WinArchiver 5.3

Be it to distribute a high number of files in a more compact and convenient way, be it just to save valuable disk space, or just to open an archive file we’ve just received, having a tool like WinArchiver installed on our desktop is, as of today, of the essence. This utility will let you create and modify ZIP and other archive files, as well as extract and protect them in a straightforward way.

WinArchiver supports a long list of compression and archiving formats, including ZIP, 7z, ISO, ARJ, TAR, and RAR, among many others. Some file formats, such as RAR, can only be opened and extracted, while others can also be created from scratch using this tool – namely ZIP, ISO, 7Z, and MZP.

When it comes to functionality, WinArchiver is fairly basic when compared to other similar tools, even to some well-known open-source and free file compression utilities available out there. You can, of course, create new archive files, extract files from existing ones, edit archive files without unzipping them, and add a password to them in order to encrypt their contents. The program can also mount archives as virtual drives, so you can access them easily without extracting them. Apart from compressing and zipping files into archives, you can use this tool to create image files of existing discs or to burn image files to disc easily (including Blu-ray recordable discs).

The program’s interface is simple and clear, as most of its functions and features. It is an interesting tool to have, knowing that ZIP, RAR, and other popular archive formats are one of the de facto standards for online distribution of large or/and multiple files in a more convenient way. It would be even more interesting if WinArchiver wouldn’t require a not-so-cheap license fee to work fully, especially knowing that free and open-source tools for zipping and unzipping all kinds of files are not scarce.