7-Zip vs WinRAR vs WinZip: Comparisons and Differences

Sometimes you need to transfer a bunch of files to colleagues or friends via email or other file transfer tools, you may utilize a file compression tool like the most popular 7-Zip, WinRAR or WinZip to compress all files into a single archive file and get a reduced file size for easy transfer.

7-Zip vs WinRAR vs WinZip, which file compression tool is better? Which file compression software delivers the best compression ratio and the smallest file size while keeping the original quality? The post digs out some answers. You can check them below.

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7-Zip vs WinRAR vs WinZip – Comparisons and Differences

All of these three file compressors can zip and unzip files on Windows 10.

7-Zip vs WinRAR vs WinZip – Supported Platforms

7-Zip: Windows 10/8/7 (32-bit, 64bit), Windows Vista/XP/2016/2012/2008/2003/2000/NT.

WinRAR: Windows 10 and older Windows versions, but some recent versions of WinRAR don’t support many older operating systems. There is an Android version of WinRAR named RAR for Android.

WinZip: Windows 10/8/7/Vista. macOS 10.8 or higher. The iOS and Android app of WinZip are also available.

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7-Zip vs WinRAR vs WinZip – Supported File Formats

7-Zip, WinRAR and WinZip all support RAR, ZIP, 7Z and some other archive file formats.

7-Zip: Support packing and unpacking 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP and WIM file formats. But only support unpacking RAR, AR, ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, CramFS, DMG, EXT, FAT, GPT, HFS, IHEX, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MBR, MSI, NSIS, NTFS, QCOW2, RPM, SquashFS, UDF, UEFI, VDI, VHD, VMDK, WIM, XAR and Z file formats.

WinRAR: RAR, ZIP, 7Z, CAB, ARJ, LZH, TAR, GZip, UUE, ISO, BZ2, Z, GZ, JAR, LZ, XZ, ZIPX, OO1.

WinZip: ZIP, ZIPX, RAR, 7Z, CAB, TAR, GZip, ISO, Z, XZ, LZH, BZ2, VHD, VMDX.

7-Zip vs WinRAR vs WinZip – License

7-Zip: Free and open-source.

WinRAR: Trialware. You can try WinRAR for free with 40 days.

WinZip: Trialware. Offer a 21-day free trial, and many advanced versions to buy.

7-Zip vs WinRAR vs WinZip – Compression Rate and File Size

As for the compression rate and the output file size, 7-Zip, WinRAR and WinZip don’t differ too much. But the output format you choose can make a difference.

For instance, when you choose .zipx format rather than .zip format when using WinZip for file compression. The ZIPX format has a higher compression ratio than ZIP. If you choose 7Z format instead of ZIP format using 7-Zip to compress files, 7Z format would have a much higher compression ratio than ZIP format.

Based on test, to compress 1.5 GB of video files, 7-Zip delivers the highest compression rate, WinRAR comes as the second, while WinZip provides a compression ratio that is about 6% lower than 7-Zip. But if you choose the advanced compression format .zipx when using WinZip, its compression ratio is almost the same with 7-Zip.

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7-Zip vs WinRAR vs WinZip – Conclusion

By comparing 7-Zip, WinRAR and WinZip above, all of these three top file compression software can do a good job in file packing and unpacking. If you want a totally free file compressor and get the smallest file size, 7-Zip may be a good choice.

Both 7-Zip and WinRAR are the best in compression. But their default formats 7Z and RAR are not fully supported on other operating systems. If you want to open 7Z or RAR files on non-Windows systems, you need to download and install the compatible software first. On the contrary, WinZip file can be opened on various systems with its own application.

Therefore, to choose 7-Zip, WinRAR or WinZip, it depends on you.

Bonus tip: MiniTool Power Data Recovery, the best free data recovery software, helps you easily recover deleted RAR/ZIP/7Z files, any other files, and lost data from computer hard drive, external hard drive, SSD, USB pen drive, SD card, and more.

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