List of data compression programs

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This page lists programs for data compression and packing programs as well as the formats they support. Note: The ZIP compression program family only represents a unit by name.

program Formats operating system Manufacturer / license
Further information
7-zip 7z , aRJ , bzip2 , cab , Cpio , deb , DMG , gzip , iso , LHA , LZMA , RAR , RPM , vhd , tar , ZIP Windows , Unix derivatives Igor Pavlov; GNU LGPL
multilingual (also German) Can create self-extracting and password-protected archives. There is also a portable version of the program (here) that can be started from a USB stick without installation.
7zX 7z , s7z , Self Extracting Archives macOS Sixty Five, Ltd.
multilingual (also German)
ALZip 40 formats are processed, including a. 7z , alz, ace , bin, cab, jar, lzh, rar , tar , uue, zip , Self Extracting Archives, file encryption (AES-128 and -256, zip 2.0) Windows ESTsoft Corp.
multilingual (also German); ALZip is originally from Korea and has its main distribution there and in Japan. From version 7 onwards, the conversion from freeware to adware took place with advertising banners being downloaded from the Internet at runtime (along with an advertising-free license). Since August 2012, the full version (currently version 8.51) has been available again free of charge and free of advertising by disclosing an activation code on the manufacturer's website.
AMATERSE simple (PACK) and complex (SPACK) z / OS IBM
Compression tool for MVS data sets. Contained undocumented as TRSMAIN up to z / OS V1R6. Part of the standard delivery since z / OS V1R9 (BCP element).
ar ar Unix derivatives
Standardized Unix archive format (without compression). Superseded by tar in normal usage . Today only used to create program libraries ("libraries"). ( Debian's package format is based on it and can be unpacked as well.)
ARC , PKARC ARC DOS
Format common before PKZip. Has been replaced by PAK and PKZIP .
ARJ and ARJ32 ARJ DOS , Windows and Atari  TOS ARJ software
Ark depending on the installation KDE on Unix derivatives GPL compatible
A graphical user interface for various command line packaging programs. Archives can be viewed, created, modified and files extracted from them. If the appropriate command line programs are installed, the program can handle a wide variety of formats such as tar, gzip, bzip2, zip and lha. Ark works closely with the file manager Konqueror to edit archives. With this you can switch to the package with a mouse click without unpacking the archive (like in a normal directory).
bzip and bzip2 bz (or bzip ) or bz2 (or bzip2 ), with tar also tbz or tbz2 Unix derivatives , Windows BSD-like license
Popular compression program under Unix. Alternative to gzip and compress . Provides better compression than this, but is time consuming and more memory consuming. Usually used together with tar or cpio for several files .
CompressIT ZIP Windows Freeware
The CompressIT program creates a compressed zip file with all files defined in a search. After the compression, the compressed files are optionally deleted from the hard drive, the recycle bin can be used for this.
compress Z Unix derivatives
Standardized compression program under Unix. Filename extension: capital Z. Today mostly replaced by gzip in use . For multiple files: Compression of tar or cpio archives.
Courgette Windows
Is developed and used by Google for the compression of binary files (especially binary updates for Google Chrome ). Can only be run under Windows.
cpio cpio tar Unix derivatives
Standardized archive program under Unix. Unlike tar , for historical reasons, AT&T already has five different formats, one of which was standardized by POSIX / Unix . Depending on the version, cpio can also create tar archives. The GNU variant is popular, but has problems creating and reading standard-compliant tar archives. cpio does not offer any compression itself, but it can be combined with compress / gzip / bzip2 .
DAR DAR Unix derivatives , Windows
Command line-oriented archive program with file-based support for compression ( gzip / bzip2 / LZO ) and encryption. Allows the backup to be split over several files (multivolume)
FileCompressor ZIP Windows Shareware
The FileCompressor program is new on the market.
Filzip ACE , ARC , ARJ , CAB , gz , LHA , RAR , tar , ZIP , Z Windows Freeware
WinZip replica with many unpackers.
FLAM

