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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.

Contents 1 General information 2 Operating system support 3 Archiver features 4 Archive format support 4.1 Reading 4.2 Writing 5 Comparison of efficiency 6 Unusual support 7 See also 7.1 Corpora 8 External links

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

	Creator	First public release date	Latest stable version	Cost (USD)	Software license
7-Zip	Igor Pavlov	October 1, 2001	4.42	Free	LGPL, Proprietary (RAR plugin)
BOMArchiveHelper	Apple Computer	October 24, 2003	6.3.3	Part of Mac OS X CoreServices	Proprietary
FilZip	Philipp Engel	?	3.06	Free	Proprietary
Disk ARchiver	Denis Corbin	2002	2.3.0	Free	GPL
GNU tar	GNU Project	1989	1.15.1	Free	GPL
Info-ZIP	Samuel Smith	March, 1989	5.03 (WiZ)	Free	BSD-like
IZArc	IZSoftware	?	3.7.1420	Free	Proprietary
KGB Archiver	Tomasz Pawlak	?	1.2.1.24	Free	GPL
PeaZip	Giorgio Tani	November 6, 2006	1.5	Free	LGPL
PKZIP	Phil Katz	1989	9.0	$29.00	Proprietary
PowerArchiver	ConexWare	March, 1999	9.64.02	$19.95	Proprietary
Squeez	Speedproject	?	5.50.4810	€24.90	Proprietary
StuffIt	Allume Systems	1987	11	$49.99 Standard $79.99 Deluxe	Proprietary
The Extractor	Urban Dahlberg	January 1, 2007	1.3.0.0	Free	Proprietary
The Unarchiver	Circlesoft	?	1.4	Free	LGPL
TUGZip	Christian Kindahl	August 18, 2002	3.4.0.0	Free	Proprietary
WinAce	e-merge GmbH	?	2.65	$29.00 Standard $39.00 Plus	Proprietary
WinHKI	Hanspeter Imp	?	1.73	$29.00	Proprietary
WinRAR	Eugene Roshal / Alexander Roshal	1993	3.62	$29	Proprietary
WinRK	M Software Ltd.	May 26, 2004	2.1.6	$29.95	Proprietary
WinZip	WinZip Computing, Inc	?	11.0.7313	$29.95 Standard $49.95 Pro	Proprietary
ZipGenius	Matteo Riso of M.Dev Software	May 2003	6.0.3.1130	Free	Proprietary
Zipeg	Leo Kuznetsov	Nov 2006	1.2.0	Free	BSD-like
ZipZag	Xtreme Soft	?	1.80	$19.95	Proprietary
	Creator	First public release date	Latest stable version	Cost (USD)	Software license

The operating systems the archivers can run on.

	Windows	Mac OS X	Linux	BSD	Unix
7-Zip	Yes[1]	Yes[2]	Yes[2]	Yes[2]	Yes[2]
BOMArchiveHelper	No	Yes	No	No	No
FilZip	Yes	No	No	No	No
Disk ARchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
GNU tar	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Info-ZIP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
IZArc	Yes	No	No	No	No
KGB Archiver	Yes[5]	No	No	No	No
PeaZip	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
PKZIP	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
PowerArchiver	Yes	No	No	No	No
Squeez	Yes	No	No	No	No
StuffIt	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
StuffIt Expander	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
The Extractor	Yes	No	No	No	No
The Unarchiver	No	Yes	No	No	No
TUGZip	Yes	No	No	No	No
WinAce	Yes	Yes[3]	Yes[3]	No	No
WinRAR	Yes	Yes[4]	Yes[4]	Yes[4]	No
WinRK	Yes	No	No	No	No
WinZip	Yes	No	No	No	No
ZipGenius	Yes	No	No	No	No
Zipeg	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
ZipZag	Yes	No	No	No	No
	Windows	Mac OS X	Linux	BSD	Unix

Notes:

1. ^  There is a special 64-bit version for Windows x64 Edition also available.
2. ^  The Unix-like system port is known as p7zip.
3. ^  The programs for other platforms are called Unace, do not have the same GUI, and can only perform decompression.
4. ^  The programs for other platforms are called RAR.
5. ^  This program also has a POSIX version available.

