Software that merges the finest capabilities of 7-zip and RAR.
FreeArc is a modern and versatile archiver that boasts impressive speed and comes loaded with a rich array of features. The key advantage of FreeArc is its swift yet efficient compression capabilities. In fact, FreeArc typically outperforms other compression programs, with compression speeds that are 1.5 to 3 times faster than the best alternatives.
One of the standout features of FreeArc is its broad compatibility across systems. It is free, open-source, and available in both console and GUI versions for both Windows and Linux. FreeArc supports a range of compression algorithms, including LZMA, PPMD, TrueAudio, and generic Multimedia compression algorithms. These algorithms are automatically switched based on file type. Additionally, filters can be employed to further bolster compression, such as REP (finding repetitions up to 1gb), DICT (dictionary replacements for texts), DELTA (enhancing compression for binary data tables), BCJ (executables preprocessor), and LZP (text repetition removal). Special compression algorithms are used for GRZIP for texts and Tornado for binary data to speed up compression.
What sets FreeArc apart from other software is its many advanced compression features. This software includes 11 compression algorithms and filters (compared to 3 in 7-zip and 7 in RAR), and this number continues to grow. The toolbox for compression includes smart file sorting that groups similar files together, and fully customizable sorting orders further enhance compression.
With FreeArc, you can also use external programs as a compressor or filter with ease. Precomp, ECM, CCM(x), PPMonstr, Durilca, LPAQ, UDA, and PAQ are already preconfigured in arc.ini as shipped. You can fine-tune your settings for each compression algorithm as well as select which algorithms to use for specific file types. You can create new compression profiles and modify existing ones with ease by using -dic$ option.
While FreeArc is an impressive archiver, there are still areas where it currently lacks compared to its competitors. For instance, FreeArc does not support multi-volume archives, a 64-bit version, storing of file attributes/extended timestamps/NTFS streams in the archive, bcj2, and data segmentation. However, these are planned improvements that will likely be introduced in future versions.
One of the standout features of FreeArc is its broad compatibility across systems. It is free, open-source, and available in both console and GUI versions for both Windows and Linux. FreeArc supports a range of compression algorithms, including LZMA, PPMD, TrueAudio, and generic Multimedia compression algorithms. These algorithms are automatically switched based on file type. Additionally, filters can be employed to further bolster compression, such as REP (finding repetitions up to 1gb), DICT (dictionary replacements for texts), DELTA (enhancing compression for binary data tables), BCJ (executables preprocessor), and LZP (text repetition removal). Special compression algorithms are used for GRZIP for texts and Tornado for binary data to speed up compression.
What sets FreeArc apart from other software is its many advanced compression features. This software includes 11 compression algorithms and filters (compared to 3 in 7-zip and 7 in RAR), and this number continues to grow. The toolbox for compression includes smart file sorting that groups similar files together, and fully customizable sorting orders further enhance compression.
With FreeArc, you can also use external programs as a compressor or filter with ease. Precomp, ECM, CCM(x), PPMonstr, Durilca, LPAQ, UDA, and PAQ are already preconfigured in arc.ini as shipped. You can fine-tune your settings for each compression algorithm as well as select which algorithms to use for specific file types. You can create new compression profiles and modify existing ones with ease by using -dic$ option.
While FreeArc is an impressive archiver, there are still areas where it currently lacks compared to its competitors. For instance, FreeArc does not support multi-volume archives, a 64-bit version, storing of file attributes/extended timestamps/NTFS streams in the archive, bcj2, and data segmentation. However, these are planned improvements that will likely be introduced in future versions.
What's New
Version 0.51: N/A