7-Zip Screenshot

To extract and compress your files, 7-Zip is a great free WinRAR alternative.

The 7-Zip interface is similar to that of its competitors, with a main file manager and a command line to search and select files to extract or compress. The control panel has the essential basics like extract, add and test, as well as copy, move and delete functions to manage your files. 7-Zip extracts and compresses files as fast as WinZip and WinRAR and handles the main archive formats like ZIP, TAR, RAR and ISO.

The archiving process is where 7-Zip differs most from its rivals. Where WinZip only lets you compress to ZIP and WinRAR to RAR or ZIP, 7zip offers you up to 5 different archive formats to choose from. 7-Zip lets you choose the update mode, depending on whether you want to add and replace files, refresh the archive or just synchronize files. If you don't want somebody opening up your archive without your permission, you can set a password to protect your archive.