WinZip Self-Extractor, a companion product to WinZip, includes the following features not available in the Personal Edition: Features to automate and customize software installation, such as the ability to specify an icon and text for the main self-extractor dialog box and to delete temporary files after running a setup program. By Bryan from United States This Crafty Viewer is the best way to open and view Zip files - like the rest of our premium apps, it not only will unpack your Zip files but will let you peek inside and preview images, documents and even emails. Fine-tuned for speed, ZIP Viewer works fast without consuming a lot of memory or hard drive space. Link Type Windows Description; Download.exe: 32-bit x86: 7-Zip for 32-bit Windows: Download.msi: Download.msi: 64-bit x64: 7-Zip for 64-bit Windows x64 (Intel 64 or AMD64).
7-Zip is a file archiver with a high compression ratio.
Download 7-Zip 19.00 (2019-02-21) for Windows:
| Link | Type | Windows | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Download | .exe | 32-bit x86 | 1.2 MB |
| Download | .exe | 64-bit x64 | 1.4 MB |
Winzip Extractor online, free
Download 7-Zip 20.02 alpha (2020-08-08) for Windows:
| Link | Type | Windows | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Download | .exe | 32-bit x86 | 1.2 MB |
| Download | .exe | 64-bit x64 | 1.4 MB |
| Download | .exe | 64-bit ARM64 | 1.5 MB |
License
7-Zip is free software with open source. The most of the code is under the GNU LGPL license. Some parts of the code are under the BSD 3-clause License. Also there is unRAR license restriction for some parts of the code. Read 7-Zip License information.
You can use 7-Zip on any computer, including a computer in a commercial organization. You don't need to register or pay for 7-Zip.
The main features of 7-Zip
- High compression ratio in 7z format with LZMA and LZMA2 compression
- Supported formats:
- Packing / unpacking: 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP and WIM
- Unpacking only: AR, ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, CramFS, DMG, EXT, FAT, GPT, HFS, IHEX, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MBR, MSI, NSIS, NTFS, QCOW2, RAR, RPM, SquashFS, UDF, UEFI, VDI, VHD, VMDK, 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 87 languages
7-Zip works in Windows 10 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP / 2019 / 2016 / 2012 / 2008 / 2003 / 2000.
p7zip - the port of the command line version of 7-Zip to Linux/Posix.
On 7-Zip's SourceForge Page you can find a forum, bug reports, and feature request systems.
Compression ratio
We compared 7-Zip with WinRAR 5.20.
FILE SETS: Mozilla Firefox 34.0.5 for Windows and Google Earth 6.2.2.6613 for Windows.
| Archiver | Mozilla Firefox | Google Earth | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 65 files 85 280 391 bytes | 483 files 110 700 519 bytes | |||
| Compressed size | Ratio | Compressed size | Ratio | |
| 7-Zip 9.35 -mx | 39 357 375 | 100% | 15 964 369 | 100% |
| WinRAR 5.20 -m5 -s -ma5 -md128m | 41 789 543 | 106% | 17 035 432 | 107% |
Compression ratio results are very dependent upon the data used for the tests. Usually, 7-Zip compresses to 7z format 30-70% better than to zip format. And 7-Zip compresses to zip format 2-10% better than most of other zip compatible programs.
General Information About ZIP Files
ZIP files are compressed archives that group together one or more files into a single file, compressing the files (making them smaller) that are contained inside. The ZIP file format is very popular for efficiently storing and transferring groups of files in a variety of business and personal applications.
The ZIP file format dates to the late 1980s when it received heavy use in pre-internet-era Bulletin Board Systems, or BBSes. In this era, file transfers occurred using MODEMs and transfer speeds were very limited. Using ZIP compression regularly saved minutes or even hours off of file transfers. It also allowed for multiple files and folders to be grouped together ('zipped') and transferred as a single ZIP file. Once received, the ZIP file would then be opened and its contents decompressed ('unzipped') onto a user's computer.
Today, the ZIP file format remains in heavy use in the internet and in the cloud, with billions of such files in circulation. In the cloud, ZIP files are commonly found as both Gmail attachments, as well as files stored in Google Drive or other cloud-based storage systems such as Dropbox and Microsoft OneDrive.
In addition to compression, ZIP files are archives that can group together multiple files and folders. When this is done, the path and folder information of the file tree is preserved inside the ZIP file. This makes the ZIP file format convenient for sharing and distributing groups of files.
Examples of ZIP File Uses
ZIP files are common across a variety of business areas, including industries ranging from medical, insurance, legal, mortgage, banking and financial, scientific, equities and trading, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and education industries.
Here are some specified real-world examples of actual usage of ZIP files:
- A car insurance agent ZIPs and emails information related to a person's health insurance, homeowner's insurance, auto insurance, or life insurance policy.
- A real estate agent scans and ZIPs a sales contract and sends it to a mortgage broker for a home loan when buying a home.
- An attorney or lawyer for a law firm ZIPs together a set of related legal documents such as a will, trust, claim, or other estate planning documents and shares them with their client.
- A university student ZIPs a homework assignment and related files and sends it to their instructor or professor in an online degree program.
- A tax accountant ZIPs and emails a copy of a person's federal and state tax returns for review before filing with the IRS.
ZIP files can contain multiple files of different types. Common files that can be included in a ZIP archive include PDFs, images, videos, and Microsoft Office documents including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint (*.DOCX, *.XLSX, *.PPTX file formats).
Creating and Opening ZIP Files
ZIP Extractor and most modern operating systems have built-in functionality to create ZIP files.
- On Windows or PC, to create a ZIP file, right-click files in Windows Explorer and select “Send to -> Compressed (zipped) Folder.”
- On a Mac running Mac OS, create a ZIP file by right-clicking files in Finder and select 'Compress [name_of_file].”
- On a Chromebook running Chrome OS, choose one more files in the Files app and then select “Zip selection.”
- In ZIP Extractor, click 'Create New ZIP' and from there you can add files and folders to be compressed, including files from Google Drive. You can also drag-and-drop files and folders onto the main screen to ZIP them.
- In your internet browser, you can also use the URL shortcut zip.new to go directly to the ZIP Extractor 'Create New ZIP' screen.
On Windows, Mac, or Chrome OS, a ZIP file can be extracted (decompressed) by double-clicking it. Then, the individual files will be unzipped into a new directory and available to preview, edit, print, etc.
ZIP Extractor provides the same decompression functionality that standard operating systems provide, except that ZIP Extractor supports many more formats than the basic built-in functionality of most ZIP programs. Most importantly, ZIP Extractor is designed bottom-up to work directly in the cloud. Because there is no built-in ability to unzip ZIP files in Google Drive or Gmail, ZIP Extractor is a third-party application that provides this functionality.
Encryption and Password Protection
The ZIP file format provides support for basic password-protected ZIP files. More recently, the ZIP format was enhanced with the ability to create files with strong encryption, using AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). This 'strong encryption' approach is much more secure than the original version, but it is less compatible because Windows and Mac cannot open them. ZIP files using 'strong encryption' require ZIP Extractor, WinZip, or other more advanced program to open.
Other archive formats, including RAR and 7-Zip, also allow passwords. These formats have a special ability to also encrypt the names of the files contained in the archive file (using the supplied password), in addition to file content.
Free Winzip File Extractor Download
ZIP Extractor has full support for opening ZIP, RAR, and 7-Zip files with all types of passwords and encryption formats. It can also create ZIP files with both the standard encryption (compatible with Windows and Mac) or 'strong encryption' (requiring ZIP Extractor or WinZip to open).