FLUC

ADC , VR8 , CX8 , CX7 Unix / Linux derivatives , Windows , z / OS (IBM / Micro Focus) FLAM (R) compresses vertically / structure-oriented / contextual
The FLAM (R) program is based on the Frankenstein-Limes access method. This technique (invented in 1985) compresses data in self-sufficient units (segments) and then encrypts the segment compressed, so that the compressed data, encrypted as compressed, can be accessed directly regardless of the data before or after it. One can hash techniques / indices is in these data a kind pre-selection to make in order to search for specific without "unpack" while the data. Only the result of the pre-selection goes to a second stage in which this data is "clearly" analyzed by authorized users in order to find the search result (s). As of FLAM (R) V5.x, various open standards such as OpenPGP or SSH as well as GZIP etc. are also used. a. supported, but not with the complete access technology. The FLUC (R) was developed as a universal converter. A uniform Commado language FLCL (R) plus a corresponding user help FLCC (R) simplify the use of the programs on the various system platforms. The user only needs to learn one command language. - On z / OS (IBM mainframe) there is a FLAM (R) subsystem that can be integrated into processes like an I / O driver without changing sources.
FreeArc arc Windows , Linux Bulat Ziganshin
GPL
multilingual (also German), can create self-extracting and password-protected archives
freeze F. Unix derivatives and MS-DOS Leonid A. Broukhis / unknown.
File streams can be compressed and decompressed using freeze . It uses an LZSS algorithm with subsequent adaptive Huffman coding. The packer was quite popular before gzip was released because it delivered better results than the compress previously used under UNIX .
gzip (or gnu-zip) gz , together with tar also tgz . Unix derivatives GPL
GNU compression program for Unix. Can also decompress files compressed with compress (.Z) (but not create it yourself). Usually used with tar or cpio for multiple files .
ICEOWS ice , ARJ , ZIP , Gzip , tar , CAB , RAR , ACE , Mime, UUE , XXE, B64 , HQX, JAR , EAR , WAR , LZS , LZH , LHA , IMP , BZ2 , Self Extracting Archives Windows R. Mounier Freeware
multilingual
Info ZIP ZIP almost all Unix derivatives , VMS, OS / 2, Windows 3.x / 9x / ME / NT / CE / etc., DOS , Amiga DOS, Atari  TOS , Acorn RISC OS , BeOS , macOS / Mac OS Classic , SMS / QDOS, MVS and OS / 390 OE, VM / CMS, FlexOS, Tandem NSK, Human68K BSD-like license
Free, portable versions of the Zip and UnZip compression tools that are compatible with the DOS-based PKZIP .
IZArc 7z , A , ACE , ARC , ARJ , B64 , BH , bz2 , BZA, CAB , cpio , deb , ENC, GCA, gz , GZA, HA, ISO , JAR , LHA , LIB, LZH , MBF, MIM, PAK , PK3 , RAR , RPM , tar , taz, tbz , tgz , TZ , UUE , XXE , YZ1 , Z , ZIP , ZOO Windows IZSoftware Ivan Zahariev
Freeware
The multilingual freeware - tool processed 38 archive formats . Large files can be distributed over several data carriers and archives can be password- protected. Editing of files can be done in the archive . IZArc appears in the context menu of the Windows Explorer . This enables unpacking to target folders .
JAR ARJ ARJ software
Successor of the ARJ packer (not to be confused with the Java Archive )
jZip 7z , bzip2 , gzip , tar , ZIP
CAB , RAR , LHA , LZH , ARJ , cpio , RPM , deb 		Windows Discordia Limited
multilingual (work in progress) - Based on Igor Pavlov's 7z technique
Karchiver gzip (.gz; .bz2); .zip; .tar; .zip KDE on Unix derivatives
A graphical user interface for different methods of data compression , similar to Ark .
KGB Archiver KGB Windows
LHA and LHARC LHA , LZH Amiga , Unix , DOS , Atari  TOS
LHA and LHARC were used a lot on the Atari ST and the Commodore Amiga .
Lzip .lz with tar also .tlz or .tar.lz Unix derivatives GPL
Free packer in the Unix / GNU environment which, like xz, is based on LZMA, but places more emphasis on recovery and data security. A tool is included that can repair faulty .lz archives. A parallel variant called plzip is also available, which is fully compatible with lzip.
LZX LZX Amiga , Unix , Windows Data Compression Technologies
LZX was used on the Commodore Amiga , but less often than LHA and LHARC.
