Compressing files have been a very essential process some time ago. When hard disk space was prime realty and buying extra hard disk drives is way over budget. Compression allowed people to store more in less space. Zip and rar are two of the most well known compression formats in the world, with the former being the leader. With the introduction of windows, the makers of the software that compresses into these formats created GUIs for windows. Thus, winzip and winrar were born. Winzip was first on the scene and has ever since enjoyed its overall popularity.

Winrar is relatively new compared to winzip but it has proven itself to be quite a performer in compressing files, regularly outperforming its rival in almost every file type existent. It was also the first to introduce features that extended its capabilities, including context menu integration and archive spanning. Even if it offered several more advantages compared to winzip, the rar format did not overtake winzip in terms of general use. It was only very popular among the intellectuals and the people who really had great disk space problems.

In today’s world, hard disk space has really gone up exponentially, and disk space is no longer a concern for most people. And even if you manage to outgrow your current capacity, the cost of new drives with insanely high capacities is so low. There are still people who compress files to reduce their size but not to save disk space; it is utilized for faster uploading or downloading to the internet. File spanning has also become one of feature that is more often used. Cutting a large file into more moderately sized chunks make it easier to email or upload files.

But aside from all the techy stuff, the primary use of compression software for the general public is to combine multiple files into one big file. This is for easy identification and transfer of a group of documents. This is usually done when submitting reports or pictures or anything that might be too many to handle individually. This is where winzip has its edge, simply because of its popularity. Passing files in winzip gives you a much higher chance that the other person can open the archive that you sent.

You should evaluate your needs if you want to choose between the two. If you really like performance and the added features you should pick winrar since it could also create zip archives. But if you want a no hassle path to creating archives that you can send to your boss then winzip is for you.

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