Do you use 7zip, or Winrar?

johnlgalt said:

all of the ones listed here thus far are mutli-archive aware ..... Added bonus is that any one of these can usually also handle things like .CAB files as well as .ISO files, so you don't need to mount something to extract or find yet another utility for them.

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In addition, I've used 7-Zip to open Install.wim or Install.esd files to extract individual files from them.

TairikuOkami said:

Nanazip, because it was the first one to be integrated into the new Windows 11 shell.

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Portable:
Only NanaZipPackage_2.0.376.0_x64 works without installation.
Download and unpack NanaZipPackage_2.0.376.0_x64.
Download the new version, unzip and replace everything except NanaZip.exe.

For extracting files, I use whatever it takes me to get the job done, which almost always means I use WinRAR, and use 7-Zip only very rarely. For archiving my own folders and files, though, WinRAR wins. With the Classic theme. Naturally, and of course. lol

Edwin said:

Perhaps we should just abandon the fact that I even mentioned it!

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Nah. Maybe just change the link in your original post on this to point to the non-bundled installer that 007 pointed out.

I use an older version of WinZip.

I've used WinZip for years but now use the Windows built in app for extracting files as I have no need to zip anything.

I have 7Zip, but that's a necessity since Qobuz uses .tar files when buying music. Windows or WinZip won't work unzip those.

This should most likely be in the Windows 11 News section, but since I don't have permission to put it there...

WinRar here :)

z3r010 said:

I've never liked 7zip, the interface looks terrible.

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This, and by default, 7-Zip puts a lot of crap the average user doesn't need in the context menu like CRC, hashes, etc. You have to go to settings and disable all that just to make it look half decent and less cluttered and still, it cannot hold a candle next to the simplistic interface of WinRAR that is very easy to use.

I recently switched to Bandizip, I like that it has an option to Extract or Extract (Smart). What that feature does is, rather than having to open the compressed file first to see if it has the files in the root or in a folder and based on that select Extract Here to Extract to Folder, it does that on its own, if it sees the files are without a folder, it extracts them into a folder, if it's a single file, it extracts it there. Just one less step to keep things neat.

In 1998 I bought WinZip 6.3 on a floppy disk. I got free updates for a few years but then found out those were ending. I found out that the last free update was WinZip 9.0 which came out in 2004. I was looking for an alternative so I bought WinRAR in 2017. I use that on all my computers.

BTW, I can still use the original WinZip on even Windows 11 if I want. I first install WinZip 6.3 followed by WinZip 9.0. Doing so shows that it is registered.

I've used both before ....used Winzip for a while. ...then I tried 7-zip .... been using 7-Zip for last 2 years now. Love it !!! Does everything I want and does it VERY Well.

I use WinRAR and 7 zip, really good for addons for those unusual file types used in game modding

Spartan said:

by default, 7-Zip puts a lot of crap the average user doesn't need in the contest menu like CRC, hashes, etc.

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If you've ever downloaded an ISO and wanted to check it for integrity against its published hash, then those can be really useful. The only way MS provide to generate the hash for a file is from the command line.

I prefer 7-Zip to File Manager for creating an archive, even when making a .zip, for two features that the built-in offering doesn't have: The ability to password protect the files in the archive, and the ability to split the archive into multiple sections of a fixed size, such as 4GB for use on a Fat32 USB.

I actually have both installed on my rig but my go to 99% of the time is Winrar , I just hate the UI of 7 zip, it really isn't inviting at all.
Really the only thing I use 7zip for is making 7tsp files .....it's pretty much the only reason I have it installed otherwise I probably wouldn't use it at all.

I deleted WinRar a long time ago ..... at least 2 or 3 years now.

Quexos said:

WinRar and 7-Zip. Several times I have decided to go with one or the other and every time I found something that one of them could not do, or do as well.

7-zip can extract from several file types (some .exe's or .msixbundle for example) that WinRar just scratches it's head at. But 7-zip has also thrown some weird errors or produced corrupted files before and often does this weird thing where it doesn't want to put the file where you tell it. It keeps opening the folder it started from when you try to navigate and save the archive elsewhere.

WinRar is usually a bit faster for day to day stuff, just a better day to day tool, with 7-zip for the odd EXE extraction or large archive you want a bit more compression on at the expense of taking 'forever' to complete.

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Agreed, always choose the right tool for the specific job you had in mind. 7z.exe with the l parameter used within a batch script to generate a list of an archive's contents or retrieve the filecount of the contents by filtering the last line can be handy on some occasions, as WinRAR.exe lacks a similar command line parameter whereas RAR.exe (console RAR) is still limited to RAR archives. Not a problem if you never write your own scripts. For creating large ZIP archives WinRAR is noticeably faster than 7-Zip. Not a problem if you never create large ZIP archives. There's plenty more examples of situations I can think of where one tool is better than the other. I voted WinRAR because I can't even remember when was the last time when I ran into a situation where WinRAR's shortcomings presented a problem to me. It happens so rarely that I don't keep 7-Zip on my laptop anymore these days, but will grab 7-Zip again when I need it.

Bree said:

If you've ever downloaded an ISO and wanted to check it for integrity against its published hash, then those can be really useful. The only way MS provide to generate the hash for a file is from the command line.

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How often does one download an ISO really? IMHO it may be a useful feature but shouldn't be on by default. As for checking hashes, I used HashMyFiles personally but to each his own.

Spartan said:

How often does one download an ISO really? IMHO it may be a useful feature but shouldn't be on by default. As for checking hashes, I used HashMyFiles personally but to each his own.

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File hash calculations can be used on any file type, not just ISO files. But anyway, you don't need 7-Zip to still be able to add a file hash sub menu to the context menu:
Substitute '%1' with \"%1\" everywhere in the .reg file to keep it from flaking out when the filepath contains an apostrophe. lol