

The wizard within the program is great for speeding up the compression process and comes with a virus scanner. But remember that encryption isn’t worth anything if you don’t have a strong password.īesides the wide range of supported formats and security features, WinRAR also has an intuitive interface that allows you to weave between its various functions with ease. WinZip, WinRAR matches the competition with 256-bit password encryption available. However, the program is always speedy when you need to unzip a file and is easily the best RAR extractor. RAR always has a faster compression rate than ZIP when using WinRAR, but its overall compression rate is slower than WinZip or 7-Zip. With WinRAR, you can compress and create either a RAR or ZIP file, and the program automatically helps you to select the best compression method for your file.īased on the type of file and compression you need, tests have shown WinRAR to compress up to 40% of the original file in RAR format. They also have a physical version on CD available for $9.99 per order.Ĭompression rate and file size, compression method

The software comes with a 40-day trial and is available in over 50 languages. But it only compresses in RAR or ZIP.Įach WinRAR license costs $29.99 plus $4.35 for the maintenance package, and both are lifetime purchases. WinRAR can decompress a wide range of common formats, including RAR, ARJ, LZH, GZip, UUE, CAB, TAR, ISO, Z, 7-Zip, and BZIP2. The key difference between the two is that WinRAR has a graphic interface, whereas RAR can only run directly from the command line. But they offer software called RAR for Mac and Linux. The app is comprehensive and user-friendly, but doesn’t do quite enough to topple Ashampoo Winoptimizer (opens in new tab) from the top spot on our system utility roundup.WinRAR only works on the Windows platform – XP and later, including 11. The way it deals with nudging free users toward becoming subscribers is annoying, sure, but we all need to get paid, and it’s nice to see a company trying something other than a time-limited demo. We appreciated the breadth of the toolset, and the ability to undo changes it made.

WinZip System Utilities is a fine suite of tools with a nice leaning toward learning about your PC and what it’s doing. The final tab, Add-ons, is dedicated to selling WinZip’s other products, such as malware protection and a suite of disk tools.

The Restore tab offers tools for undoing what the app has done, such as replacing the files removed by the Uninstall Clean-up feature if it turns out one of them was needed after all, and rolling back drivers updated by the Driver Updater if they break your hardware.
