Archive Formats Cheat Sheet — ZIP vs RAR vs 7Z vs TAR.GZ (2025)

A printable reference for choosing the right archive format. Covers compression ratio, speed, encryption, platform support, and licensing.

Archive Formats Comparison Table

| Feature | ZIP | RAR | 7Z | TAR.GZ | TAR.BZ2 | TAR.XZ | |---------|-----|-----|-----|--------|---------|--------| | Compression | Good | Better | Best | Good | Better | Best | | Speed | Fast | Moderate | Slow | Fast | Slow | Very slow | | Encryption | AES-256 | AES-256 | AES-256 | No | No | No | | Solid archive | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Split archive | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | | Unix permissions | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Symlinks | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Windows built-in | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | | macOS built-in | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | | Licensing | Free | Proprietary | LGPL | Free | Free | Free |

Compression Ratio Comparison (Same 100MB Dataset)

| Format | Compressed Size | Ratio | Time | |--------|----------------|-------|------| | ZIP (DEFLATE) | 42 MB | 58% | 2s | | RAR (v5) | 36 MB | 64% | 5s | | 7Z (LZMA2) | 33 MB | 67% | 10s | | TAR.GZ (gzip) | 42 MB | 58% | 2s | | TAR.BZ2 (bzip2) | 37 MB | 63% | 12s | | TAR.XZ (LZMA2) | 33 MB | 67% | 15s | | TAR.ZST (Zstandard) | 35 MB | 65% | 1s |

Download samples: ZIP · TAR.GZ · TAR.BZ2 · RAR · 7Z

When to Use Each Format

• Share with anyone → ZIP (built into Windows, macOS, Linux)
• Linux source code → TAR.GZ (preserves permissions, symlinks)
• Best compression → 7Z or TAR.XZ (same LZMA2 algorithm)
• Fast + good compression → TAR.ZST (Zstandard)
• Password protection → ZIP (AES-256) or 7Z (AES-256)
• WinRAR users → RAR
• Archival (cold storage) → TAR.BZ2 or TAR.XZ

CLI Quick Reference

# ZIP
zip -r archive.zip folder/           # Create
unzip archive.zip                     # Extract

# TAR.GZ
tar -czf archive.tar.gz folder/      # Create
tar -xzf archive.tar.gz              # Extract

# TAR.BZ2
tar -cjf archive.tar.bz2 folder/     # Create
tar -xjf archive.tar.bz2             # Extract

# 7Z
7z a archive.7z folder/              # Create
7z x archive.7z                       # Extract

# RAR (requires WinRAR/unrar)
rar a archive.rar folder/            # Create
unrar x archive.rar                   # Extract

# Password-protected ZIP
zip -e -P mypassword archive.zip file.txt

# Password-protected 7Z
7z a -p"mypassword" -mhe=on archive.7z folder/

OS Support

| Format | Windows | macOS | Linux | Android | iOS | |--------|---------|-------|-------|---------|-----| | ZIP | Built-in | Built-in | Built-in | Built-in | Built-in | | RAR | WinRAR | unrar | unrar | RAR app | iZip | | 7Z | 7-Zip | Keka | p7zip | ZArchiver | iZip | | TAR.GZ | 7-Zip | Built-in | Built-in | ZArchiver | iZip | | TAR.BZ2 | 7-Zip | Built-in | Built-in | ZArchiver | iZip |

Decision Flowchart

1. Sharing with non-technical users? → ZIP
2. Linux/DevOps, need permissions? → TAR.GZ
3. Smallest possible size? → 7Z or TAR.XZ
4. Need encryption? → ZIP (AES) or 7Z (AES)
5. Fast + modern? → TAR.ZST (Zstandard)
6. Package for app store? → ZIP (APK/IPA are ZIP containers)