MakeCAB CAB Windows Microsoft
Available on every NT-based Windows system, including a. as a backend for IExpress .
PAH PAK , ARC , SDN , ZIP Amiga , DOS NoGate Consulting
Shareware
PAcKed archive file
compression rate and speed in the range between ARC and PKZIP . Distinguished under DOS by a "graphical" progress bar.
pax ustar , cpio Unix , POSIX , Windows Various manufacturers
POSIX / Unix standardized archive program, supports various tar and cpio formats. Available on every Unix system and every Windows 2000 system.
PeaZip 7z , ARJ , bzip2 , CAB , CHM, cpio , deb , gzip , ISO , JAR , LZH , NSIS, OOo, PAQ , PEA, QUAD, RAR , RPM , split, tar , Z , ZIP Unix derivatives , Windows GNU LGPL
PKZIP ZIP DOS , Windows
Formerly the most popular packing program under DOS. The .zip format created by this software is still the most common, although the compression rates are rather mediocre.
PowerArchiver 7z , CAB , LHA , LZH , tar , gzip , bzip2 , BH , XXE , UUE , yENC , MIME , PAE, ZIP , RAR , ARJ , ARC , ACE , ZOO Windows ConeXware, Inc.
multilingual (also German)
QuickZip 7z , ZIP , PK3 , JAR , Czip , ACE , ARJ , bz2 , BZA, GZA, CAB , LHA , LZA
RAR , R00 , RS, RPM , tar , tgz , taz, gz , Z , PAK , WAD , HOG, SGX 		Windows Joseph Leung
Freeware
multilingual (also German)
RarZilla Free Unrar RAR Windows Philipp Winterberg
adware
multilingual (also German)
Rar , Unrar , WinRAR and UnrarX 7z , RAR , ZIP , ARJ , LZH , CAB , ACE , tar , gzip , UUE , bz2 , JAR , ISO , Z DOS , Windows , PocketPC , Unix derivatives , macOS
There are around 30 language versions of WinRAR worldwide. WinRAR runs under all Windows versions, but only with one extension under Windows 3.x. RAR is available for DOS (up to version 2.50 16-bit with its own user interface), in a 32-bit console version for Windows and OS / 2 , Linux and FreeBSD . There are also various other Rar / UnRar programs and libraries (under Downloads / Extra). There is a Unrar port for the Amiga .
StuffIt AppleSingle , ARC , ARJ , Binhex , BtoAText , bzip2 , CAB , CompactPro , Unix Compress, gzip , HQX, LHA , MacBinary , MIME, PrivateFile , RAR , Self-extracting Mac archives, Self-extracting Windows archives, StuffIt Segments, Shrinkwrap & DiskCopy images, sit , sitx , StuffIt, tar , UU, yEnc , ZIP ; s. Formats macOS / Mac OS Classic , Windows (Version 12: Windows 2000 or newer (no 64-bit)) Smith Micro Software (before 2005 Allume Systems , 1989–2004 Alladin Systems , 1987–1989 Raymond Lau )
Most widely used on Macintosh / Apple computers. StuffIt supports several popular archive formats for macOS / Mac OS Classic , Windows and Linux and has in laboratory tests particularly in jpeg files significantly better compression rates than other listed here programs, and this algorithm is not free.
Squeez 7z , SQX , ARJ , LHA , LZH , ZIP , RAR , CAB , gzip , tar , UUE , JAR , ACE , bzip2 Windows SpeedProject
shareware
Squeez supports 13 different archive formats using nine different algorithms . A freeware version of Squeez is ZipStar , which can generate and unpack the archive formats SQX , CAB and ZIP . Both programs use the Squeez technology, which is also used in the SpeedCommander file manager .
TUGZip 7z , A , ACE , ARC , ARJ , BH , bz2 , CAB , cpio , deb , GCA, gz , IMP , JAR , LHA , LZH , LIB, RAR , RPM , SQX , tar , tgz , tbz , taz, YZ1 , ZIP , ZOO Windows 9x / Me / NT / 2000 / XP Freeware
multilingual, also German, ACE and RAR only as plug-in with original programs (no ACE or RAR support)
tar tar , with corresponding options also tgz , tbz , tbz2 or tb2 . Unix derivatives
Originally “tape archiver” from Unix. An archive packed with tar is also known as a tarball . Pure tar archives are uncompressed, but tar can be used with compress , gzip , bzip2 or xz . There are different variants of the tar archive format. The formats used today are ustar (the POSIX tar format from 1988), pax (the arbitrarily expandable extension of the tar format introduced by POSIX in 2001) and GNU tar (a format created by GNU tar that is not fully compatible with the Standard format is).
UHARC UHA Windows Uwe Herklotz
Good compression rate, but slow, popular in the warez scene.
UltimateZip ZIP Windows Freeware with Nagscreen
Many archives supported.
