The Best Free WinRAR AlternativesTop File Archivers & File Compressors like WinRAR

The best free alternative to WinRAR is 7-Zip, which is also Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to WinRAR and loads of them is free so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free alternatives to WinRAR are PeaZip, Bandizip, NanaZip and The Unarchiver.

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WinRAR alternatives are mainly File Archivers, but if you're looking for File Compressors or File Managers you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Open Source, Linux, Mac, Android, Chrome OS, Windows + Free and Windows. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to WinRAR.
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Alternatives list

  1. 7-Zip icon

    7-Zip

     4759 likes

    Feature-rich archiving software with top-tier compression in 7z, integration in Windows Shell, AES-256 encryption, and multi-format support, including TAR, ZIP, RAR. Offers strong file management tools and a command line version for Linux/Unix systems.

    111 7-Zip alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • PortableApps.com
    • ReactOS
    Main Window
     
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    25
    397
    Comments about 7-Zip as an Alternative to WinRAR
    Comment summary: 7-Zip, as an open-source alternative to WinRAR, receives praise for its faster compression, better compression algorithms (such as LZMA2), and broader format support. Users emphasize its simplicity, absence of ads, and free availability. It is particularly noted for delivering better performance with features such as self-extracting archives, solid compression, and a command-line interface. However, one noted downside is the lack of automatic file association within Windows Explorer.
    Top Positive Comment
    KuboFHromoslav
    34

    7-Zip is highly efficient, open source archiver.

    Alex Rumbera
    Positive
    0

    7-Zip offers open-source and free usage, better compression, wider format support, more features like self-extracting archives, solid compression, and a powerful command-line interface, and regular updates. 7-Zip often delivers better performance

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Jason Brown
    Positive
    1

    Open-source. Huge eyes-on code audience. Much, much simpler for new users.

    3 of 25 comments
    WinRAR Icon
    7-Zip icon

    • Almost everyone thinks 7-Zip is a great WinRAR alternative.

    • 7-Zip is the most popular Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to WinRAR.

    • 7-Zip is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to WinRAR.

    • 7-Zip is Free and Open SourceWinRAR is Freemium and Proprietary
    • 7-Zip is Security-focusedWinRAR is not according to our users
  2. PeaZip icon

    PeaZip

     656 likes

    PeaZip is free file archiver utility, based on Open Source technologies of 7-Zip, p7zip, FreeArc, PAQ, and PEA projects, for Linux, macOS and Windows.

    97 PeaZip alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Chrome OS
    • BSD
    • Flathub
    • PortableApps.com
    PeaZip
     
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    4
    102
    Comments about PeaZip as an Alternative to WinRAR
    don1
    Positive
    3

    It is fast, has many file extensions and always updated.

    Ricky Santoso
    Positive
    2

    I think the extract time faster than winrar, also support many file extensions. One of the lightest file manager & archiver that I use.

    G Downs
    Positive
    0

    I've been using PeaZip for about 8 years and during that time I've found it to be rock-solid. I've tried 7Zip and a few others during that time but keep coming back to PeaZip. On installation, PeaZip is vastly customizable and covers all the major archive formats that most people are going to use...

    3 of 4 comments
    WinRAR Icon
    PeaZip icon

    • Almost everyone thinks PeaZip is a great WinRAR alternative.

    • PeaZip is Free and Open SourceWinRAR is Freemium and Proprietary
  4. Bandizip icon

    Bandizip

     171 likes

    Bandizip is a powerful archiver which provides an ultrafast processing speed and convenient features. Available free of charge, and its paid editions support a variety of advanced features.

    91 Bandizip alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Pay once)
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    Main screen
     
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    4
    51
    Comments about Bandizip as an Alternative to WinRAR
    yarko
    Positive
    1

    Fast, modern, with cool features and FREE! Highly reccomended!

    ichimitch
    Positive
    0

    Supports compressing and decompressing a wide variety of formats and itegrates with the Windows context menu

    Guest
    Positive
    0

    Really fasttttttt to compress

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    3 of 4 comments
    WinRAR Icon
    Bandizip icon

    • Most users think Bandizip is a great WinRAR alternative.

