Free software archivers

Many free software is associated in the firstqueue with Linux OS. In fact, many free software archivers work on Windows as well, both on 32-bit and 64-bit systems. One such program is free archiver 7-Zip. This archiver has a high degreecompression, and with the correct selection of parameters, it is almost inferior to WinRAR in this indicator. Settings compression algorithms are precise and diverse, and inexperienced users are offered ready-made presets.

Also, 7-Zip has a high decompression speed, supports multi-thread compression, AES-256 encryption, creating self-extracting and multi-volume archives. The archive format and the compression algorithm for thisarchiver open. 64-bit systems are supported. In addition to its own format, 7z can pack and unpack the formats BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP, XZ. It also supports the unpacking of a number of other formats, including RAR. The interface is multilingual, Russian is also supported.

Another one famous free archiver - PeaZip. This archiver has its own archive format- PEA. Supports compression, the creation of multi-volume and self-extracting archives, there is a flexible system of encryption and integrity control. There is support for 64-bit systems. The program can work without installation (there is a portable version). Among the interface languages ​​are Russian.

In addition to its own PEA format, the PeaZip archiver fully supports formats 7z (including self-extracting archives),BZIP2, GZIP, PAQ, TAR, ZIP, XZ, WIM and some others. Some other formats are partially supported, including RAR and ISO (partial support includes unpacking, viewing and test of the archive).

Perhaps 7-Zip and PeaZip are the two most famous free archivers, but apart from them, of course, there are other free archiver programs for Windows. For example, key functions of the Bandizip archiver Is the ability to preview archives fromcontext menu, selective compression of files, automatic creation of several archives from several files and folders. Supports a number of popular archive formats. However, the compression rate leaves much to be desired. The Russian interface is missing.

Free archiver Bitser Has a standard for this type of programfunctional. In addition to the archiver functions (which, incidentally, are based on the open source code of the 7-Zip archiver), Bitser can also perform the functions of password manager and MD5 / SHA-1 checksum calculator. It can unpack most popular archive formats, but the choice of packaging formats is small - ZIP, EXE, 7-ZIP.

Free DAR archiver Used to create backup copies of files and folders. Multivolume archives, own database and differential backup are supported. Filzip Archiver boasts all the same basicfunctions that other free software archivers. Its distinctive features - the presence of a built-in mail client and the ability to work with the program through the command line (albeit with limited functionality).

Other free archivers programs forWindows is FreeArc (supports its own archive format - ARC), Info-ZIP, IZArc (supports working with disk images), KGB Archiver, TUGZip, ZipGenius. There are also free archivers for Unix-systems and MAC OS X.

The choice of free archivers is quite wide. The basic set of functions for all archivers is similar, and when choosing a suitable program,attention is paid to the speed and compression ratio, the supported archive formats, if you have a 64-bit system - support for this type of system, the presence of a Russian-language interface (if for you it is fundamentally). And if all the main criteria are met, you can pay attention to the additional "chips" of each of the archivers.