To day we will talk about an application called IZArc which works in the same way as Winrar or Winzip does, i.e. compressing and decompressing them as per your needs. The only difference is its free. Also, it lets you password protect your files as Winrar but with strong 256 bit AES encryption.

Features:

  • Supporting many archive formats like: 7-ZIP, A, ACE, ARC, ARJ, B64, BH, BIN, BZ2, BZA, C2D, CAB, CDI, CPIO, DEB, ENC, GCA, GZ, GZA, HA, IMG, ISO, JAR, LHA, LIB, LZH, MDF, MBF, MIM, NRG, PAK, PDI, PK3, RAR, RPM, TAR, TAZ, TBZ, TGZ, TZ, UUE, WAR, XXE, YZ1, Z, ZIP, ZOO.

  • Drag and drop files from and to Windows Explorer, create and extract archives directly in Windows Explorer, create multiple archives spanning disks, creating self-extracting archives, repair damaged zip archives, converting from one archive type to another,
  • open CD image files like ISO, BIN, CDI and NRG. convert such files from one type to another (BIN to ISO, NRG to ISO).
  • Create self-extracting archive that can be extracted by simple double click.
  • can be configured to run your preferred Anti-Virus scanner when you open any archives.
  • supports 256-bit AES encryption to secure your data.
  • IZArc is integrated in Windows so you can perform all archiving operations by using right-click menus in Windows Explorer.

When you install it on your system, you will notice that its bundled with spyware terminator. But no option is selected by default letting you choose if you want to install it or not.

The interface is much simpler than Winrar or Winzip and hence many of you may find it less appealing. Even you will find the options menu less cluttered with only the options you need.

izarc options

It was able to extract some installer files which was not possible with winzip or winrar e.g. latest iTunes 10 installer. So its good whenever you are not sure of what’s inside the installer or zipped file.

Give it a try if you want a replacement of either winzip or Winrar or any other similar utility.

Download IZArc here.