Compare software

bsdtar (libarchive)GNU cpio
Free

Free and open source with no paid tier.

 Free

Free software from the GNU Project.

Windows, Linux, Command line Linux, Command line
  • One tool reads many formats, including zip, rar and ISO
  • Automatic format and compression detection
  • Reads and writes many cpio variants as well as tar
  • Detects the archive format automatically when extracting
  • Writes fewer formats than it reads; rar is read-only
  • Command-line only
  • Command-line only, with an unusual syntax
  • Limited to cpio and tar formats, no general compression features of its own
Downloadable app Downloadable app
Open source Open source
License: BSD-2-Clause License: GPL-3.0
No account needed No account needed
Works offline Works offline

Checked September 23, 2026

Checked October 2, 2026

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