Best File Compression Software in 2026
29 file compression software ranked on what their makers publish — plans and prices, free tiers, platforms and the facts on their own pages.
29ranked
24free plans on this page
2 Oct 2026last checked
#1 Bandizip Top pick · 9.1 Free plan · Free
#2 PowerArchiver Runner-up · 8.7 Free plan · Free
#3 7-Zip Also great · 8.5 Free plan · Free- Free planFree trial macOSWindows
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- Creates ZIP, 7Z, ZIPX, EXE (SFX), TAR, TGZ, LZH, ISO, GZ, XZ; extracts 7Z, ACE, AES, ALZ, ARJ, BH, BIN, BR, BZ, BZ2, CAB, MSI, DAA, DEB, EGG, GZ, IMG, ISO, ISZ, LHA, LZ, LZH, LZMA, PMA, RAR, RAR5, SFX, TAR, TBZ/TB2, TGZ, TLZ, TXZ, UDF, WIM, XPI, XZ, Z, ZIP, ZIPX, ZPAQ, PEA, UU, UUE, XXE, ASAR, ZSTD, NSIS, LZ4
- Archive encryption
- Yes
- Split archives
- Yes
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free planFree trial macOSWindows
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- 60+; creates ZIP, ZIPX, 7Z, TAR, TAR.GZ, TAR.BZ2, CAB, BH, JAR; extracts RAR, ACE, ARJ, ISO, MSI, DMG, RPM, CPIO, LHA, ZOO, and more
- Archive encryption
- Yes
- Split archives
- Yes
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan LinuxmacOSWindows
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- Create/extract: 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP, WIM; extract: APFS, AR, ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, CramFS, DMG, EXT, FAT, GPT, HFS, IHEX, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MBR, MSI, NSIS, NTFS, QCOW2, RAR, RPM, SquashFS, UDF, UEFI, VDI, VHD, VHDX, VMDK, XAR, Z
- Archive encryption
- Yes
- Split archives
- Yes
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan LinuxmacOSWindows
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- Creates 7Z, ARC, BZ2, GZ, PAQ/LPAQ/ZPAQ, PEA, QUAD/BALZ/BCM, RAR conditionally, TAR, UPX, WIM, and ZIP/ZIPX; extracts 200+ types
- Archive encryption
- Yes
- Split archives
- Yes
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan AndroidLinuxmacOSWebWindows
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- Creates B1 and ZIP; extracts more than 40 archive formats
- Archive encryption
- Yes
- Split archives
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan Windows
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP, WIM, APFS, AR, ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, CramFS, DMG, EXT, FAT, GPT, HFS, IHEX, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MBR, MSI, NSIS, NTFS, QCOW2, RAR, RPM, SquashFS, UDF, UEFI, VDI, VHD, VHDX, VMDK, XAR, Z, Brotli, Lizard, LZ4, LZ5, Zstandard, UFS/UFS2, .NET Single File, Electron ASAR, ROMFS, ZealFS, WASM, CB7, CBZ, CBR
- Archive encryption
- Yes
- Split archives
- Yes
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan LinuxWindows
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- tar, gzip, bzip2, zip, rar, 7z, xz, rpm, cab, deb, xar, AppImage
- Archive encryption
- Yes
- Split archives
- Yes
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatformsFree About ArkVisit site - Free plan macOSiOS
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- Create: 7Z, ZIP, TAR, GZIP, BZIP2, XZ, LZIP, DMG, ISO, BROTLI, ZSTD, LRZIP, AAR, WIM; extract: 7Z, ZIP, ZIPX, RAR, TAR, GZIP, BZIP2, XZ, LZIP, DMG, ISO, BROTLI, ZSTD, LRZIP, LZMA, EXE, CAB, WIM, MSI, PAX, JAR, WAR, IPA, XIP, APK, APPX, XPI, WPRESS, IS3, CPGZ, CPIO, CPT, SPK
- Archive encryption
- Yes
- Split archives
- Yes
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatformsFree About KekaVisit site - Free plan macOSWindowsLinux
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- ZIP, ZIPX, RAR, 7z, TAR, Gzip, Bzip2, LZMA, XZ, CAB, MSI, NSIS, EXE, ISO, BIN, MDF, NRG, CDI, StuffIt, StuffIt X, DiskDoubler, Compact Pro, PackIt, Cpio, Compress, ARJ, ARC, PAK, ACE, Zoo, LZH, ADF, DMS, LZX, PowerPacker, LBR, Squeeze, Crunch, XAR, RPM, DEB, AR, ALZip, WARC, NSA, SAR, NDS, SWF, PDF
- Archive encryption
- Yes
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan Windows
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- ZIP, ZIPX, 7Z, RAR, RAR5, ISO, VHD, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, CPIO, XZ, DEB, DMG, RPM, XPI, EXE
- Archive encryption
- Yes
- Split archives
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan Linux
