZipGenius	Yes	Yes [n]	Yes [n]	Yes [n]	Yes	Un­known	No	Yes [o]	No	No	No	No	No	No	Un­known	Yes [n]	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:

1. The Extractor and XAD are not included in this list because they only expand archives.
2. If there are more than one, files must be grouped in a .tar before being compressed.
3. ALZip can also write to the following formats: BH, JAR, and LZH
4. 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]
5. 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]
6. 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
7. Tar implementations call the external programs gzip and bzip2, 7z, xz, ... to perform compression; these external programs usually come with systems that contain tar.
8. 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 .
9. Stuffit supported file formats ^[46]
10. Requires rar.exe from WinRAR.
11. Requires Ace32.exe from WinAce.
12. Requires external program(if you are using WinZip 11.1 or earlier). ^[47]
13. 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]}
14. Updating archives is not supported. ^[43]
15. Requires external program. ^[43]

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. ^[50]

See also

• Comparison of archive formats
• Lossless compression benchmarks
• Comparison of file systems
• List of archive formats
• List of file systems

References

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14. "PowerArchiver 2023 – update to version 22.00.11".
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17. "StuffIt Deluxe Mac French". Smith Micro Software. Archived from the original on 2013-09-19. Retrieved 2011-12-01.
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19. "StuffIt Deluxe Windows". Smith Micro Software. Archived from the original on 2015-01-16. Retrieved 2011-12-01.
20. "StuffIt Deluxe Windows French". Smith Micro Software. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2011-12-01.
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22. Sergey Poznyakoff (18 July 2023). "tar-1.35 released [stable]" . Retrieved 26 July 2023.
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24. "TUGZip - News".
25. https://www.rarlab.com/.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
26. "WinRAR and RAR support site" . Retrieved 2 July 2016.
27. "Android: Version 6.9.0; Updated on Jun 12, 2023". 12 June 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
28. "App store: Version History 7.11; Jun 26, 2023". 26 June 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
29. "MacOS Version History: 10.0.6204 Mar 21, 2023". 21 March 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
30. "WinZip 27.0.15240". 23 August 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
31. "WinZip (64-bit) August, 24th 2022". 24 August 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
32. "Release 0.5.4.25". 22 March 2025. Retrieved 31 March 2025.
33. "Release 7.15". 22 September 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
34. "ZPAQ site" . Retrieved 2020-08-04.
35. "Command Line ZIP Interface - use scripts to automate zip tasks". Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
36. "PeaZip for Darwin / macOS" . Retrieved 15 December 2021.
37. "RAR - Android Apps on Google Play" . Retrieved 2 July 2016.
38. "Learn more - PeaZip free file archiver utility" . Retrieved 2 July 2016.
39. "Subfile in certain RAR cannot be read". GitHub .
40. "--use-compress-command option". GNU tar: an archiver tool. 1.34. 2021-03-01.
41. "The Unarchiver". Wakaba and Kareha support board.
42. "Other Archive Support". Corel Knowledge Base. September 6, 2021.
43. "Supported File Types". ZipGenius. 16 May 2014.
44. "File Roller". fileroller.sourceforge.net.
45. "Chapter 1. Introduction". The Ark Handbook. 16.12. 2016-09-10.
46. "StuffIt File Formats". Archived from the original on 2008-12-27.
47. "Where can I find the external programs required for ARC, ARJ, and LHA files?". Archived from the original on 2013-04-21.
48. "Chapter 1. Introduction". Xarchiver 0.5. Archived from the original on 2009-06-29.
49. "Chapter 3. Usage". Xarchiver 0.5. Archived from the original on 2009-06-29.
50. "HISTORY of the 7-Zip". www.7-zip.org. 2010-04-15. Retrieved 2010-04-24.

Further reading

• Maximum Compression, site benchmarking compressors for several filetypes (text, executable, jpeg etc.).
• Kingsley G. Morse Jr., "Compression Tools Compared", Linux Journal , issue 137, September 2005
• Patrick Schmid, Achim Roos, (March 10, 2010) "Four Compression And Archiving Solutions Compared", Tom's Hardware