WinZip vs. 7-Zip

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Hi,

Comparing the two zip programs, WinZip and 7-Zip, does one program have an advantage over the other? I need a zip program for my job, and I would like to get the better program.

Thank you for any guidance you can give me.

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Well, 7zip is free (even for business use) and WinZip is not.

For further recommendations you would need to provide more info e.g.
What type of files are you wanting to archive?
Is this for transfer to 3rd party or only for your own use?
– does the archive format matter ?
Is this for safety/backups?

etc.

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WinZip supports one format, ZipX, that 7-zip does not, which means that WinZip users may over time create some archives not compatible with 7-zip. I’ve only seen one so far, so I downloaded a trial version of WinZip to open it.

Another alternative I am considering, because we got a site license for an earlier version, is PowerArchiver. More info: http://www.powerarchiver.com/

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Thank you for your help, TerryB.

I am still waiting to get the additional information regarding what type of files we will be archiving. I know, though, that the files will be transmitted to a 3rd party. When I get a response from the employer, I will attempt to update this query.

Again, thank you for your help.

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I am still waiting to get the additional information regarding what type of files we will be archiving. I know, though, that the files will be transmitted to a 3rd party. When I get a response from the employer, I will attempt to update this query.

Don’t forget to ask your third party which formats they use/require.

I use PowerArchiver (as mentioned by jscher2000, which includes a licece for the command line version PACL ) as a personal preference, for business use I would prefer a well supported (may mean paid license) utility; so suggest you should also consider WinRar and possibly Stuffit.

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Don’t forget to ask your third party which formats they use/require.

I use PowerArchiver (as mentioned by jscher2000, which includes a licece for the command line version PACL ) as a personal preference, for business use I would prefer a well supported (may mean paid license) utility; so suggest you should also consider WinRar and possibly Stuffit.

I am using a licensed copy of WinZip (older 9.0) and like the context menus that it comes with. You can right click a file and add it to a new or existing zip file. If format is a issue, you can always create a self extracting file. If you need to burn to CDs or DVDs you can use WinZip to set the file size and span multiple discs.

The newer Windows OSes can read and expand zip files with no problem.

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The newer Windows OSes can read and expand zip files with no problem.

That would be an improvement: Windows XP’s compressed folders can’t handle AES encrypted ZIP archives.

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I am using a licensed copy of WinZip (older 9.0) and like the context menus that it comes with. You can right click a file and add it to a new or existing zip file. If format is a issue, you can always create a self extracting file. If you need to burn to CDs or DVDs you can use WinZip to set the file size and span multiple discs.

All available with the other programs I mentioned as well.

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WinZip/Rar 64 bit, supports most, if not all formats.
Nice but not free. Tried & True.

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Hi,
I’ve used them both and I find the WinZip interface to be a lot easier to configure and to use.
Don

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I note that there is a 7-Zip in beta, which any or all of us would be interested to hear about from anyone who is testing it.

WinRar and 7-Zip seem to be about the only programs with 64-bit versions (let me know if I am wrong, please).

Stuffit has historically been for Apple platforms, I think, and I seemed to have a lot of trouble with it (which may have been my own fault). It was the first to make a major breakthrough with photographs, which tend to be among the largest in file size, and for certain among us come in large numbers.

WinZip has been around ‘forever’, it has a huge user base (and the corresponding refinement of the software), and like many of the programs we never seem to get around to learning in full, it has features galore.

I have all four, by the way, with WinZip registered (two machines), Stuffit registered on (one) Vista machine, 7-Zip that I haven’t really tested but that looks promising, and (trial) WinRar.

Licences matter a lot. WinRar is very generous, WinZip is limited to two computers, Stuffit to one if I recall correctly, and of course 7zip is free. Keep an eye out for anything that can be added to a flash drive.

I think this is a thread that is likely to attract a lot of interest (and with luck, a lot of posts).

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I note that there is a 7-Zip in beta, which any or all of us would be interested to hear about from anyone who is testing it.

I using 7-zip 9.12 without any apparent problems. 7-Zip has always had many beta versions between somewhat infrequent official releases. Couple of things that I don’t like about 7-ZIp are the clunky looking interface and its inability to open a compressed file on a network drive unless you navigate to the folder from within 7-Zip.

Joe

--Joe

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Recently, I was given a zip file that had some corruption. The was not time to get a replacement. Essentially Windows and WinZip could not even read the file. I thought I was done. 7-Zip could and even told me which directories and files it could not open. The problem turned out to be some bogus files that had the same names as some of the directories. I was then able to manually delete the bogus files and extract the archive.

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My suggestion would be to download and use 7-Zip, since it’s free. If you find that you want to do something it can’t do, or does with difficulty, then look at buying a program like WinZip. In my case, I regularly “freshen” (WinZip terminology) existing archive files — something that WinZip makes very easy but 7-Zip does not. I still periodically try 7-Zip to see how it’s coming along (still no freshen of existing files in an archive).

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The other thing with 7-Zip is that it can be used as a Windows Explorer replacement. Some have said they like it better than Windows Explorer. I have not used it as such so can’t comment on it’s usability in this manner.

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