Microsoft plans to release a major feature update for Windows 11 later this year. Version 23H2 is expected to bring many improvements and new features, such as the redesigned File Explorer.
While there are performance and bug concerns, below we'll try to focus on the bright side and take a closer look one of the new features that the redesigned File Explorer will introduce: native support for RAR, TAR, 7Z and other file compression formats.
Before Windows 23 version 2H11, ZIP was the only natively supported file format. So Windows users had to choose third-party applications to manage RAR, 7Z, etc. files. While there is no shortage of free and premium file compression apps, native support is always best for the average consumer.
However, the change also brings a question: Can the updated File Explorer replace WinRAR, 7Zip, NanaZIP and other dedicated applications for those who often work with file compression?
To answer the question, Neowin try the updated File Explorer against WinRAR, arguably the most popular application of its kind, and NanaZIP, a great fork of 7Zip for Windows 11. They downloaded Microsoft's huge (24GB) free virtual machine for Windows 11 and packaged it in three formats that didn't previously supported: RAR, 7Z and TAR, with a compression ratio of 50%.
They then unzipped the files and measured the time it took Windows 11's File Explorer, WinRAR and NanaZIP to complete the job.
Each application went through three tests to get the average result on a desktop PC with Ryzen 5 2600, 32 GB DDR4-3200, NVIDIA RTX 4060 and Samsung 980 SSD 500 GB. They then repeated the process on a laptop with an Intel Core i3-1125G4, 16GB of DDR4-3200, and a 500GB NVMe SSD.
The experiment revealed that File Explorer had no problem extracting TAR files and could keep up with WinRAR and NanaZIP: all three completed in about 80 seconds.
But in managing RAR files, File Explorer completed the process in almost six minutes, which was three times slower than WinRAR and two times slower than NanaZIP.
The experience with 7Z files was traumatic: File Explorer's extraction took nearly nine minutes, while WinRAR and NanaZIP finished in about a minute.
Laptop tests showed almost the same results, proving that third-party apps are much better and faster at decompressing files in the upgraded File Explorer.
The other issue is that there is no support for creating 7z or rar. One still needs to install 7zip or winrar for working with compression in a serious manner. So what is gained?