which is the fastest one ( in terms of extraction )? I have tried 7-zip and WinRAR and they both extract a 2.5 gigs file in around 7 to 8 mins. That just slow. The program is using 1 percent of my processor. my processor is a i5 2400 and my HDD is 5900 RPM

what speeds are you expecting ?

There's your answer. Slower HDD = Slower extracting, I can extract 2.5 GB files in like 3 or 4 minutes, depending on the file compression, HDD rotation speed does a lot.

I dont know ....... I just had this processor for around a week and 7 - 10 mins of extraction time is same as my old core2duo

This depends on your storage. For example, copying/extracting from CD is much slower than extracting from HDD. And in HDDs it depends on its spin rate. So I think that the program doesn't effect the speed of extracting, it's the storage.

Edit: Posted above the answer. How fast you were in posting?

Any program that you use will extract files with the same time.
For compressing I prefer 7zip. It's slow, but it compress files better than WinRAR.

Ask in http://encode.ru forum.

In WinRAR you can choose compression mode, and in the dialog that comes up you get: Fastest, fast, normal, good, best...

I use both 7-Zip and WinRAR, because 7-Zip has issues opening damaged zips, while WinRAR can repair damaged zips. If you wanted to know which software has the best compression ratio, you can always check out this site.

use LZO or the low mem LZMA of codeboot.

I know that, I use the best compression with 7zip and WinRAR.
I have both of them installed.

7z does the same thing...

Aside from that, it depends on the CPU, RAM, software, compression method, speed of the HDD. I just extracted a 2.2GB ISO and it took about 1:05, but that's no compression at all. I don't really have any big RAR files around but if you use high compression then you should expect it to take a long time. Unless you're worried that much about the space then don't use those settings.

I never said it couldn't...

When it comes to software, you have to try several different ones and see what works best with your hardware setup on YOUR machine. I happen to use WinRar and am happy with it, yet it may not be the best for your situation.

I am using RAR since the beginning. It does the job for me no matter what operating system I use. It can be DOS Win9X and WINNT, also Linux too. Sure you have to pay for it, but it's worth every penny. It's simple to use, and the latest version has 64-bit support. It's clean, you don't get any toolbars and other junk with the installer, and you can even use the software after 30 days of trial. It will still work.
7z great free alternative, but I don't like the UI. It will do the job of course, but man it looks ugly. There's nothing wrong with it, but that's my opinion.
ZIP is universal, you can extract these files without need of WinZIP in many operating systems (XP+, Mac, Linux). It's good, but not my choice. WinZIP is full of useless features in my opinion.

7-zip is better in my opinion.

UHArc my fav

Do you have the latest versions? WinRAR is now 64 bit and I imagine they have added better support for multi-core processors over the years. For you it sounds like your HDD is the bottleneck.

7zip FTW!

i love 7zip and i use it for my file archive

I use Winrar 64bit, in my opinion it is fast enough and also the compression is prety good.
But like others already said, the bottleneck is your hdd. And it also depends one what is inside the folder.
For example when it is full with 1mb files it will take longer then 2 1gb files.

I 7-zip almost all regular files but i found winrar compresses media files better so i use both

Time depending on HDD speed and also compression algorithem. If a compressed file uses tight compressing method then it would take more time extract. In my opinion, WinRar 64bit is a good bet.

For the same compression rate (and I mean it) as RAR or even 7Z (by choosing other than default, for higher compression command line switch) and 2x,3x faster speed, everybody should definetively try FreeARC

For best compression and usability (in terms of system resources needed etc) I'd go with

WinRAR
7z
FreeARC

Where WinRAR gives good compression and good system reqs, and FreeARC gives best compression with worst system reqs (for those of you with slower systems).