Compression Performance: 7-Zip, MagicRAR, WinRAR, WinZip

Round-ups
By , published

We're taking a look at the the features, performance, and compression rates of four file archiving and compression tools: the free and open source 7-Zip, the heavyweight WinRAR, the old-school WinZip, and the lesser-known MagicRAR.

Results: ZIP Format, HT Enabled

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Continuing its march to the top of the leader board, 7-Zip beats WinZip at its own game. Using default settings, the open source tool manages not only to finish nine seconds faster, but it also produces a somewhat smaller archive file. WinRAR takes about twice as long as 7-Zip, which outperforms MagicRAR. That one takes a whopping six times longer than 7-Zip.