    • Bandizip is Freemium and ProprietaryWinRAR is also Freemium and Proprietary
  6. The Unarchiver icon

    The Unarchiver

     247 likes

    The Unarchiver is a small and easy to use program that can unarchive many different kinds of archive files. It will open common formats such as Zip, RAR (including v5), 7-zip, Tar, Gzip and Bzip2. It will also open many older formats, such as StuffIt, DiskDoubler, LZH, ARJ and...

    97 The Unarchiver alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    The Unarchiver screenshot 1
     
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    3
    17
    Comments about The Unarchiver as an Alternative to WinRAR
    Guest
    Negative
    10

    Simple. In Winrar, you can see in the program, and copy files inside. You can only take out files with this.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    maurosoft391
    Negative
    0

    not compatible with Windows

    Guest
    Negative
    1

    Unarchiver does not show you the files without extracting them.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    WinRAR Icon
    The Unarchiver icon

    • Some users think The Unarchiver is a great WinRAR alternative, some don't.

    • The Unarchiver is Free and ProprietaryWinRAR is Freemium and Proprietary
  7. FreeArc icon

    FreeArc

     52 likes

    FreeArc is a free and open source file archiver developed by Bulat Ziganshin. It uses LZMA, PPMD, TrueAudio and GRzip algorithms with automatic switching by file type, and also uses set of filters—for instance it can remove repetitions from text.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    Main Window
     
  9. IZArc icon

    IZArc

     99 likes

    Zip Utility - NEWS since - "Version 4.2 = NO MORE ADWARE. IZARC INSTALLER IS COMPLETELY ADWARE FREE" No bundleware that is showing in description.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • iPhone
    • iPad
    IZArc screenshot 1
     
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    15
  10. p7zip icon

    p7zip

     29 likes

    p7zip is a port of the command line version of the 7-Zip file archiver to POSIX-conforming operating systems like Unix (Linux, Solaris, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, Cygwin, AIX, ...), MacOS X and also for BeOS and Amiga.

    87 p7zip alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Haiku
     
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    6
  11. 7-Zip ZS icon

    7-Zip ZS

     8 likes

    7-Zip with support for Zstandard, Brotli, Lz4, Lz5 and Lizard Compression. Open source under LGPL-2.1 license.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    ZStandard Support
     
  12. Explzh for Windows icon

    Explzh for Windows

     5 likes

    Explzh for Windows is a file operation tool created with the concept of treating archive files, CD-ROM virtual disk images (ISO-9660 / ISO-13346), and FTP hosts as virtual folders and handling them like an explorer.

    Cost / License

    • Free Personal
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Main Window
     
  13. Ark icon

    Ark

     23 likes

    Ark is a program for viewing, extracting, creating and modifying archives. Ark can handle various archive formats such as tar, gzip, bzip2, zip, rar, 7zip, xz, rpm, cab and deb (support for certain archive formats depend on the appropriate command-line programs being installed).

    39 Ark alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • KDE Plasma
    • Flathub
    • Snapcraft
    • Windows
    Ark screenshot 1
     
  14. File Roller icon

    File Roller

     83 likes

    File Roller is the archive manager of the GNOME desktop environment. It can extract, view, create and modify archives. File Roller is only a graphical interface to archiving utilities such as tar and zip.

    87 File Roller alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Flathub
    • GNOME
    File Roller screenshot 1
     
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    2
    Comments about File Roller as an Alternative to WinRAR
    Guest
    Negative
    7

    Can't even extract multi-part archives. Can't show CRC or anything at all. Suprised this poor app has that high votes.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Negative
    0

    Capable of almost nothing, and certainly does not offer the feature range of winrar.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    WinRAR Icon
    File Roller icon

    • Some users think File Roller is a great WinRAR alternative, some don't.

    • File Roller is Free and Open SourceWinRAR is Freemium and Proprietary
12 of 75 WinRAR alternatives