WinAce ACE , ZIP , Zip64 , LHA , CAB , BZip , ISO image , RAR , ARC , ARJ , gzip , tar , ZOO , JAR Windows
WinAce supports all common archive formats and has a good packing rate. The data compression has been improved in version 2.6 : If ACE-2 compression is activated, data analysis takes place during the compression process. Optionally, the program can be linked into Windows Explorer via the context menu .
WinHKI HKI , ZIP , Zip64 , LHA , ACE , BH , CAB , BZip , ISO image , RAR , ARC , ARJ , gzip , tar , ZOO , JAR Windows Hanspeter Imp
WinHKI supports all common archive formats . The program is multilingual and has its own script control option.
WinRK RK, bzip2 , gzip , ISO image , tar , ZIP Windows Malcolm Taylor
Algorithms: PWCM (Context, similar to PAQ , very slow, very high memory consumption), PPMx (Arithmetic, similar to RAR ) and others. WinRK with PWCM algorithm (still classified as experimental) packs significantly better in most tests than all other programs listed here. However, the algorithm is not free and the program is not free.
WinZip , WinZip Plus ZIP , Zip64 , 7z , ARJ , tar , gz , bz2 , RAR , ISO image and others Windows , macOS WinZip International LLC , a subsidiary of Corel Corporation , formerly Winzip Computing , before that Nico Mak Computing
A popular packing program that only supports a limited number of formats. In the WinZip Combo variant , self-extracting archives can also be created. The first version of WinZip (for Windows 3.x) was just an interface for DOS command line packers like PKZIP .
XTreeGold 4.0 Central Point File Manager 3.0 ARC , Central Point Self-Extract , LHA , PAK , ZIP Windows Central Point software
A file manager with a wide range of functions. Central Point File Manager 2.0 was the first program to be able to handle archives in a similar way to directories. Contains its own format for Sfx archives (Central Point Self-Extract Archive File - Version 1.00 (Aug 22 1994)). It is probably the SFX version of PC Tools for DOS ' own packer CPShrink , which was probably only used for packing your own installation files. Although a Windows program itself, a DOS-SFX is created. The data compression is unchanged compared to the file manager of the PC-Tools for Windows versions 2.0. As a 16-bit program, Xtree Gold for Windows 4.0 / Central Point File Manager 3.0 is not able to edit the long file names of Windows 9x / Me, but displays them correctly. This also applies to archives.
xz 'xz', together with tar also tar.xz Linux
Offers a good alternative to bzip2 . The compression algorithm is based on the LZMA method and therefore enables higher compression rates, especially for binary files. xz is more time-consuming and memory-intensive for compression, but significantly more economical than bzip2 for decompression. Starting with version 1.22 (2009), GNU tar offers support for the direct generation of xz -compressed tar files.
zip and unzip ZIP Unix derivatives
Approximately corresponds to the commercial PKZIP for DOS / Windows.
Zip Magic ZIP , 7z Windows Ontrack
Integration into the operating system so that compressed directories and drives function like normal directories, similar to what is already possible under Windows NT or XP in the NTFS system, but here with many additional functions.
ZipGenius 7z , ARJ , ACE , CAB , SQX , RAR , ZIP Windows M.Dev software
multilingual (German language file must be downloaded separately)

List of packing programs for compressing program files

PE format (32-bit), for Windows program files ( Windows NT and higher):

COM / EXE / SYS format, for DOS program or driver files (MS-DOS 5.0):

  • ComPAck v5.1
  • aPack
  • AvPack
  • Diet
  • 32LiTE - similar to UPX, supports various DOS extenders, but is based on aplib
  • LZEXE and Pklite
  • ProPack
  • UPX
  • 624 - for COM files smaller than 25 KB, uses LZW compression
  • WWPack
  • XPack

Formats of other executable program files:

List of unpackers and identifiers

  • ExEinfo PE by ASL (identifier with unpacker info)
  • CUP386 (generic unpacker / debugger, freeware)
  • IUP ("Intelligent Executable Unpacker", generic unpacker, public domain with .ASM source)
  • PEiD
  • RL! Unpackers (specific unpackers, e.g. for upack)
  • UNP (specific / generic unpacker, cardware)

Web links