File compressors have always been a good tool to reduce their size, these tools help us every day since they allow file transfers faster, and thus also reduce the space it occupies in storage, Although today’s devices have much more memory, it will always be useful from time to time.
The first compressor to discuss today is WinRAR, this software is available on a large number of operating systems such as Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and macOS, it was released on April 22, 1993 and to date it is still the option used by part of the population to be able to compress and store different files, despite being one of the paid compressors in the world.
The second that will be discussed today is 7-ZIP, this is free software that works on different operating systems such as Windows and GUN/LINUX. This was launched to the world in 1999, 5 years after WinRAR and like it has the functions of compressing and decompressing or extracting files, but to all these, which one is the best? Here we analyze it.
WinRAR vs 7-ZIP
Availability
WinRAR, once installed, will be available as a free version for a period of 40 days, after which, every time we use it, we will be offered to purchase it, however, it is well known that it can continue to be used indefinitely. On the other hand, 7-ZIP is completely free software, which means that it does not have trial days.
Compatibility
WinRAR is available for Windows FreeBSD, Linux and OS/2, it also has versions for 32 and 64 bits, and supports formats such as RAR RAR4 and ZIP. It is also capable of creating .EXE files while 7-ZIP is available for Windows, GUN/Linux, macOS AND DOS, it supports 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, WIM and XZ formats. it is also capable of creating 7z files.
file weight
Once WinRAR has been downloaded and installed on our computers, it occupies a space of 7.55 MB. while 7-ZIP, once it has been installed, will have a weight of 5.13 MB, that is, it would be much lighter.
Security
Both software have the ability to protect our files, through the use of passwords. WinRAR encrypt files by AES-128 method, unlike 7-ZIP which does it by AES-256 method.
Advantages and disadvantages of both compressors
WinRAR has the ability to repair most of the corrupted files, unlike 7-ZIP which does not have this feature. 7-ZIP has the ability to create self-extracting archives in 7z formats, while WinRAR can create self-extracting archives in SFX AND .EXE formats.
WinRAR does not have any algorithm system among its settings. On the other hand, 7-ZIP has an algorithm for intelligent compression, in this way it automatically configures itself and manages to obtain files of smaller sizes.
7-ZIP has a simple design and interface and also compresses faster than WinRAR, which despite being designed to be easy to use by users, takes a little longer to compress.
What are the results according to the characteristics named above?
Both software are very similar, one stands out more than the other for its ability to compress files, but the other stands out for its ability to repair those files that have been corrupted.
From the amount of testing shown in this article, we have seen that the balance tips a little more towards the 7-ZIP software. Mainly free, it also has higher compression speed than its similar WinRAR. In addition to having a greater variety of formats and a much lower storage weight than WinRAR.
7-ZIP, has the algorithm mentioned before to compress intelligently, which helps those of us who are not experts in the field and allows us to take better advantage of it, but not everything is rosy, since it has two disadvantages highlights, such as not recovering corrupt files and having a much longer decompression time than WinRAR.
