Open from a link
Paste a ZIP's web address and browse it at once. Only the files you open are downloaded.
Anchor
The archive tool for Windows that opens anything, extracts faster, and fixes what is broken.
- ZIP
- 7Z
- RAR
- TAR
- GZ
- ZST
- ISO
Download for Windows
Anchor is for Windows and Linux. Open this page on a Windows or Linux PC to download it.
Speed
Same archive. Three extractors.
Windows spends most of an extraction creating files, because antivirus checks each one. 7-Zip and WinRAR write them one at a time; Anchor decodes the archive once and writes up to 32 at the same time.
Anchor0.00 s
WinRAR 7.230.00 s
7-Zip 26.040.00 s
A ZIP with 4,000 small files, played back in real time.
0×faster than 7-Zip
0×faster than WinRAR
0files written at once
See all the numbers
Extraction time on one Windows PC with 24 cores; each tool extracted every archive three times into an empty folder, producing the same files, and the best time counts. Fastest in bold. Anchor is faster on archives with many files; with one or a few large files every tool waits on decompression, and 7-Zip and WinRAR are slightly faster on large 7Z and RAR files.
Features
Everything an archive tool should do, and a few things none do.
Repair broken ZIPs
A download that stopped at 99% is rebuilt from everything still readable.
Safety check first
Flags disguised programs like invoice.pdf.exe, unsafe paths and zip bombs before anything touches your disk.
Undo
Files appear only when the whole extraction worked, and Undo takes them back.
Extract many at once
Pick a stack of archives and one folder; each gets its own folder there.
Preview inside
Images, video, audio, PDF and text, straight from the archive. Search names or text inside files.
Size map
See what takes the space and find duplicate files, with how much they waste.
Passwords and recovery data
AES-256 encryption, split volumes, and 5–20% repair data so damage can be fixed later.
Explorer and command line
Right-click to extract, preview archives in Explorer's preview pane, or script it with the anchor command.
Compare
Anchor, 7-Zip and WinRAR
| Anchor | 7-Zip | WinRAR | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extracts many files 2× faster | ✓ | — | — |
| Opens a ZIP from a link without downloading it all | ✓ | — | — |
| Repairs damaged ZIPs without recovery data | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Recovery data for any archive | ✓ | — | RAR only |
| Safety check for disguised programs and zip bombs | ✓ | — | — |
| Undo an extraction | ✓ | — | — |
| Size map with duplicate files | ✓ | — | — |
| Creates RAR archives | — | — | ✓ |
| Free, with no nag screen | ✓ | ✓ | — |
Get Anchor
Free for Windows 10 and 11, and Linux. No admin rights needed, and it tells you when there is a new version.
All downloads
Check a download in PowerShell: Get-FileHash .\Anchor-Setup-<version>.exe and compare it with the SHA-256 above.
On Linux
AppImage, for any distribution: make it runnable, then start it: chmod +x Anchor-*.AppImage and ./Anchor-*.AppImage
.deb, for Ubuntu and Debian: sudo apt install ./Anchor-*-amd64.deb adds Anchor to your apps, "Open with Anchor" for archives, and the anchor command.
“Windows protected your PC”?
The installer is not code-signed yet, so Windows doesn't recognise it. Click More info, then Run anyway. Every release is built by GitHub Actions from tagged code and scanned by about 70 antivirus engines on VirusTotal.
FAQ
Questions
Is Anchor really free?
Yes, at home and at work. No ads, no trial, no nag screen.
Does it collect any data?
No. Anchor goes online only to check GitHub for a new version when it starts (you can switch that off) and to fetch an archive you open from a link. No accounts, no tracking, no telemetry.
Is it safe? Why does Windows warn me?
The warning appears because the installer isn't code-signed yet; certificates are expensive for a solo developer. Each release lists SHA-256 checksums and a VirusTotal scan link, so you can check exactly what you downloaded.
Is it faster for every archive?
It's about 2× faster on archives with many files, which is most of them: mods, projects, photos, backups. With one or a few large files every tool waits on decompression and the results are about the same. All the measured numbers are in the Speed section.
Can it create RAR archives?
Anchor opens and extracts RAR, but creates ZIP, 7Z, TAR.ZST and TAR.GZ. The RAR format is proprietary.
Is it open source?
Anchor is free, closed-source software. It builds on open-source parts, credited with their licences in the app: 7-Zip (LGPL), par2cmdline (GPL) and Electron (MIT).
Does it work on Linux or Mac?
Linux, yes: x64 and ARM64, as an AppImage that runs on any distribution or a .deb for Ubuntu and Debian. The Explorer menu and setup window are Windows-only. There is no Mac version yet.
How do I uninstall it?
Settings › Apps › Installed apps › Anchor › Uninstall. Your settings can be removed too.