A popular Windows-based utility for archiving files in the ZIP format from WinZip Computing, Inc., Bristol CT www.winzip.com), formerly Nico Mac Computing. In 2004, Version 9.0 was the first WinZip to support the 256-bit AES cipher for encrypting files. It also did away with previous ZIP file size restrictions. See
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| Wikipedia: WinZip |
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 WinZip 14 Pro running under Windows 7. |
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| Developer(s) | WinZip International LLC |
| Stable release | 14.0 (Build 8688) (2009-11-24) [+/−] |
| Preview release | [+/−] |
| Operating system | Windows |
| Available in | English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese |
| Type | File archiver |
| License | Proprietary Shareware |
| Website | www.winzip.com |
WinZip is a proprietary file archiver and compressor for Microsoft Windows, developed by WinZip Computing (formerly Nico Mak Computing). It natively uses the PKZIP format but also has various levels of support for other archive formats.
WinZip was created in the early 1990s as a shareware GUI front-end for PKZIP. Sometime around 1996 the creators of WinZip incorporated compression code from the Info-ZIP project, thus eliminating the need for the PKZIP executable to be present.
From version 6.0 until version 9.0, registered users could download the newest versions of the software, enter their original registration information or install over the top of their existing registered version, and thereby obtain a free upgrade. As of version 10.0 this upgrade scheme was discontinued.[1] WinZip is available in standard and professional versions. However, the ability of Windows XP and later versions of Microsoft Windows to open and create .zip files (as "compressed folders") has reduced the need for extra compression software.
In May 2006, Corel Corporation, known for its WordPerfect and CorelDRAW product lines, announced that it has completed acquisition of WinZip Computing.[2]
WinZip has a 45-day free evaluation period, after which the program would still work even if the user had not registered, albeit with reduced functionality. However in later versions this feature appears to have been removed, although users are able to bypass this by downloading an earlier version.
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The ZIP file archive format (PKZIP) was originally invented for MS-DOS in 1989 by Phil Katz and his company PKWare.[7]
Because PKWare did not protect the name by trademark and algorithm of the process by patent, and was slow to realize that the Windows operating systems would eventually dominate the OS market, Nico Mak (then employed by Mansfield Software Group, Inc) eventually seized the opportunity and released the WinZip application for Microsoft Windows.
WinZip 7.0 introduced Microsoft's CAB (cabinet) format, Internet Explorer 4.0-style "one click open" interface, Zip comment, registry-based configuration, ARJ 2.60 long file name support, Explorer-style fonts. WinZip Self-Extractor Personal Edition now creates Zip files that span multiple removable disks.
WinZip 8.0 Wizard interface was extended to allow create and update Zip files from the Wizard, extract and install from MIME and other encoded files, automatic installation of desktop themes and screen savers; added Explorer context menu when opening files within archives, inclusion of subfolders when adding or updating archives, "Explorer-style" toolbar buttons, displays a tooltip when a Zip file is selected in Windows Explorer, WinZip context menus displays small icons corresponding to the menu items' toolbar buttons in Under Windows 98 and Windows 2000; install desktop themes and screen savers contained in Zip files; new Zip and E-Mail Explorer context menu feature, automatically display the Zip comment, context menu help in WinZip dialogues, viewing multiple files with 1 action. Windows extensions are now 32-bit Explorer Shell extensions only. WinZip Self-Extractor Personal Edition no longer supports creation of 16-bit self-extracted archive.
WinZip 8.1 is the last major release to officially support Windows 95. It includes extract multiple ZIP archives in explorer, configurable Explorer context menu, creation of split ZIP archives, new Quick Pick Taskbar Tray Icon, resizable dialogs under Windows 98 or higher, extract files from split and spanned ZIP archives in Wizard interface, Windows XP theme support, opening "skin" files for Microsoft Media Player 7 (.WMZ), Yahoo! Player (.YFS), and WinAmp (.WSZ), display Zip file comments of up to 64,000 characters, Support for filenames containing multi-byte character set (MBCS) characters, increasing number of entries created by the CheckOut feature in the Programs menu to 500,
WinZip 9.0 adds support for AES encryption for ZIP archives, BZip2-compressed ZIP archives (extraction only). It also removes the previous limitations of 65,535 files per ZIP file and maximum file size of 4 gigabytes. This version was released in 2004.
WinZip 10 adds support for creating and extracting PPMd-compressed ZIP archives. It is the last major release to officially support Windows 98/ME. WinZip Pro is added in this release, which adds automation and task scheduling features.This version was released in 2005.
WinZip 11 adds support for creating and extracting WavPack-compressed ZIP archives. The installer will still install to Windows 98/ME, but these operating systems are no longer officially supported. WinZip Pro adds Passive FTP support, FTP transfers, e-mail notification option for Job Wizard, custom jobs selection, full-size image viewer when opening archive. This version was released in 2006.
WinZip 11.1 is certified for Windows Vista, with Vista theme support and 64-bit Windows support.
WinZip 11.2 can create LHA archives without an external utility. Unicode file name support for ZIP archives was also added. Support for external archiver, including ARC, ARJ, were removed.[8]
WinZip 12.0 (2008) adds support of creating ZIP archives with loseless JPEG and LZMA compression methods; .ISO, .IMG, 7-Zip archive extractions. Added encryption policies, integrated image thumbnail viewer. The JPEG compression compresses metadata with LZMA compression, while image is compressed with binary arithmetic coding.[9]
WinZip 12.1 (2009) introduces the new default .zipx file extension when creating ZIP archives using methods newer than Deflate64, added automatic resizing images being sent by using Zip and E-Mail functions.
WinZip 13 was skipped.[10]
WinZip 14 (2009) adds Windows 7 support, such as library grouping, taskbar icon jump lists, Explorer preview, multi-touch (two finger) gestures. WinZip 14 Backup edition is added, which supports automatic backup feature.
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This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
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