Overview:

Compression Tools: Packing a number of files into one single file is a handy way to move data around, especially when making a number of files available through internet. Also, compression algorithms may dramatically reduce the size of a file. To make such compressed archives, or extract files already compressed, you need a program able to handle compressed volumes.

7-Zip

• Version Number: 2.30
• Revision Date: 11 October 2002
• Licence: Freeware
• Manufacturer: Igor Pavlov
• Home Page: http://www.7-zip.org
• Description: Supports the highly efficient 7z compression format and also ZIP, GZIP, RAR, ARJ, CAB, TAR and BZIP2. It works by integration into the Explorer and opens archive contents into an Explorer window.
  

EnZip

• Version Number: 3
• Revision Date: 07 July 2001
• Licence: Freeware
• Manufacturer: Chris Marsh
• Home Page: http://cpam.freeserve.co.uk
• Description: Creates and decompresses ZIP files and self-extracted or spanned volumes, featuring a clean and pleasant user interface. Supports batch extraction.
  

ExtractNow

• Version Number: 2.83
• Revision Date: 19 February 2002
• Licence: Freeware
• Manufacturer: Nathan Moinvaziri
• Home Page: http://mmoin.brinkster.net/en/
• Description: Extract ZIP/RAR/ACE archives by dragging and dropping them on ExtractNow window.
  

FilZip

• Version Number: 2.01
• Revision Date: 09 October 2001
• Licence: Freeware
• Manufacturer: Philip Engel
• Home Page: http://www.filzip.com
• Description: Supports ACE, ARC, ARJ, BH, CAB, LHA, RAR, ZOO and ZIP file formats and media spanning.
  

ICEOWS

• Version Number: 4.10
• Revision Date: 11 October 2002
• Licence: Freeware
• Manufacturer: Raphael Mounier
• Home Page: http://www.iceows.com
• Description: Supports ARJ and ZIP compression and also supports the new ICE compression format. Can uncompress RAR, ACE, LHA, JAR and IMP formats. Works as a Windows Explorer extension.
  

PowerArchiver 2002

• Version Number: 8
• Revision Date: 07 November 2002
• Licence: Shareware
• Manufacturer: Ivan Petrovic
• Home Page: http://www.powerarchiver.com
• Description: User friendly skinnable program which offers complete support for creating and extracting from ZIP, CAB, LHA and TAR files, while it can also open RAR, ARJ, ARC, ACE, ZOO, GZ and BZIP2 archives. Integration with the Windows environment is very well implemented, allowing extraction of many volumes with one click and creation of spanned and self-extracting archives. Other features include archive convertion, support for UUencode/XXencode, auto-backup scripts to backup directly into compressed archives, write and merge multi-volume archives, batch zipping and unzipping. Has built-in FTP support and a password manager and offers a variety of encryption algorithms.
  

StuffIt Expander

• Version Number: 7.0
• Revision Date: 10 November 2001
• Licence: Freeware
• Manufacturer: Aladdin Systems
• Home Page: http://www.stuffit.com
• Description: Extract compressed archives of a variety of formats, including the most common for the Macintosh platform. Supports StuffIt, ZIP, ARJ, ARC and MIME/UUENCODE formats
  

UltimateZip

• Version Number: 2.5.0
• Revision Date: 24 July 2001
• Licence: Freeware
• Manufacturer: SWE von Schleusen
• Home Page: http://www.ultimatezip.com
• Description: Supports ZIP, BH, CAB, LHA, JAR, RAR, ARC, ACE, ARJ, PAK and ZOO file formats and media spanning, and can repair damaged zips and create self-extracting files.
  

WinAce

• Version Number: 2.30
• Revision Date: 24 November 2002
• Licence: Shareware
• Manufacturer: e-merge GmbH
• Home Page: http://www.winace.com
• Description: Based on the highly efficient ACE format, which delivers extremely high compression rates, WinAce also supports ZIP, LHA and CAB formats and can decompress RAR, ARC, ARJ, GZIP, TAR and ZOO formats. Using a sophisticated user interface, includes an integrated viewer, and supports archive optimization, shell integration and self-extracting archives.
  

WinImp

• Version Number: 1.21
• Revision Date: 15 May 2001
• Licence: Freeware
• Manufacturer: Technelysium Pty Ltd
• Home Page: http://www.technelysium.com.au
• Description: Apart from support for ZIP, ARJ, TAR and RAR formats, WinImp uses the IMP high performance archive format, which uses 2 compression algorithms for better compression and an error recovery feature. Other features include creation of self-extracting IMP compressed volumes and an explorer-like and user friendly interface.
  

WinRAR

• Version Number: 3.10
• Revision Date: 25 October 2002
• Licence: Shareware
• Manufacturer: Eugene Roshal
• Home Page: http://www.rarsoft.com
• Description: Based on RAR compression algorithm, which offers superb compression rates, WinRAR also supports CAB, ARJ, LZH, TAR, GZ and ACE compression formats. Offers shell integration and support for multivolume and self-extracting archives.
  

WinZip

• Version Number: 8.1
• Revision Date: 24 October 2001
• Licence: Shareware
• Manufacturer: Nico Mak Computing
• Home Page: http://www.winzip.com
• Description: With support for ZIP, TAR and GZIP formats, WinZip combines fast operation with ease of use. Also offers creation of self-extracting archives and disk spanning.
  

Zip Genius

• Version Number: 1.4.5
• Revision Date: 11 October 2002
• Licence: Freeware
• Manufacturer: M.Dev Software
• Home Page: http://www.zipgenius.it
• Description: Supports 16 compression and encoding/decoding formats, ZIP encryption/decryption via CZIP format, Windows Explorer integration. Comes with a customizable and friendly user interface, an integrated FTP and email client, TWAIN support, can export file lists to a variety of formats. It offers backup functions, wizard driven volume spanning/joining, support for handheld devices, and its extensible architecture allows the enhancement of its functions.
  

ZipCentral

• Version Number: 4.00
• Revision Date: 16 January 2002
• Licence: Freeware
• Manufacturer: Johan Saves
• Home Page: http://zipcentral.iscool.net
• Description: A ZIP compressor/decompressor which can write and merge multi-volume archives and create self-extracting executables. Provides variable levels of compression and is very simple and easy to use.