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- 7z, ace, alz, ar, arj, cab, cpio, deb, dmg, iso, jar, ear, war, lha, rar, cbr, rpm, tar, tar.gz, tar.br, tar.bz, tar.bz2, tar.bz3, tar.Z, tar.lrz, tar.lz, tar.lzo, tar.7z, tar.xz, tar.zst, snap, squashfs, sit, zip, cbz, zoo, gz, br, bz, bz2, bz3, Z, lrz, lz, lzo, rz, xz, zst
- Archive encryption
- Yes
- Split archives
- Yes
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan LinuxmacOS
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- 7z, APFS, APM, AR, ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, CramFS, DMG, EXT, FAT, GPT, HFS, ISO, LZH, RAR, SquashFS, TAR, WIM, XZ, ZIP, Zstandard
- Archive encryption
- Yes
- Split archives
- Yes
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan Windows
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- ZIP, 7-Zip, CAB, TAR, BZip2, GZip, LHA, YZ1, RAR
- Archive encryption
- Yes
- Split archives
- Yes
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan Android
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- Create: 7z, ZIP, BZip2, GZip, XZ, LZ4, TAR, Zstandard; extract: 7z, ZIP, RAR, RAR5, BZip2, GZip, XZ, ISO, TAR, ARJ, CAB, LZH, LHA, LZMA, XAR, TGZ, TBZ, Z, DEB, RPM, ZIPX, MTZ, CHM, DMG, CPIO, CRAMFS, IMG, WIM, ECM, LZIP, Zstandard, EGG, ALZ
- Archive encryption
- Yes
- Split archives
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan Windows
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- ALZ, EGG, ZIP, LZH, TAR, JAR; extracts split ALZ, EGG, ZIP, RAR, and ACE archives
- Archive encryption
- Yes
- Split archives
- Yes
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan Android
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- Create: RAR, ZIP. Extract: RAR, ZIP, ZIPX, TAR, GZ, BZ2, XZ, 7z, ISO, ARJ
- Archive encryption
- Yes
- Split archives
- Yes
- Command-line tools
- No
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan Windows
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- ZIP, 7z, TAR, GZIP, BZIP2, XZ, RAR, ZipX, ISO, ARJ, CAB, CHM, MSI, NSIS
- Archive encryption
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan LinuxWindows
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- BZ2 (.bz2), BZ (.bz), TBZ2 (.tbz2), TBZ (.tbz)
- Archive encryption
- No
- Split archives
- No
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan LinuxWindowsmacOS
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- .zst, .gz, .xz, .lz4
- Archive encryption
- No
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan LinuxmacOSWindows
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- .xz, .lzma, raw streams; .lz extraction
- Archive encryption
- No
- Split archives
- No
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan Windows
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- 7z, ACE, ALZ, ARC, ARJ, bzip2, CPIO, gzip, LZH, LZMA, RAR, StuffIt, TAR, XZ, ZIP, ZOO, ZPAQ, and other formats
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan LinuxmacOSWindows
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- lzip (.lz)
- Split archives
- Yes
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatformsFree About lzipVisit site - Free plan LinuxmacOS
- Free plan
- Yes
- Archive formats
- LRZ; TAR-compressed LRZ via lrztar
- Archive encryption
- Yes
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - macOS
- Free plan
- No
- Archive formats
- ZIP, TAR, TGZ, TBZ, TXZ, 7-ZIP, DMG, Zstandard, Brotli, RAR; extracts TNEF, ARJ, LZH, ISO, CHM, CAB, CPIO/CPGZ, DEB, RPM, SIT/SITX, BinHex, and MacBinary
- Archive encryption
- Yes
- Split archives
- Yes
- Command-line tools
- Yes
RecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms - Free plan WindowsRecognisedDocumentedFree planFree trialPlatforms
Is your platform on this list?
Numbered spots on this list can be sponsored. They are labelled, and the editorial order and scores never change for payment.
Questions about this list
Which file compression software is ranked first on The Geeks Club?
Bandizip is ranked #1 of 29 with a score of 9.1. PowerArchiver is second and 7-Zip third.
How many of these have a free plan?
24 of the 25 on this page publish a free plan on their own pricing pages.
How is this list ranked?
Ranked on how quickly a newcomer can get going: documentation depth, a free tier or trial, and the platforms it runs on. Paid placements never change a rank.
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