A comparison analysis between the 2 most used free software for files and folders archiviation/compression/decompression: 7-Zip and PeaZip.
Supported OS:
winner: 7-Zip
PeaZip is available for Windows and Linux, 7-Zip is available for Linux, Mac OS X, DOS and other operating system within p7zip (indipendent developer)
Archiver features:
winner: PeaZip
the features considered are: data compression, shell integration, password protection, multiple volumes, self extraction, file repairing, batch conversion, Unicode file/directory names, encryption, filename encryption
Supported formats: (reading)
winner: PeaZip
PeaZip supports two more (ACE and ARC) and also special formats listen below
Supported formats: (writing)
winner: PeaZip
PeaZip supports ARC and also special formats listen below
source: Wikipedia
Benchmarks:
winner: 7-Zip
i made some tests by compressing a folder containing mixed files (mp3, documents, text files, images, videos, executables) and subfolders in the zip format with default settings; the results:
Dataset: 395 files, 7 folders, total size 408.260.608
PeaZip = 359.845.888 / 27.9s
7-Zip = 359.845.888 / 19s
same test with a single big file (1gb of video file), the results:
Dataset: 1 file, total size 1.621.884.928
PeaZip = 1.615.855.616 / 2.49m
7-Zip = 1.615.855.616 / 2.11m
Memory usage:
PeaZip 9.220Mb
7-Zip 3.516Mb
winner: 7-Zip
tests have been made on a Windows 7 SP-1 Ultimate 64 bit dual core machine measuring memory usage in idle mode.
Special notes:
PeaZip has an automatic installer that shows ads, however ou can use a plain installer version without ads. It’s available also as portable version (Windows 32/64 bit and Linux). Can create auto-extracting archives, split/join files, secure encryption, two factor authentication, secure deletion, find duplicates, export job definitions as batch script files, multilanguage, support non common formats LPAQ, PAQ, QUAD, BALZ, UPX and FreeArc.
7-Zip has a powerful line command version and is also available as portable version (not ufficial), multilanguage support, auto extraction archives (SFX), support these formats in reading: .MSI (Windows installer), Apple DMG and HFS disk images, DEB and RPM packages; high ratio compression with LZMA and LZMA2, AES-256 encryption for 7z and zip formats, FAR Manager plugin.