WinZip for Mac – Save Storage Space by Archiving Your Files

very good
key review info
application features
  • Zip files to save space and transfer data faster
  • (2 more, see all...)

Compressing files is highly advisable, both for reducing the storage space requirements and for decreasing the file transfer time. WinZip is a powerful tool that can handle popular archive formats and includes a handful of interesting features designed to improve your file compression and sharing workflow.

By default, Mac OS X comes bundled with utilities that will handle compressed files: the DiskImageMounter.app and the Disk Utility.app can deal with DMG images, while the Archive Utility can decompress or create new ZIP files.

However, the built-in unarchiving OS X utilities provide very basic functions and no customization options. WinZip's attraction points are represented by the fact that you get to encrypt entire ZIP archives or only certain files, to directly burn the generated archives to a CD, and to share your data in no time by using cloud services.

Even though the WinZip installation procedure is reduced to a simple drag and drop to the Applications folder, the first time you launch the application you will have to express your consent regarding the License Agreement. At this point, WinZip will automatically add its icon to the Dock and set up WinZip as your default app for managing ZIP archives.

Via the WinZip Preferences window you get to easily change the latter part: the app provides a list of supported archive types and allows you to specify the default app that is in charge of each one. Nonetheless, the WinZip archive icon will remain associated with your Zip files until you restart your computer.

The automatic extension associations made by WinZip without the user consent can prove to be quite annoying: even if they can be reverted, that means extra work on the user side. The good news is that WinZip includes an uninstaller (you can find the “Uninstall” option in the app’s main menu) that puts everything back in place.

To help users find their way around the app faster, WinZip displays a welcome screen that provides access to the most frequently used functions (“Create New Zip File” and “Zip and Email”) and a list of recently opened archives.

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Most of WinZip’s features are focused on providing a streamlined workflow: you can compress files and save the archive on your disk, have it automatically burned to a CD, or placed as an attachment in a new email message.

The same rules apply when dealing with cloud services: WinZip is able to connect with your Dropbox and Google Drive accounts, allows you to browse the contents within the app, and offers you the possibility to quickly unpack any of the included archives.

Furthermore, like many other unarchiving utilities, WinZip enables you to open files with a double click or by dragging them on top of the app’s icon, but note that when dealing with a new archive, the application will only display the package content in a separate window.

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To actually extract the contained files, you must press the “Unzip to Disk” or “Unzip to Cloud” buttons placed in the top window toolbar. The best part is that you can choose to export all the files or only the ones selected by the user.

To increase the security level, WinZip permits you to encrypt the items included in your archives, and the best way to do that is to go through the Add buttons included in the archive window. After you select the file you want to incorporate, you must check the Encrypt box placed on the bottom of the window and set up a protection password.

It should also be noted that not all files included in a certain archive must be encrypted: WinZip places a small lock icon next to the ones that are, to help you differentiate between them. In addition, via the Preferences window you can decide which encryption method should be used by default: AES 128-bit, AES 256-bit, or Zip 2.0.

Also worth mentioning is the fact that the encrypted WinZip archives cannot be opened by the Mac OS X Archive Utility. In order to perform this task successfully, you need to use WinZip or any other application that supports this compression method to access the data. This might prove to be troublesome if you want to share your archives with other OS X users who do not have WinZip installed on their Macs.

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Keep in mind that WinZip is also able to open RAR and 7z archives even if it is not able to create new ones: the compression technology in these cases is proprietary, but the unarchiving methods are not.

In terms of performance, WinZip will compress archives faster than the Apple-vetted utility, and the size of the output files is comparable. The app uses a decent amount of resources both while compressing or decompressing: up to 50% CPU processing power and 800MB of memory while unpacking a 4.4GB archive.

The same parameters have been registered while creating the archive: the source was a 5GB folder that contained over 1,600 different items. The test was performed on a 2GHz Intel Core Duo with 6GB RAM.


The Good

Besides the basic archiving and unarchiving capabilities, WinZip includes a collection of tools that will certainly improve your overall experience. The app “opens” the archives, allows you to visualize their content, and then enables you to extract only the files that interest you.

At the same time, you can analyze archives stored in your Dropbox or Google Drive clouds, you can automatically upload files to the Google Drive servers and share with others only the public URL, or you can create email messages that already include the package as an attachment.

The Bad

WinZip makes system-wide adjustments without asking for your permission, which can prove to be fairly annoying. Moreover, the archives encrypted by WinZip cannot be opened by the Mac OS X Archive Utility, which makes the sharing process with non-WinZip users problematic.

The Truth

WinZip delivers simple solutions for managing ZIP, RAR, and 7z archives and comes with a substantial set of features that have the potential of improving both your workflow and your security level.

Moreover, the app’s usage pattern is slightly unfamiliar for users accustomed with Apple’s Archive Utility way of dealing with the task, but once you learn how to get around the WinZip interface, you will find many ways of reducing the time spent on a certain assignment.

user interface 4
features 5
ease of use 4
pricing / value 4


final rating 4
Editor's review
very good
 
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