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

	Data compression	Shell integration	Password protection	Self extraction	File repairing	Batch conversion
7-Zip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
BOMArchiveHelper	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
FilZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Disk ARchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
GNU tar	Yes[3]	Yes	No	No	Separate	Yes
Info-ZIP	Yes	No	Yes[1]	Yes	Yes	?
IZArc	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
KGB Archiver	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
PeaZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
PKZIP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Separate	Separate	No
PowerArchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Squeez	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
StuffIt	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
StuffIt Expander	No[2]	No	Yes	Yes	?	Yes
The Extractor	No[2]	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
TUGZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
WinAce	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
WinRAR	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes[4]	Yes
WinRK	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
WinZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Zipeg	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
ZipZag	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Data compression	Shell integration	Password protection	Self extraction	File repairing	Batch conversion

Notes:

1. ^  The binaries distributed in the official site do not support file encryption because of legal issues. More info
2. ^  StuffIt Expander and The Extractor only decompress files.
3. ^  GNU tar calls the external programs gzip and bzip2 to perform compression; these external programs usually come with systems that contain GNU tar.
4. ^  Allows adding of a variable amount of redundancy for much better error recovery. See also RAR (file format).

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	ACE	SIT	SITX	ARJ	KGB	DAR
7-Zip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No[1]	No	No	Yes	No	?
BOMArchiveHelper	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?
FilZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	?
Disk ARchiver	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
GNU tar[2]	No	Yes	Yes[2]	Yes[2]	No[3]	No	No	No	No	No	?	No	?
Info-ZIP	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	?
IZArc	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	?
KGB Archiver	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	?
PeaZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	?
PKZIP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	?
PowerArchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	?
Squeez	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	?
StuffIt	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	?
StuffIt Expander	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?
The Extractor	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	?
The Unarchiver	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	?
TUGZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	?
WinAce	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	?
WinRAR	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	?
WinRK	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	?
WinZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes[4]	Partial[5]	No	No	No	No	No	?
Zipeg	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	?
ZipZag	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	?
	ZIP	TAR	GZ	BZ/BZ2	7z	RAR	LHA	ACE	SIT	SITX	ARJ	KGB	DAR

Notes:

1. ^  Used to, but no longer does, due to technical and legal issues. More info
2. ^  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.
3. ^  GNU tar let you to implement your own filters[3], allowing you to use others compression program (p7zip, ...) and others filters (GPG, ...).
4. ^  Starting from version 11.
5. ^  Requires external program. More info

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
7-Zip	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
BOMArchiveHelper	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
FilZip	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Disk ARchiver	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
GNU tar	No	Yes	Yes[1]	Yes[1]	No	No	No	No	No	No	?	No
Info-ZIP	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
IZArc	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	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
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
Squeez	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
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
WinAce	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
WinRAR	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	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	No[3]	No	No	No	No	No
ZigZag	Yes	?	?	?	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
	ZIP	TAR	gzip	bzip2	7z	RAR	LHA	ACE	StuffIt	StuffIt X	ARJ	KGB

Notes:

1. ^  GNU tar calls the external programs gzip and bzip2 to perform compression; these external programs usually come with systems that contain GNU tar.
2. ^  Requires rar.exe from WinRAR.
3. ^  Requires external program. More info
4. ^  StuffIt Expander not included in this list because it only expands archives.
5. ^  Requires Ace32.exe from WinAce.
6. ^  The Extractor not included in this list because it only expands archives.

The table below is meant for comparison purposes and are approximate. [4] The percentage figures are the percentage of the size of the uncompressed file, so that the lower means 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).

Some archivers support file extraction from .msi and .iso formats as well.

PeaZip has full support for some PAQ formats (PAQ8F, PAQ8JD and PAQ8L) and for its native PEA format.

• Comparison of archive formats
• Comparison of file systems
• List of archive formats
• List of file archivers
• List of file systems

Data collections useful for comparing data compression systems.

• Canterbury Corpus
• Calgary Corpus

• Maximum Compression - Comparison of many archivers
• Squeeze Chart 2006 Performance Comparison of nearly all known archivers
• Squeeze Chart 2006 See which Archiver to use for what filetype
• Archive Comparison Test
• Compression Tools Compared, Linux Journal, September 2005
• Comparison of various softwares of compression (french)