ExtractNow is a free and compact application for Windows that offers users the power to decompress a wide variety of archives.

Features

• Simple and straightforward UI.
• Supports drag n drop.
• Supports monitoring specific folder and extract archives automatically.
• Allows to extract compressed files using a text file which contains a list of passwords.
• Supported file formats include: zip, jar, xpi, bz2, bzip2, tbz2, tbz, rar, r00, arj, z, taz, lzh, lha, 7z, cab, nsis, lzma, lzma86, xar, mub, hfs, dmg, wim, swm, iso, 001, rpm, deb, cpio, tar, gz, gzip, tgz, tpz, xz (+txz), ppmd, udf, msi, doc, xls, ppt, wim (+swm), chm, chi, chq, chw, hxs, hxi, hxr, hxq, hxw, lit, mslz, flv, swf, ntfs, img, fat, mbr, vhd, pe, elf, apm, macho, ace, a01, sit.
• Allows to show always on top, minimize to the system tray.
• Command line mode available.
• Supports batch archive extracting operation.

ExtractNow is compatible with all Windows versions including Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Vista, Windows 95/98/NT/Me.

ExtractNow is a 1.86MB download available from CNET and the developer’s website.

Universal Extractor is a free and open source utility which allows to extract files from almost any type of archive, assume that you want to analyse and decompress an install package to see which and what files are inside it, whether it contains a system driver file( *.sys ) which is possibly a kernel level rootkit, Universal Extractor comes in handy.

Features

• Easy to install and use.
• Supports drag and drop.
• Auto integrated with Windows Explorer.
• Supported archive formats include: .7z, .ace, .arc, .arj, .bin, .cue, .bz2, .tbz2, .tar.bz2, .cpio, .deb, .cdi, .b64, .uu, .uue, .xx, .xxe, .yenc, .ntx, .gz, .tgz, .tar.gz, .img, .cab, .1, .lib, .iso, .kgb, kge, .lzh, .lha, .lzma, .lzo, .Z, .tz, .tar.Z, .lzx, .mht, .cab, .imf, .chm, .lit, .hlp, .nbh, .nrg, .odt, .odp, .odg, .ods, .docx, .pptx, .xlsx, .dbx, .pea, .rar, .001, .rpm, .sis, .sit, .tar, .tbz2, .tgz, .txz, .tz, .tar.bz2, .tar.gz, .tar.xz, .tar.Z, .uha, .dll, .wim, .msm, .msi, .msp, .msu, .xz, .txz, .tar.xz, .zip, .jar, .xpi, .wz, .zoo.
• Portable version available.
• Multiple languages supported.

Universal Extractor supports most major Windows platforms like Windows 7 and Windows XP, etc.

Universal Extractor is a 5.29MB download available from the developer’s website and FileHippo.

Zipeg is a free and simple software devoted to opening and decompressing compressed archive files like rar files and zip files, it works on Macintosh OS X as well as Microsoft Windows 7 and XP.

Zipeg makes extracting / decompressing / expanding / unzipping compressed files a fairly simple, one-click affair.

Features

• Easy to use.
• Supports many formats: zip, 7z, rar, cab, iso, bz2( BZip2 ), gz( GNU Zip ), tgz, tar( Tape archive ), arj, lzh, z, chm, cpio, ear, war, cbr, cbz.
• Automatically open nested archives.
• Supports drag n drop.
• Allows to preview images and photos.
• Zipeg reads EXIF thumbnails from JPEG digital photographs and uses them for “tool tip” style preview and item icons( via wikipedia ).

Zipeg supports Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, Mac OS X( Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard ).

Zipeg for Windows is a 1.3MB download available from CNET, Google and the developer’s website.

Zipeg for Mac is a 2.4MB download available from CNET, Google and the developer’s website.

TUGZip is a free file archiving software for Windows which has a simple and elegant interface, it’s easy to operate and supports most kinds of file compression formats, you could use it to replace WinRar or WinZip.

We’ve covered lots of free file compression software before: 7-zip, IZArc, PeaZip, ZipGenius, TUGZip is another excellent one.

Feature List

• Supports integration with Windows Explorer.
• It has build-in multilanguage support.
• Supports creating solid archive.
• Supports creating encrypted zip archives with AES 128/192/256 bit algorithm.
• Supports Zip64 algorithm.
• It allows you compress files to the following file formats: 7z, zip, cab, tar, ace, bh, jar, lzh, sqx, tbz, tgz, yz1. It supports specifying different compression level, dictionary size, spanning mode, span size, etc.
• It allows you extract the following file formats: zip, rar, 7-zip, cab, a, ace, arj, bz2, cpio, deb, gca, gz, imp, lha, lib, rpm, sqx, tar, tgz, tbz, taz, yz1.
• It allows you encrypt archives with different encryption algorithms: Blowfish, DES, Triple DES and Rijndael.
• Allows you create self-extracting archives.
• Supports customizing user interface to different style.

