7-zip is the most powerful and lightweight software for file archiving. And it is open source under GNU LGPL license. The other leading companies for file archiving are WinZip and WinRAR, both of which are not free. 7-Zip can archive files into Zip and 7z format. And 7-Zip can also extract zip, 7z and rar formats. It is very light and convenient to use.
7-Zip Features
- High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression
- Supported formats: – Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR – Unpacking only: ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, 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 74 languages
All in one file archiver tool and it is free. So that’s my reason to say 7-Zip is the best. Thanks for reading this article and leave any comment.