# Anyone know a good FREE Unzip utility? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 14, 2007, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-a-good-free-unzip-utility/411769 "2007-07-14T16:27:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2007, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-a-good-free-unzip-utility/411769/1 "2007-07-14T16:27:00Z")
I am trying to uncompress a .RAR file and am having trouble finding something that will do it for free. I can find software that I can download and try for free for a time but eventually want me to pay for them. I remember a time when WinZip was free but seems they want cash now too. Are there any compression utilities out there that are still free (legally free)? Preferrably something that handles .ZIP as well as .RAR files but in this case I am after a .RAR uncompression utility (seems Windows will handle .ZIP on its own). ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-a-good-free-unzip-utility/411769/2 "2007-07-14T16:32:54Z")
[http://www.7-zip.org/](http://www.7-zip.org/) ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2007, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-a-good-free-unzip-utility/411769/3 "2007-07-14T16:35:21Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] > **[7-Zip](https://www.7-zip.org/)** [/QUOTE] Seconded. 7zip is pretty much the swiss army knife of file compression in that it can open pretty much any compressed archive. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2007, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-a-good-free-unzip-utility/411769/4 "2007-07-14T16:39:13Z")
WinRAR is free to un-zip compressed files of any flavor. It might cost you if you want to zip something up with it, but I’ve never done that. Bur for five years or so, it’s un-zipped thousands of files for me. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2007, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-a-good-free-unzip-utility/411769/5 "2007-07-14T21:06:42Z")
I vote for WinRAR too. Ugly interface, but very effective ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-a-good-free-unzip-utility/411769/6 "2007-07-14T21:20:36Z")
IZarc from [www.izarc.org](http://www.izarc.org) is my utility of choice. – IG ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-a-good-free-unzip-utility/411769/7 "2007-07-15T06:03:39Z")
Thanks for the replies. Tried 7-zip. Not terribly fond of it. Not overly user friendly but it does do the job which in the end is what counts. Will give the others a look too. I appreciate that someone put work into these things and they deserve their share of the pie for their efforts but unzip utilities have been around forever and for some reason just hate the thought of paying for them. Thanks again. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-a-good-free-unzip-utility/411769/8 "2007-07-15T12:36:41Z")
Try [RarZilla](http://www.download.com/RarZilla-Free-Unrar/3000-2250_4-10647725.html?tag=lst-0-9) for your .rar files. I just installed it the other day. Effective, simple, and free. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-a-good-free-unzip-utility/411769/9 "2007-07-15T21:04:40Z")
[http://www.info-zip.org](http://www.info-zip.org) ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2007, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-a-good-free-unzip-utility/411769/10 "2007-07-16T02:59:46Z")
For the technical minded, you can’t go wrong with 7-Zip, but if you are not quite so technical, IZArc is a very capable solution. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2007, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-a-good-free-unzip-utility/411769/11 "2007-07-16T04:00:12Z")
IZArc is my utility of choice, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2007, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-a-good-free-unzip-utility/411769/12 "2007-07-16T08:01:01Z")
I prefer WinRAR. It’s simple, it’s small and it’s done pretty much everything I’ve asked it for. There’s a tiny, once-off nag screen for paying for a license when you use it, but you can just click close and it goes away. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2007, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-a-good-free-unzip-utility/411769/13 "2007-07-16T11:46:13Z")
I like [ZipGenius](http://www.zipgenius.it/eng/index.php) when I have to use Windows Looks good - excellent integration and format support. Si ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2007, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-a-good-free-unzip-utility/411769/14 "2007-07-16T16:51:22Z")
I like ultimatezip.