Microsoft is one step closer to releasing native support for .tar, .rar, .7z, and other compression formats in Windows 11 as support hits the Windows Insider Beta channel.
After announcing native support for more file compression formats a couple of months back, the feature is now one step closer to release, with build 22631.2199 being pushed to the Windows Insider Beta Channel overnight.
Which formats are supported?
For over 20 years Windows has had support for .zip file compression, allowing for 3rd party software to fill in the gaps, including WinRAR and 7ZIP. With this new update Windows 11 will natively support the following file extensions. Microsoft plans to add support for encrypted formats in a later update.
- .zip
- .tar
- .tar.gz
- .tar.bz2
- .tar.zst
- .tar.xz
- .tgz
- .tbz2
- .tzst
- .txz
- .rar
- .7z
Microsoft chooses libarchive
How is Microsoft adding support for all these formats? Microsoft is using the popular libarchive library, an open-source file compression software that supports a wide range of compression formats. Microsoft is adding components of libarchive into Windows, giving it native support.
Other updates in build 22631.2199
The new build also comes with a large number of bug fixes as well as improvements to the start menu file previews, more taskbar customisation options, narrator updates, and quality of life additions to settings.
Source: Microsoft
