A plethora of new archive formats are now natively supported in Windows 11. We have been waiting for this update for months, but with the arrival of this month’s optional Windows 11 KB5031455 preview cumulative update 11, new archive formats are understood by Windows 11 and can be seamlessly managed using the File Explorer.
Windows has had native .zip archive support for decades. This most popular archiving and compression format was integrated into Windows during the Windows 98 era via the Plus! 98 pack. Then Windows ME, released in 2000, support for .zip files became standard. Windows 11 is expanding native archive support to the following formats:
- .rar
- .7z
- .tar
- .tar.gz
- .tar.bz2
- .tar.zst
- .tar.xz
- .tgz
- .tbz2
- .tzst
- .txz
We haven’t had hands-on time with the KB5031455 preview cumulative update yet. However, we are aware of reports of slower archive navigation and operations than users might expect of a dedicated app. Bleeping Computer notes that password-protected archive support still isn’t in place, but Microsoft declined to comment when quizzed about the gap in support. We remember earlier versions of the 7zip app having password-protected .rar file issues, so this may be similar teething problems.
Windows 11 archived file support has been bolstered by code from the open-source libarchive project. Libarchive is claimed to be a “portable, efficient C library that can read and write streaming archives in a variety of formats.”
The above detailed archive handling features of Windows 11 are expected to roll out as part of the general release of the ‘Moment 4’ update for Windows 11. Those interested can prompt the optional update now by visiting the update control panel, it is expected to start rolling out for widespread general consumption from Nov 14. That’s next month's Patch Tuesday.
Expanded support for archive formats in Windows is just one part of the quite expansive Moment 4 update. Users also have things like a revamped File Explorer, Copilot for Windows, a Windows Hello-protected Passkey manager, ACM color management, and a new backup app to look forward to. You can read more about the update on the official KB5031455 preview page.
