Unlocking Your Archives: The Best File Roller Alternatives

File Roller is the archive manager of the GNOME desktop environment, known for its ability to extract, view, create, and modify archives. While it serves as a reliable graphical interface to underlying archiving utilities like tar and zip, users often seek File Roller alternatives that offer more advanced features, broader platform support, or a different user experience. If you're looking to enhance your archive management, explore these top contenders.

Top File Roller Alternatives

Whether you need a cross-platform solution, stronger encryption, or simply a different set of tools, the following alternatives to File Roller provide a range of options to meet diverse needs.

7-Zip

7-Zip is a powerful and popular File Roller alternative known for its exceptionally high compression ratio, especially in its native 7z format. As a free and open-source solution available on Windows, BSD, and ReactOS, it offers robust features like LZMA and LZMA2 compression, AES encryption, a built-in file manager, and seamless Windows Explorer integration, making it a versatile choice for secure and efficient archiving.

WinRAR

WinRAR is a widely recognized and powerful archive manager that stands out as a strong File Roller alternative. Available across Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and BSD, it's adept at backing up data, reducing email attachment sizes, and decompressing a vast array of file types including RAR and ZIP. Its shell integration provides a convenient user experience for efficient file compression.

PeaZip

PeaZip is a free and open-source file archiver that serves as an excellent File Roller alternative, leveraging the robust technologies of 7-Zip, p7zip, and FreeArc. Compatible with Windows, Linux, and BSD, it offers a built-in archiver, drag-and-drop functionality, strong AES encryption, and efficient file compression, along with portable options and Windows Explorer extension for enhanced usability.

Bandizip

Bandizip is a feature-rich archiver suitable for both home and office use, making it a compelling File Roller alternative, particularly for Windows and Mac users. This freeware application offers an ad-free experience, auto-updates, built-in themes, and robust Windows Explorer integration. It excels in file compression and supports multiple languages, providing a user-friendly and efficient archiving solution.

The Unarchiver

The Unarchiver is a small, easy-to-use, and free File Roller alternative specifically designed for Mac users. It's highly effective at unarchiving a wide variety of archive files, including common formats like Zip and RAR (up to v5), making it a straightforward choice for quick and reliable file decompression on macOS.

Keka

Keka offers a full-featured yet incredibly easy-to-use archiving experience, making it an excellent File Roller alternative for Mac users. This freemium software allows you to compress files into numerous formats, divide large files, and protect them with password encryption. It also provides an ad-free interface and command-line options for advanced users.

WinZip

WinZip is a commercial and widely recognized File Roller alternative, lauded as one of the world's leading compression software. Available on Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS, it allows users to efficiently zip, protect, manage, and share all their files, streamlining their archiving workflow and saving valuable time through its robust file compression capabilities.

FreeArc

FreeArc is a free and open-source file archiver that provides a compelling File Roller alternative, particularly for Windows and Linux users. Developed by Bulat Ziganshin, it employs advanced algorithms like LZMA, PPMD, and TrueAudio with automatic switching based on file type, delivering impressive data and lossless compression capabilities, making it a highly efficient and portable solution.

p7zip

p7zip is an essential File Roller alternative for users on POSIX-conforming operating systems like Unix, Linux, macOS, and BSD. As a free and open-source port of the command-line version of the 7-Zip file archiver, it provides robust file compression capabilities through its command-line interface, offering a powerful and flexible solution for managing archives in a terminal environment.

Ark

Ark is a dedicated program for managing various archive formats within the KDE environment, positioning it as a strong File Roller alternative for Linux users leveraging KDE. As a free and open-source application, Ark provides essential features like AES encryption and efficient file compression, making it a native and integrated solution for archive management on KDE desktops.

Choosing the right File Roller alternative depends on your operating system, specific feature requirements, and whether you prefer open-source flexibility or commercial support. Explore these options to find the best fit for your archiving needs.