RxZip

Introduction

Years ago, when internet speeds were slow and disk storage was scarce, archiving and extracting files was standard practice - especially when transferring files or sending emails.

• The tool most of us were familiar with back then was WinRAR, which introduced the proprietary RAR format.
• Years later, 7-Zip challenged its dominance.

Today, most operating systems and Android devices come equipped with built-in tools to handle standard ZIP files.

• However, gaps still remain - specifically when dealing with password-encrypted archives or proprietary formats like RAR.

Due to privacy and security concerns, I frequently protect archived files with a passphrase.

• To avoid relying on heavy third-party software just to open or create these files, I built RxZip, a client-side Progressive Web App (PWA).

Features

Built as a fully client-side PWA, RxZip handles archive creation and extraction 100% offline and privately, without uploading any data to a server.

• Native ZIP operations (both creation and extraction) are powered by @zip.js/zip.js for lightweight streaming, while .7z, .rar, .tar, and .gz archives are offloaded to a 7z-wasm Web Worker.
• Compatibility issues across ZipCrypto, AES-256, and header encryption have been carefully addressed to maximize file support.

Although extraction was my primary focus, RxZip also supports creating archives:

• ZIP: Configurable with modern AES-256 (for high security) or legacy ZipCrypto (for native OS compatibility).
• 7z: Configurable with AES-256, alongside optional header/filename encryption.

Summary

Over time, basic file compression may become less critical as network speeds scale with 6G and beyond.

• However, I believe encrypted file security will remain a constant necessity.