The PeaZip Additional Formats Plugin is an official companion add-on designed to expand the decompression capabilities of the core PeaZip Free Archiver utility. While the base PeaZip application can already open and extract a vast majority of the 200+ supported file types natively, certain formats require specific external binaries to operate. Why the Plugin Exists
The main PeaZip installer leaves out certain format binaries for two primary reasons:
To Reduce Dependencies: On Linux, keeping these optional components separate limits unnecessary software dependencies.
To Prevent False Positives: On Windows, some legacy or niche compression binaries are occasionally flagged by overzealous antivirus software. Keeping them in an optional plugin prevents the core app from being blocked. What it Unlocks
While modern formats like .7z, .zip, and .rar are handled natively by PeaZip out-of-the-box, the plugin adds or swaps in alternative back-end engines for proprietary, specialized, or legacy formats. These include:
UNRAR / UNRAR5 engines (as a royalty-free alternative decompression method)
UNACE binaries (for extracting older, closed-source .ace archives)
Legacy format tools for handling less common, highly specialized data structures safely. How to Install It
The plugin is available as a lightweight compressed package via the Official PeaZip Add-Ons Page or PeaZip SourceForge Repository. To use it:
Download the version corresponding to your operating system (.WINDOWS.tar or .LINUX.tar). Extract the contents of the plugin archive.
Move the extracted folders directly into the (peazip)/res/bin directory of your PeaZip or PeaZip Portable installation path.
(Note: You can selectively extract only the specific format folders you actually need rather than the whole plugin package.)
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