5 Best Free WinRar-WinZip Alternatives

Posted: 17 Jun 2011 11:10 AM PDT

WINZIP-WINRAR-ALTERNATIVES

Compressing and extracting the files and folders are the common tasks we often do in our computers. Winzip and WinRar are the two popular compression and extraction utilities which are not yet available for free . I’m not sure if people are still paying for and using these softwares when other free yet best alternatives are out there to download!

Follwing are some free alternatives to WinZip and WinRar utilities:

PeaZip

PeaZip is a trending open source software for archive manager which is flexible, portable and secure. It can extract, create and convert multiple archives at once, create self-extracting archives and also includes other features like split/join, strong encryption, secure deletion and advanced search.
Other Features:
Easy to use GUI, supports Drag&Drop and integrates in system’s context menu

All in one tool to work with all most popular archive formats: extract, compress, convert, encrypt, secure deletion, save backup scripts
Great speed, high compression ratio, superior stability and security using proven Open Source technology
Run in all Windows versions, from 9x to 7, and features 64 bit version for better performances on 64 bit systems, moreover features a portable version that does not need to be installed and can run from USB drives, and Linux versions with the same GUI
Download PeaZip: Link-1 | Link-2

7zip

7-Zip is another popular and widely used free Winrar and Winzip alternative for compression and extraction of files and folders.
Features of 7-Zip:

High compression ratio in 7z format with LZMA and LZMA2 compression
Supported formats:
Packing / unpacking: 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP and WIM
Unpacking only: ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, CramFS, DEB, DMG, FAT, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MBR, MSI, NSIS, NTFS, RAR, RPM, SquashFS, UDF, VHD, WIM, XAR and Z.
For ZIP and GZIP formats, 7-Zip provides a compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
Strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats
Self-extracting capability for 7z format
Integration with Windows Shell
Powerful File Manager
Powerful command line version
Plugin for FAR Manager
Localizations for 79 languages
Download 7zip: Link-1 | Link-2

jZip

jZip is another free alternative to WinZip and WinRar with the following features:

Create Zip compatible files
Unzip any Zip file archives
Supports other archive formats like TAR, GZip and RAR
Improved compression ratio
Fast compression engine
Download jZip: Link

IZArc

IZArc is the best freeware archive utility with a modern easy-to-use interface supporting many archive formats like 7-ZIP,ISO, JAR, RAR, TAR, ZIP etc. With IZArc you can open CD image files like ISO, BIN, CDI and NRG. It is also possible to convert such files from one type to another.
Some Features of IZArc:

Add files to an existing archive
Delete files from an existing archive
Extract files from an existing archive
Convert archive
Convert CD Images
Repair broken archive
Searching for any files in many archives
Full Drag & Drop support
CD/DVD Images support (ISO, BIN, MDF, NRG, IMG, C2D, PDI, CDI)
Add/View comments in an archive
E-mail an archive
Virus Scan feature
Encrypt files using Rijandael – AES (256-bits) encryption
Download IZArc: Link

ZipGenius

ZipGenius is yet another free alternatives to WinZip and WinRar which can handle over 20 different formats of compressed archives , and is a perfect companion for everyday work. It is free for all users and can be used in any environment (private, professional, commercial, business, school / university).
Download ZipGenius: Link