The Best Open Source WinRAR AlternativesTop File Archivers & File Compressors like WinRAR

The best open source alternative to WinRAR is 7-Zip. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to WinRAR and many of them is open source so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternatives to WinRAR are PeaZip, NanaZip, File Roller and FreeArc.

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WinRAR alternatives are mainly File Archivers but may also be File Compressors or File Managers. Filter by these or use the filter bar below if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of WinRAR.

WinRAR

1150

File Archiver
Paid • Proprietary

With over 500 million users worldwide, WinRAR is the world’s most popular compression tool!

More about WinRAR

WinRAR alternatives page was last updated Jun 21, 2024

7-Zip
A versatile, open-source file archiver with a high compression ratio, providing strong AES-256 encryption. It is portable, lightweight, and contains no advertising, making it an efficient tool for various platforms, offline or online
110 7-Zip alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- File Archiver
- File Compressor
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
- PortableApps.com
- ReactOS
Top 7-Zip Features
1. Lightweight
2. Ad-free
3. File Archiving
4. File Compression
5. Portable
6. AES Encryption
7. User friendly
8. Works Offline
9. Windows Explorer Extension
10. Shell integration
11. Built-in File Manager
12. Context Menu extension
Show all NaN 7-Zip features ▾
7-Zip VS WinRAR
Is 7-Zip a good alternative to WinRAR?
Comments about 7-Zip as an Alternative to WinRAR

KuboFHromoslav
7-Zip is highly efficient, open source archiver.
Top positive comment •May 15, 2017
33
jasonbrown1965journo
Open-source. Huge eyes-on code audience. Much, much simpler for new users.
Top positive comment •Aug 22, 2023
1
Guest
does not override windows explorer zip multi platform supports many archive and compression types
Positive comment •Apr 11, 2023
1
RemovedUser
It is free and Open Source!
Positive comment •May 3, 2022
1
Guest
I prefer 7zip because it has much more feature than winrar but stays really simple to use
Positive comment •Oct 20, 2021
1
Show more comments
5 of 24 comments
- 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 Paid and Proprietary

PeaZip
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.
94 PeaZip alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- File Archiver
- File Compressor
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
- PortableApps.com
- Flathub
- Chrome OS
+4
Top PeaZip Features
1. File Compression
2. File Archiving
3. Windows Explorer Extension
4. Drag and Drop
5. Ad-free
6. Built-in archiver
7. Lightweight
8. No Tracking
9. No registration required
10. Works Offline
11. Portable
12. Two-factor Authentication
Show all NaN PeaZip features ▾
PeaZip VS WinRAR
Is PeaZip a good alternative to WinRAR?
Comments about PeaZip as an Alternative to WinRAR

don1
It is fast, has many file extensions and always updated.
Positive comment •Feb 19, 2017
3
Ricky Santoso
I think the extract time faster than winrar, also support many file extensions. One of the lightest file manager & archiver that I use.
Positive comment •Jul 5, 2018
2
G Downs
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...
Positive comment •Feb 3, 2019
0
Guest
Its basically a de-uglified 7-zip, support various compression formats and has its own compression format PEA (pack encrypt and autenticate) the only cons it has are 1. it takes longer than other apps to open (its not the compression time thats slow its the app opening) 2.it sometimes gives you an error when extracting files and 3. you have to delete ALL of its related files in regedit otherwise it will still be classified as an option to open archived files even after deleting
Positive comment •Sep 25, 2019
-1
- Almost everyone thinks PeaZip is a great WinRAR alternative.
- PeaZip is Free and Open SourceWinRAR is Paid and Proprietary

NanaZip
NanaZip is an open-source file archiver intended for the modern Windows experience.
89 NanaZip alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- File Archiver
- File Compressor
Platforms
- Windows
Top NanaZip Features
1. File Compression
2. File Archiving
3. Ad-free
4. Context Menu extension
5. Lightweight
6. Checksums verification
7. Works Offline
8. No registration required
9. Windows Explorer Extension
10. Dark Mode
11. No Tracking
12. Supports Zip files
Show all NaN NanaZip features ▾
NanaZip VS WinRAR
Is NanaZip a good alternative to WinRAR?

File Roller
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.
86 File Roller alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- File Archiver
- File Compressor
Platforms
- Linux
- Flathub
- GNOME
File Roller Features
Ad-free
Lightweight
Supports Zip files
Show all NaN File Roller features ▾
File Roller VS WinRAR
Is File Roller a good alternative to WinRAR?
Comments about File Roller as an Alternative to WinRAR

Guest
Can't even extract multi-part archives. Can't show CRC or anything at all. Suprised this poor app has that high votes.
Negative comment •Nov 19, 2017
7
Guest
Capable of almost nothing, and certainly does not offer the feature range of winrar.
Negative comment •Jan 3, 2021
0
- Some users think File Roller is a great WinRAR alternative, some don't.
- File Roller is Free and Open SourceWinRAR is Paid and Proprietary

FreeArc
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.
82 FreeArc alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- File Archiver
- File Compressor
Platforms
- Windows
- Linux
FreeArc Features
1. Supports RAR files
2. Portable
3. Supports Zip files
4. Data Compression
5. Lossless Compression
6. PNG Compression
Show all NaN FreeArc features ▾
Discontinued
Latest alpha version from August 2012 - http://freearc.org/history/changelog_full.htm
FreeArc VS WinRAR
Is FreeArc a good alternative to WinRAR?

Ark
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).
36 Ark alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- File Archiver
- File Compressor
Platforms
- Linux
- KDE
Ark Features
Lightweight
Ad-free
QT Based
AES Encryption
Show all NaN Ark features ▾
Ark VS WinRAR
Is Ark a good alternative to WinRAR?

gzip
GNU Gzip is a software application used for file compression and decompression. It is based on the DEFLATE algorithm, which is a combination of LZ77 and Huffman coding.
24 gzip alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
- File Compressor
Platforms
- Linux
- BSD
gzip Features
Lightweight
Command line interface
Supports tar files
Show all NaN gzip features ▾
gzip VS WinRAR
Is gzip a good alternative to WinRAR?