Features:  

WinZip includes all the features you’d expect to see in a typical file compression program. WinZip can create self-extracting archives, split archives into multiple volumes and repair damaged archives. WinZip also automatically checks and repairs damaged files.

One of the best WinZip features is the ZIP Wizard. The Wizard takes inexperienced users through a series of simple steps and questions designed to help them achieve their goal of zipping or unzipping a file or series of files. Using the WinZip Wizard is so easy; you don’t have to have any background or knowledge of file compression to use it.

For power users, WinZip offers a comprehensive feature set available in their “Classic View” interface that includes 128-AES and 256-AES password protection, detailed displays with individual and whole file compression ratios and the ability to email your files using Outlook. You can also right-click your mouse and use WinZip to zip or unzip directly from Windows Explorer.

We would have liked WinZip to incorporate a batch convert and batch extract feature directly in the application. These features are becoming increasingly common in other file compression programs. Although you can do batch conversions and extractions in WinZip, you have to do it manually using hotkeys (shift and ctrl) in the menu system. This trick doesn’t work if you are trying to zip or unzip multiple files in multiple folders.

To learn exactly how to create a new ZIP archive see our short tutorial click here.

Compression:  

Like most file compression software, WinZip gives the user a small amount of control over their compression. When creating a new archive, you can change your compression rate. WinZip suggests and defaults to their “Legacy” compression, a format that is compatible with older versions of WinZip.

We conducted a ZIP compression test among all of the file converter programs we reviewed and included WinZip’s “Legacy” and “Best” compression options in our results. In our test, we zipped a series of common files in which file compression software is typically used including JEPG pictures, PDFs, MP3 music, Word DOCs and Excel XLS spreadsheets.

In the “Legacy” test, WinZip performed moderately well. Although it wasn’t the best overall compression ratio, it was quite comparable to the rest of the software we reviewed. However, when we switched to the “Best” compression option, WinZip’s overall ZIP compression ratio blew almost everyone else out of the water. This was particularly apparent with the JPEG pictures. Pictures had approximately four times better compression with WinZip “Best” than with “Legacy.”

Overall, Word DOCs and Excel XLS demonstrated great compression equally with both compression options.

Compression Formats:  

WinZip compresses one format and one format only, ZIP. Although ZIP is the most popular and widely used format in computers today, we would like for them to at least acknowledge that other archives exist and give the user just a few other compression options, particularly the ability to archive to RAR, a format that is quickly gaining momentum on ZIP.

WinZip’s lack of compression options is one of the biggest issues keeping it from receiving an overall perfect score.

Extraction Formats:  

Arguably more important than a program’s ability to archive, is its versatility in extraction. Although WinZip only compresses ZIP files, it will extract a number of popular formats including RAR, 7Zip, TAR and seven other file formats or archives. It can also extract ISO and IMG files commonly used for media on CDs or DVDs.

Ease of Use:  

What makes WinZip so easy to use is a combination of features including the intuitive interface, drag and drop functionally and the Wizard.

When using a file archiver, creating a new archive is probably the most confusing part of the process. With WinZip, you can simply select the folder you want to ZIP, drag it into WinZip and from there, the program will prompt you to direct your archive to a specific destination (usually a folder in your documents somewhere) and click add.

In the add screen, you can also change your compression rate and set a password.

Extracting or “unzipping” an archive is even easier than creating a new archive. Simply double click on your ZIP file; WinZip will automatically launch and all you have to do is select extract, and direct your file to the appropriate folder of your choice.

Help and Support:  

WinZip has a great help and support center. Most answers to your questions are easily found in the program’s included user manual. You can read the manual from start to finish or use the search function if you are looking for information on a specific topic. The user manual also includes some brief tutorials about opening archives, creating new archives and deleting archives.

In the off chance that you can’t find what you're, looking for in the manual, you can use WinZip’s online FAQ or contact customer support through email. Our emails were responded to within a few hours and the technician was willing to have an active correspondence to make sure everything was working properly.

WinZip also has a few additional resource articles located on their homepage, explaining some WinZip features and uses.

WinZip is probably the best know name in file compression software and for good reason. They consistently produce an easy to use, yet feature-full product. If you are simply looking to save some space on your hard drive or need to email large files for work, you can’t go wrong with WinZip; however, we would like to see WinZip break out of its safety shell just a little bit and expand their compression options and include a few fancier features in their Standard product.