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I know Winzip is not free and 7-zip is free . Other than this is there any reason why I should use 7ZIP over Winzip for compression ? I am using Windows 7 .

Geek
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4 Answers4

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7-Zip supports more formats

(and, it would be legal to use as you said)

Akash
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There is no substantial reason that cannot be debated why 7zip or WinZip is any better than the alternative.

rtf
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The most important reason for me is that 7zip is open source.

The second one is 7zip supporting much more compression formats.

jap1968
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From 7-Zip's website:

  • High compression ratio in 7z format with LZMA and LZMA2 compression
  • Supported formats:
    • Packing / unpacking: 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP and WIM
    • Unpacking only: ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, CramFS, DEB, DMG, FAT, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MBR, MSI, NSIS, NTFS, RAR, RPM, SquashFS, UDF, VHD, WIM, XAR and Z.
  • For ZIP and GZIP formats, 7-Zip provides a compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
  • Strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats
  • Self-extracting capability for 7z format
  • Integration with Windows Shell
  • Powerful File Manager
  • Powerful command line version
  • Plugin for FAR Manager
  • Localizations for 79 languages

From WinZip's website:

  • Nothing said about compression ratio
  • Supported formats:
    • Zip, Zipx, RAR, 7Zip, BZ2, LHA/LZH and many more.
  • 128- or 256-bit AES

Primarily, it depends on what you are using it for and what the person receiving the files is capable of accessing.

Kruug
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