WinZip
WinZip (not to be confused with WinRAR) is a trialware file archiver and compressor for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. It is developed by WinZip Computing (formerly Nico Mak Computing), which is owned by Corel Corporation. The program can create archives in Zip file format,  unpack some other archive file formats and it also has various tools for system integration.

Features 
 Pack (create) ZIP and Zipx archive files.
 Unpack BZ2, LHA, LZH, RAR, ZIP, Zipx, 7Z.
 Decode B64, HQX, UUE files.
 Configurable Microsoft Windows Shell integration
 Direct write of archives to CD/DVD
 Automation of backup jobs
 Integrated FTP upload
 Email archives
 Support for ARC and ARJ archives if suitable external programs are installed.

History 

WinZip 1.0 was released in April 1991 as a Graphical User Interface (GUI) front-end for PKZIP. Earlier in January 1991 Nico Mak Computing had released a GUI front-end for OS/2 Presentation Manager called PMZIP. It used the OS/2 versions of the PKWARE, Inc. PKZIP and PKUNZIP programs. Originally released on CompuServe, availability of WinZip expanded across major online services, including GEnie, Prodigy and other online services. In 1993, WinZip announced the launch of its official support for customers on the Windows Utility Forum, serving over 100,000 members, providing updates and related information. The freely downloadable WinZip soon found itself included in best-selling Windows computing titles as part of companion disks, including the all-time best-selling Windows 3.0 book, Windows Secrets, by Brian Livingston. By 1994, WinZip had become the official and required compression tool used by system operators on CompuServe for forum file libraries.

Starting from version 5.0 in 1993, 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. This upgrade scheme was discontinued as of version 10.0. WinZip is available in standard and professional versions. However, the shell in Windows ME and later versions of Microsoft Windows has the ability to open and create .zip files (titled "compressed folders"), which reduces the need for extra compression software.

On May 2, 2006, WinZip Computing was acquired by Corel Corporation using the proceeds from its initial public offering.

WinZip 1.0 for Mac OS X was released in November 2010. This version is compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" and Intel-based v10.5 "Leopard" Macs. WinZip Mac Edition 2 includes support for OS X 10.8 "Mountain Lion".

Supported .ZIP archive features 
 128- and 256-bit key AES encryption in addition to the less secure PKZIP 2.0 encryption method used in earlier versions. The AES implementation, using Brian Gladman's code, was FIPS-197 certified, on March 27, 2003. However, Central Directory Encryption feature is not supported.
 Beginning with WinZip 9.0, ZIP64 archives are supported, eliminating both the maximum limit of 65,535 members for single archive and the 4-gigabyte size limit on either the archive and each member file.
 Support of additional compression methods: bzip2 (9.0), PPMd (10.0),  WavPack (11.0), LZMA (12.0), JPEG (12.0), Zipx (12.1), xz (18.0), MP3 (21.0).
 Unicode support to ensure international characters are displayed for filenames in a Zip file. (WinZip prior to 11.2 does not support Unicode characters in filenames. Attempting to add these files to an archive results in the error message "Warning: Could not open for reading: ...")

Release history

Windows 

The ZIP file archive format (ZIP) was originally invented for MS-DOS in 1989 by Phil Katz.

Seeing the need for an archive application with a Graphical User Interface, Nico Mak (then employed by Mansfield Software Group, Inc) developed the WinZip application for Microsoft Windows.

WinZip 1.0 was initial version for Windows.

Mac 
WinZip 1.0 for Mac OS X (November 16, 2010): Initial release is compatible with Intel Macs and can be run on v10.5 'Leopard.'

iOS 
The iOS version was first released on February 17, 2012. The free English app is designed for iOS 4.2 on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, and is available on Apple's App Store.

Android 
WinZip Android was first released on June 19, 2012. The free English app is designed for Android operating system versions 2.1 (Eclair), 2.2 (Froyo), 2.3 (Gingerbread), 3.x (Honeycomb), 4.x (Ice Cream Sandwich) and higher, it was initially available at Google Play.

See also 
 ZIP (file format)
Comparison of file archivers
 Comparison of archive formats
 List of archive formats

References

External links 
 

Windows compression software
Data compression
Proprietary software
Corel software
1991 software
File archivers
2006 mergers and acquisitions
Data compression software