WinZip vs WinRAR: A comparison of benefits, differences between the file compression tools. August 28, 2019 - Tech File compression has become more and more important as technology has advanced. WinZip is the world's leading file compression software. Compress files to save space and reduce transmission times. Decompress Zip, Zipx, RAR, 7Z, BZ2, CAB, JAR, IMG, and other file formats.
Different programs utilize different compression algorithms and have different compression settings to choose from. Some programs or settings prioritize speed—how quickly compression can be completed—while others sacrifice speed to focus on achieving a smaller file size.
Compression efficiency is also affected by file types. Text files can be compressed considerably, for example, but multimedia files, like MP3s or AVIs, may already be in a compressed state, meaning further compression may decrease folder or file size only slightly.
Utilizing different and more efficient algorithms sometimes calls for a change in file extension. For example, the program 7-Zip can use LZMA and LZMA2 compression algorithms, which result in a '.7z' file extension. These algorithms are much better at compressing files than the default ZIP method, which is fast but uses older and less efficient DEFLATE compression. However, the file extensions required for newer compression methods, which are not supported in any operating system by default, mean you may sacrifice accessibility when using them to share files. Likewise, RAR is better at compression than ZIP, but it, too, requires other software prior to use, even for simple data extraction/decompression.
In deciding which compression method to use, you should figure out which features you need most: speed, efficiency, accessibility, security, etc.
Compression Example
Igor Pavlov, the Russian developer of 7-Zip, has stated that the standard ZIP format is inferior to RAR and ZIP files created in 7-Zip. Though a lot does come down to the file types being compressed, RAR and 7-Zip's ZIP archives compress data as much as 30 to 40% better than standard ZIP.
Pavlov proved this by compressing an installation of Google Earth 3.0.0616. Before compression, Google Earth was 23.5 MB in size. Standard ZIP compressed this by 62%, while RAR achieved 71% compression and 7-Zip reached 76% compression.
Security
A program is required to secure ZIP and RAR files with a password. RAR files require WinRAR for compression in the first place, and WinRAR has password encryption settings you can use. Meanwhile, ZIP's default support in operating systems does not come with password protection settings in recent years; programs like 7-Zip or WinZip are required.
How secure the password protection on a ZIP or RAR file is depends partly on the program used to protect it. WinRAR uses an AES-128-bit encryption, but 7-Zip uses the more secure AES-256. This means that a password-protected ZIP file created in 7-Zip would take longer to crack than a RAR file created in WinRAR.
A lot of security comes down to password quality, though, too. Simple, one-word passwords that might be found in an English dictionary are very insecure and prone to brute-force attacks, regardless of your ZIP or RAR's encryption algorithms.
A ZIP or RAR with AES-128 encryption or better that has a good password would probably take years for supercomputers to crack. At present, there is no known attack that works well in such a scenario.
Programs
As the most popular archive file format, ZIP is not only built into most operating systems, but also recognized or improved upon by many other programs, like 7-Zip or IZArc, which are both freeware, and WinZip, which is shareware.
The following video explains how to create a ZIP file using both Windows' built-in support and the program 7-Zip:
Eugene Roshal, a Russian software engineer, is the developer of the RAR archive format and the owner of the WinRAR software. He has licensed the use of RAR decompression to many other programs outside of his WinRAR program (e.g., 7-Zip and WinZip) with the agreement that his work not be reverse engineered, but only WinRAR can compress data into a RAR file. As shareware, WinRAR has a free 40-day trial and costs $29.00 thereafter.
This next video talks about WinRAR and how to use it to compress and extract data:
Freeware and Shareware
The following is a list of popular compression programs that recognize ZIP and RAR in some capacity.
7-Zip (Open Source Freeware for Windows)
IZArc (Ad-Supported Freeware for Windows)
PeaZip (Open Source Freeware for Windows and Linux)
The Unarchiver (Freeware for Mac OS X)
WinRAR (Shareware for Windows)
WinZip (Shareware for Windows and Mac OS X)
References
Need to compress a bunch of files and want to know which compression format is the best? Which program will give you the smallest file? Well, the answer is a bit more complicated than that.
Yes, for any set of data, one program will always give you the best compression and the smallest file, but depending on the data, it may not be the same program every time.
In addition, there are other factors to consider beyond file size. As you’ll see, sometimes the difference between two compression utilities is quite small, but the format can make a big difference. Plus, some are free and others cost money, so if you are budget conscious, then it reduces your choices easily.
Winzip Vs Winrar Comparison Download
In this article, I’ll go through four different compression tools and try to give you the advantages and disadvantages for each. Beyond these four, there are many other options, but I found these to be the most popular and well known by most people.
Real World Compression Test
First, let’s just look at straight compression numbers because that’s always fun. For my tests, I decided to create a test folder with a bunch of data in various formats.
I don’t like just compressing images or just compressing documents because the differences end up being very small and it’s hard to choose a clear winner.
In my case, I took 1.47 GBs of videos (different formats), images (RAW and other formats), documents (PDF, Office files, etc) and music files (MP3, M4A, etc) and passed them through each compression utility with default settings.
First, let’s start with the setup I have and the versions. I’m using a Windows 7 PC with Service Pack 1 and I installed the latest versions of each program as of the date of this post: 7-Zip 15.09 beta (64-bit), WinZip version 20 and WinRAR x64 5.30 beta 6.
In addition to the built-in Windows 7 compression, I’m also going to run the same set of data on Windows 10 to see if there is any difference between the versions of Windows. OK, let’s check the results below.
Winzip Vs Winrar Comparison Chart
So Who Wins?
Well, in terms of just compression ability, 7-Zip is the clear winner. 7-Zip has been around for a while and they have ranked at the very top for best compression utility on multiple third-party tests, so the numbers are not really surprising.
Winzip Vs Winrar Comparison Free
So should you go out and get 7-ZIP to zip your files? It depends. The only issue with programs like 7-ZIP and WinRAR, both of which did the best in compression, is that they use proprietary formats that are not fully supported on other systems.
In order for someone to open a 7-ZIP or WinRAR file, they will need to download and install the appropriate software on their machines first. If you are compressing data for yourself, then it doesn’t really matter which format you use.
However, .7z and .rar files will require additional software on Windows, Mac and Linux. If compatibility is an issue, then I recommend using the built-in compression in Windows.
WinZip is another option, but the difference between built-in Windows compression and WinZIP is minimal. Plus, WinZip will set you back at least $30, so the free option makes much more sense.
Also, the compression algorithm in Windows 7 seems to be exactly the same as in Windows 10 since the files ended up being exactly the same size. So whether you are using Windows 7, 8 or 10, you will get the same compression ratio.
Winzip Vs Winrar Reddit
Again, since .ZIP format can be opened on Windows, Mac, Linux and even ChromeOS without any additional software, the built-in Windows compression is the best choice for compatibility. If you need the smallest size possible, go with 7-Zip. If you have any questions, feel free to comment. Enjoy!