TUGZip supports Windows 7, Windows XP / 2000 / NT / 9X.

Download it from CNET. Product Homepage:http://www.tugzip.com/.

ZipGenius is a free and powerful compression software which has a pretty interface, it’s easy to use yet highly customizable, you can use it to compress files, extract archives, encrypt files. It supports most mainstream compression formats: zip, rar, 7z, ace,arc, arj, bz2, cat, czip, gz, jar, war, ear, lzh, lha, mim, b64, pak, sqx, tar, taz, tgz, uue, xxe, yz1, z, zoo.

Feature List

• It has build-in MD5 generator and checker.
• It has build-in multilanguage support.
• It allows you encrypt archive with one of four algorithms: CryptoZip 2.0, Twofish, Blowfish 128bit, Rijndael 128bit.
• It allows create archive in the following formats: zip, cab, 7zip, tar, tar.gz, etc.
• It supports 4 different compression level.
• It allows you create multivolume archive.
• It allows you create self extracting archive.
• It allows you export file list to html/txt/xml/csv file.
• It allows you change the theme and skin.
• It supports integrated with Windows Explorer.
• It allows you perform scan with specified antivirus software while opening an archive.

Download ZipGenius from CNET.

PeaZip is a simple to use file and archive manager which supports creating and extracting most popular compression file formats including ZIP, TAR, 7Z, etc. It has a user friendly interface and is dead easy to operate, you can finish compressing/decompressing task with a few clicks. PeaZip is free for anyone and supports Windows XP/Windows 7/Linux, this makes it an alternative to WinZip / WinRAR.

PeaZip is as good as those ones with price tags attached, once installed, it’s integrated with Windows Explorer, you could open archive file or add files/folders to archive via the right button context menu, the user interface is straightforward and self-explanatory, it’s a piece of cake to operate it for both novice users and experienced users, I feel like such a fool for not using it before.

Features

• Portable version available.
• Supports AES256 encryption.
• Supports read 118 file extensions: 7z, bz, bz2, bzip2, tbz2, tbz, gz, gzip, tgz, tpz, tar, zip, z01, smzip, arj, cab, chm, chi, chq, chw, hxs, hxi, hxr, hxq, hxw, lit, cpio, deb, lzh, lha, rar, r01, 00, rpm, z, taz, tz, iso, jar, ear, war, lha, pet, pup, pak, pk3, pk4, slp, [Content], xpi, wim, u3p, lzma86, lzma, udf, xar, dmg, hfs, part1, split, swm, tpz, kmz, xz, txz, vhd, mslz, apm, mbr, fat, ntfs, exe, dll, sys, msi, msp, ods, ots, odm, oth, oxt, odb, odf, odg, otg, odp, otp, odt, ott, gnm, doc, dot, xls, xlt, ppt, pps, pot, docx, dotx, xlsx, xltx, swf, flv, quad, balz, zpaq, paq8f, paq8jd, paq8l, paq8o, lpaq1, lpaq5, lpaq8, ace, arc, wrc, 001, pea, cbz, cbr, cba, cb7, cbt.
• Has build-in multilanguage support: Belarusian, Czech, Dutch, English, French, Galician, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Sinhala, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese and more.
• Reliable and flexible.
• Open source.
• Allows you to drag and drop files to and from Windows Explorer.

Peazip works on Microsoft Windows 7 / Windows XP / 98/Me/2000/2003/Vista/Server 2008/NT ( supports both 32bit and 64bit system ) and Linux.

Download peazip from CNET.

7-zip is a file archiver that supports a wide range of file formats, including ZIP, CAB, ISO and RAR, it’s an open source free software, and does everything that you expect, if you are hunting for a freeware alternative to WinZip or WinRAR, just check out 7-zip!

7-zip can decompress ZIP files or RAR files for you, moreover, it could compress files or folders to the following formats: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR, and it provides a very high compression ratio, with the Ultra compression level, a text file can be packed into only 5 to 10 percent of the original size, you won’t believe it!

Here are some highlights of 7-Zip:

• 32-Bit and 64-Bit version available.
  
• Strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats.
  
• Integration with Windows Shell.
  
• Localizations for 74 languages.
  
• 7-Zip works in Windows 7 / Vista / XP / 2008 / 2003 / 2000 / NT / ME / 98.
  
• Supported formats:
  Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR,
  Unpacking only: ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z.

Download 7-zip here: http://www.7-zip.org/download.html