Windows 11 users can now manage RAR archives natively, with no need for third-party software or questionable archive "unpackers." Windows 11 22H2, the past year's last major...

Windows 11 adds native support for RAR, 7-Zip, Tar and other archive formats thanks to open-source library::undefined

  • @lmaydevEnglish
    22•7 months ago

    Why would you use any of them when zip exists?

    For an average user they offer no advantage.

    • @[email protected]English
      17•7 months ago

      Zip has a worse compression ratio than 7z, and that’s a disadvantage for the average user (for example, a user with an email attachment size limit that they need to stay under).

      If Windows natively supports one of the better alternatives, there’s no reason to keep using zip. It’s a 30 year old format, and it’s something that regular users will happily just go with whatever’s default.

      • BombOmOmEnglish
        5•7 months ago

        Not only does Zip have a worse compression ratio than 7z, but it even takes longer to make the zip due to the fact the windows zip program is single threaded.

      • @lmaydevEnglish
        8•7 months ago

        Then you aren’t an average user.

        • @[email protected]English
          4•7 months ago

          It also takes forever to pack.

          I ran benchmarks for syslog compression/decompression, and ended up using plzip, which used lzma, just because it was the fastest decompression while still having only marginally worse ratio.

          But it still takes forever to pack.