7zip vs Winrar

[dguy6789]

Which do you prefer and why?

 

[imported_brandon]

I prefer 7-zip, since it supports a lot of formats, is free/open source, and is used in Peazip, which I absolutely love.

All of WinRar's advantages are negated (IMO) with the sheer amount of capability in Peazip.

 

[FungusFeet]

I prefer 7-Zip because it's freeware, none of that 30 day warning. Also can't stand WinRAR toolbar icons.

 

[ch33zw1z]

7-zip. free, open source, just as fast if not faster than winrar. free. did I mention it's free?

 

[dguy6789]

Thanks for the opinions. I decided to do some testing and the results are conclusive:

The file used was a 1.6GB ISO file of a game. All tests were run multiple times to ensure no mistakes were made. All settings were left at default. Winrar compressed to an rar format and 7zip compressed to a 7zip format.

Time to extract: Winrar-16.28 seconds, 7zip-13.53 seconds
Time to compress: Winrar-7 minutes, 39 seconds, 7zip-6 minutes, 25 seconds
File size of compressed data: Winrar-1.63GB, 7zip-1.61GB

7zip is faster to extract and to compress, and it compresses to a smaller file size than Winrar at least with this set of data.

Definitely making the switch to 7zip. The only reason I liked Winrar was because of the right click context menus, but I discovered 7zip has them as well.

7zip 1, Winrar 0

 

[wiretap]

7zip. Faster, lighter, better multithreaded implementation, freeware, simple gui, etc.

 

[Red Squirrel]

7zip for reasons above. Also I find winrar craps out with rediculusly big files (like 100GB+ zip files for example).

 

[lyssword]

7zip, fast, not bloated, free and supports more files.

 

[ShawnD1]

I prefer 7-Zip because it's freeware, none of that 30 day warning. Also can't stand WinRAR toolbar icons.

I hate the warning as well. WinRAR is a great program but that notice gets annoying.

 

[MINIATUS]

Free and its not so intrusive,something like Norton is LOL

Alan

 

[AFurryReptile]

Definitely 7zip. The 7z zip format is one of the best out there as well.

 

[0roo0roo]

7zip works plenty fine.
no way i'm paying for rar.

 

[lxskllr]

I'm late to the party, but 7Zip's the way to go. Open source is always the best first try for applications, then look elsewhere if the os solution isn't acceptable.

 

[QueBert]

Here to derail this thread...

PowerArchiver 2010 Professional! I can do all my archiving + direct burning of ISO's + virtual drives. Sure it's not free but it's fast as hell and does so much

/thread

 

[chalmers]

Wow now I'm going to switch to 7zip after reading all these posts. Winrar user for years..

 

[Red Squirrel]

Here to derail this thread...

PowerArchiver 2010 Professional! I can do all my archiving + direct burning of ISO's + virtual drives. Sure it's not free but it's fast as hell and does so much

/thread

Actually I used to love that app until they got greedy and started to charge for it. I was still using the free version (I keep a copy of all setup files of programs i install) for years after and installed it on other people's PCs, until I heard about 7zip, maybe only a few years ago.

But yeah it is a decent product too.

 

[Snapster]

Zip wins hands down in almost everything, except the default file icons.

 

[Ausm]

7 zip has my vote for simplicity and no nag screens.

 

[iCyborg]

7zip, because it's free and simple.
I don't use 7z format though...

 

[UberNeuman]

Wow now I'm going to switch to 7zip after reading all these posts. Winrar user for years..

7zip is good, but for the life of me I just can't break my Winrar habit...

 

[ockky]

if i could skin 7-zip like i can winrar, then i would swap ... but until they make it skinnable (last i checked it wasn't), i'll continue using my 'totally cool awesome' Orbital theme

plus, i've used winrar for so long, i didn't feel bad at all about purchasing a license a couple years back...hell, i'd buy a license for textpad, if notepad++ weren't better...well, in most cases

 

[Rottie]

i tried 7zip last night before reading this thread and i didnt like it so i am going to stick with winrar...for me it is easy to use...it is free you dont need to pay of course it will beg for your money but just ignore it can you?

 

[Fayd]

i tried 7zip last night before reading this thread and i didnt like it so i am going to stick with winrar...for me it is easy to use...it is free you dont need to pay of course it will beg for your money but just ignore it can you?

or i can just use 7zip, and not have to bother?

compared to 7z, the only thing rar files are good for is splitting 1 file into multiple archives. though i can't remember the last time i did that, and i dont know whether or not 7z can do it.

but 7z can do everything else i'd want, including command line scripting. why bother with inferior software that constantly bugs me to pay for it?

 

[Fayd]

7zip, because it's free and simple.
I don't use 7z format though...

i would use the 7z format if hamana supported it.

but i think it only supports .zip and .rar. so i use .zip.

i would use .7z for encrypted archives though, since you can't even view its contents without the password.

 

[dguy6789]

7zip can split a single file into multiple archives.