Microsoft buffs native archive support in latest Windows 11 build
Microsoft's Windows 11 operating system will soon support additional compression options and archive formats natively.
Microsoft announced the release of Windows 11 build 26040 to the Canary Channel earlier today. It is a big build that introduces several changes and new features.
One of these improves the operating system's native file compression tool. Microsoft added support for creating 7z and TAR archives in an earlier build already.
This time, Microsoft added a compression wizard to the tool. This gives users options to customize the creation of archives using native functionality.
Archive format support in Windows
Microsoft introduced support for the ZIP archive format in its Windows 10 operating system. It allowed users to extract and create ZIP archives natively.
Once the new Windows 11 build is installed, users get new options to compress files on the system.
A right-click on a selection of files and the selection of "compress to" displays the three supported formats -- Zip, 7z and Tar -- and the new additional options entry.
When this is selected, Windows opens the compression wizard. It displays several new options to customize the creation. Besides selecting the output archive, Windows 11 users may also select the destination directory, compression method and level, as well as whether symbolic links and hard links should be retained.
Microsoft writes:
In addition to the new “Compress To” formats for 7Z and tar, we are adding a new compression wizard that lets you choose even more formats and specify even more details. You can compress individual files with gzip/bzip2 (and more,) or add multiple files to archives in different tar formats with different types of compression. You can also change the compression level and what types of data are stored in each archive.
A look back
Last year, Microsoft introduced support for extracting several additional archive formats, including RAR, TAR and 7z, to its Windows 11 operating system.
A right-click on a supported archive file format displays the extract option. It is a useful feature, as users do not have to install third-party apps anymore for basic extraction operations.
One downside is that the native extraction of archives is considerably slower than app-based extractions. Windows users who extract or create archives regularly, may want to use a dedicated program, such as 7-Zip or WinRAR, instead because of that.
The new functionality will become available to stable versions of Windows 11 later this year. The next Moment update is expected in February 2024, but it is unclear if it will include the functionality.
Now you: which file compression tool do you use, if any?
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