PeaZip – Free File Compression Software
Posted on June 15, 2008 at 5:01 am
If you are familiar with file compression utilities, you may have heard or have used WinZip before. For the uninitiated, file compression software is used to group a collection of files into one small file, making it easier and faster to distribute them to other computers.
However, do you realize that WinZip is actually not free software? Once the 45 evaluation period ends, you are required to buy the full license to use the full product. If you are looking to replace WinZip with totally free file compression software, give PeaZip a try.
PeaZip is an open source tool that you can use to archive, compress and uncompress your files quickly, free of charge. In PeaZip, you will often switch between two interfaces: the File Browser where you can browse and add files that you want to archive and the File Archive interface where you actually create your compressed file archive using various available options.
The interface is pretty intuitive and there is a good usage manual on PeaZip’s website so don’t you worry about not being able to use it optimally.
PeaZip Features
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Free and open source so you can expect the product to be improved from time to time by the community.
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Able to create compressed file archives in multiple formats – 7Z, ARC, BZ2, GZ, PAQ/LPAQ, PEA, QUAD, TAR, UPX, ZIP.
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Able to open / uncompress file archives in various formats that includes the above plus ACE, ARJ, ISO, RAR, RPM and more.
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Able to handle multiple compressed file archives simultaneously.
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Drag and drop files to create an archive; Windows only. You can also add new files to a previously created archive in a snap.
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Exclusion and inclusion file filter to create archives based on particular file extensions.
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Multiplatform and portable – runs on Windows and UNIX. There is even a portable standalone version so you can carry this free file compression software with your USB thumb drive. PeaZip is Windows Vista ready too!
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Secure your files with passwords and various file encryption algorithm based on the archive format that you choose. You can opt to use the random password generator or keyfiles for maximum, strong file protection.
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ARC file compression format is available to protect your file archives from corruption by using “recovery records” technology.
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Windows context menu integration for quick archive creation via “Send to” menu.
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“Test all” button allows you to quick check a file archive if it is corrupt or not.
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File splitter and joiner tool to distribute big archives into multiple storage medias such as CDROM or floppy disks.
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Checksum and hash tools for quick archive integrity check.
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Quick and secure file deletion to protect your file privacy.
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Detailed log files for each compression / decompression tasks.
Overall, PeaZip is a free file compression software with loads of useful features that is impossible to list it all here. With huge amount of supported file formats plus ease of use, you will never need to install WinZip ever again. Try PeaZip today!
Earlier, I had written about another free program to replace WinZip called TugZip. Another popular open source zip program is 7-zip, which I had written about way back in the days.
This is a guest post by Syahid A. from TechMalaya
Tags: file compression, file compression software, free file compression software, winzip alternative
» Filed Under Free Software Downloads
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2 Responses to “PeaZip – Free File Compression Software”
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Send compressed voice recordings via email using JDVoiceMail Says:
[...] file is usually too large if I want to attached a proper length voice message to an email. Using a free file compression utility also requries the reciever to unzip the file, too much [...]
September 24th, 2008 at 5:38 am
Just saw this thread and thought I’d also suggest FILEminimizer Office – it compresses all MS Office files up to 98%. The cool thing about this is that it compresses the actual file, so there’s nothing to extract.