7-Zip is one of the best archive managers for Windows, offering a long list of features. However, I recently came across PeaZip, an open-source archive manager, and I find it very similar to 7-Zip. Let’s compare both tools so you can determine which one to use on your computer.
User Interface
The very first thing that you look at whenever you open an app is its UI, and I must say PeaZip’s UI is the best out of all the archive managers I have used to date. Instead of a traditional archive manager look, PeaZip’s UI gives the vibe that you’re using a file manager. In fact, if it were possible, I would definitely replace the Windows File Manager with PeaZip.
At the top, you will find three main options—Add, Convert, and Extract. Selecting the Add option allows you to archive files, the Convert option allows you to convert a file format, and the Extract option allows you to extract an archive file. All these options support the drag-and-drop facility.
You will also find the Test and Secure Delete options at the top. The first option allows you to verify the integrity of an archive file and detect the issue that is preventing the successful extraction or archiving of the file. The second option, on the other hand, allows you to permanently delete a file or folder from your computer.
7-Zip has a very typical archive manager look. The very first thought that came to my mind when I used 7-Zip was that I was using an application from the Windows 95 era. The buttons, fonts, and everything else give it the look of a retro app, and perhaps that’s what makes 7-Zip unique compared to all the other modern archive managers.
Similar to PeaZip, you’ll find the Add, Extract, Test, and Delete options at the top of 7-Zip. In addition to these four options, there are two others as well—Copy and Move—and both of them are self-explanatory. The drag-and-drop functionality is missing in 7-Zip. I really hope that the developers add this soon, as it makes adding files quicker.
Supported File Formats
An archive manager will be of no use if it isn’t able to convert the file into the format you want. That’s why it’s important to be aware of all the formats an archive manager supports before choosing one. Fortunately, both 7-Zip and PeaZip support a long list of formats.
You can use the 7-Zip archive manager to create archives in 7z, BZIP2, TAR, WIM, GZIP, and ZIP. When it comes to unpacking, 7-Zip allows you to extract more than 30 file formats, including popular ones such as ISO, RAR, FAT, EXT, and NTFS.
PeaZip allows you to create archives in 10 formats, including 7z, ARC, Brotli, BZ2, GZ, PEA, TAR, WIM, Zstandard, and ZIP. Surprisingly, you can extract more than 200 types of archive files using PeaZip.
Security
Security is often the most ignored aspect of an archive manager, but considering the number of data breaches happening these days, it’s important to use an archive manager that comes with the latest security features. 7-Zip offers strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats. To increase security, you also have the option to encrypt both the file data and its name.
PeaZip has an edge over 7-Zip when it comes to security. In addition to AES-256 encryption, PeaZip supports extra encryption models such as Twofish and Serpent. Furthermore, it offers a few other security features, including an encrypted password manager and 2FA protection for files.
Advanced Features
In addition to compression and decompression functionality, archive managers offer many other features as well. The PeaZip archive manager can be used to split and join files. There is a secure delete option that you can use to permanently delete files from your computer. You can use the password manager to securely store files, and there is also an option to compress or extract multiple files at once.
Unfortunately, 7-Zip doesn’t offer any extra features like PeaZip. The only motto of this software is to help you compress and extract files.
So, which archive manager should you use? It’s one of those questions that depends on your usage. Still, if you ask me, I would recommend 7-Zip. It has the best compression ratio among all the archive managers I have used. I also don’t face any difficulty in terms of supported formats since my work mainly revolves around ZIP, 7z, and RAR files. Furthermore, 7-Zip is very easy on the CPU because of its minimalistic design.
However, if you work with a variety of archive files and want advanced security features, PeaZip could be a great 7-Zip alternative.
