Uncompress files the open source way

Have you ever encountered compressed files and had to deal with the hassle of finding software to uncompress it? Or perhaps you have a huge file that you need to send across the net and compressing it will definitely help with the time spent sending it off?

We are all familiar with Winzip and Winrar, but are there other alternatives?

Fortunately, there's 7-Zip. It's a powerful open source software with the following features:

• High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression
• Supported formats:
• Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
• Unpacking only: ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z.
• For ZIP and GZIP formats, 7-Zip provides a compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
• Strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats
• Self-extracting capability for 7z format
• Integration with Windows Shell
• Powerful File Manager
• Powerful command line version
• Plugin for FAR Manager
• Localizations for 74 languages

7-Zip works in Windows 7 / Vista / XP / 2008 / 2003 / 2000 / NT / ME / 98. There is a port of the command line version to Linux/Unix.

I've been using 7zip for a month now and it works great.  Give it a go and download this software from their website

Technorati tags: software