File Explorer has long offered the ability to create and open ZIP files, and more recently, Windows 11 version 24H2 also added support for other archive file formats, such as as RAR and 7Z. but while you can use File Explorer for all your file compression and unzipping needs, the truth is you're probably better off with alternative options.

There are quite a lot of file archive handlers out there, and most of them offer a better experience than File Explorer, both for unzipping and compressing files. If you want the best performance and usability, check out these apps instead.

4 PeaZip

You may not have known about this one

PeaZip is another great option in the world of file extractors and compression tools. It has a very simple and straight-to-the-point user interface, but that's a good thing. It's a lightweight app with very good performance for both compressing and extracting archives, making it an easy recommendation if you want something that just gets the job done quickly.

We tested extracting a roughly 300MB ZIP file containing a few hundred files inside of it, and compared to File Explorer on Windows 11 (which took 1 minute,18 seconds, and 88 milliseconds), PeaZip extracted all the files in just 15 seconds and 31 milliseconds, so it's much faster.

PeaZip registers as en entry in the Windows context menu, but if you're on Windows 11, you have to click Show more options to see these options, so it takes an extra click, but it works very well.

3 Universal Extractor

They're not kidding

Universal Extractor is a tool that lives up to its name. The original version of Universal Extractor was around for a very long time, but development eventually stopped, but thankfully, someone picked it up with Universal Extractor 2. This GitHub project takes the capabilities of that original project and expands upon them even more.

See, Universal Extractor doesn't just extract your typical archive files like ZIP or RAR. It can open almost any kind of file containing other files. For example, a self-extracting EXE installer can be extracted using this app, though your mileage will vary. In fact, many kinds of installers are supported. If you open an animated GIF file, Universal Extractor can extract individual frames from it and save them as separate images. For music files, you can convert an MP3 file into a WAV file. Over 500 file types are supported, so the possibilities are endless.

Performance-wise, Universal Extractor took just 10 seconds and 57 milliseconds to extract the aforementioned 300MB ZIP file, making it faster than PeaZip on top of offering much more functionality. Similar to PeaZip, Universal Extractor is also added to the context menu in File Explorer if you want it to, but it's hidden in the classic context menu.

The sad bit here is that Universal Extractor 2 also seems to have gone dormant since 2020, but the latest version still works quite well. Hopefully development will be picked up at some point and carried on even further.

2 7-Zip

The cream of the crop

When it comes to file compression and extraction tools, you can't do much better than 7-Zip, and everyone knows it. This is easily the most popular tool around for handling file archives, and for good reason. 7-Zip is very fast and widely compatible, making it easy to handle all your archives perfectly without worries. Basically every archive file format is supported, and it supports password-protected files, too.

Speed-wise, 7-Zip is the fastest option when it comes to handling the 300MB ZIP file mentioned above. It finished extracting all the files in just 6 seconds and 70 milliseconds, edging out our top pick for this list ever so slightly.

7-Zip gets added to your Windows context menu so you can quickly extract files by right-clicking them, and you can choose whether to extract in the current folder, create a subfolder with the archive's name, or just extract to a custom location. You can also test an archive to make sure it's functional before extracting it. However, 7-Zip is also hidden in the classic context menu, so it's not perfect on Windows 11.

1 WinRAR

A classic for a reason

WinRAR is one of the oldest names in the game when it comes to file extraction and compression. It popularized the RAR format as a common option for file archives, and it's a very good tool at what tit does. It lets you browse the files inside an archive, extract only parts of them, and it's pretty fast. Plus, it supports things like split archives and files with password protection, so it's a pretty good tool overall.

RAR may be the file format most associated with WinRAR, but it supports basically every format under the sun, including ZIP, 7Z, TAR.GZ, and much more. It's also one of the absolute fastest options, taking just 7 seconds and 15 milliseconds to extract the 300MB ZIP file I used for my quick testing. That makes it the second-fastest option on this list.

So why is it the top pick? Well, WinRAR is the only one of these options that not only gets added to the context menu, but it also supports the modern context menu in Windows 11, making it that much easier to access. With the time you save opening the classic context menu, this still ends up being the fastest option overall. You can't go wrong with this one.

Extract files easily

Windows 11 offers a decent enough tool for extracting files, yes, but the truth of the matter is third-party developers have been offering this for a very long time, and they've gotten very good at it. You can clearly see here that all of these options extract files much faster than File Explorer, and they have a lot more capabilities, too. That's not to say it's not good to have this feature built-in at all, but if you work with these files a lot, that extra speed will add up quickly.