NikPakSmaller archives than 7-Zip, RAR and ZIP.
NikPak recognises photos, music and office documents by their content and compresses each file with the codec that suits it best. Every encrypted archive is quantum-resistant: 256-bit symmetric encryption only, with no RSA or elliptic curves for a quantum computer to break.
Version 1.5.6 · NikPak + unNik · Windows, macOS, Linux
Free for personal use · unNik, the archive browser, is free for everyone
Why NikPak
One small program, designed around four ideas: compress better, go faster, protect with modern cryptography, run unchanged everywhere.
Quantum-resistant
Only 256-bit symmetric cryptography. There is no RSA, elliptic-curve or Diffie-Hellman code for a quantum computer to break.
Media-aware
WAV, AIFF, ProTracker MOD and BMP files are recognised by their content, not their name. Each one is tried with several lossless filters and the smallest result wins.
Office and PDF recompression
The Deflate streams inside docx, xlsx, pptx, odt, epub, pdf, zip and gz files are unpacked, compressed far better and rebuilt bit for bit when you extract.
Smallest at the maximum level
At -m5 NikPak picks LZMA2 or PPMd for each block and sorts files by type. It made the smallest archive of all four tools on every test set.
Fast when you need it
At the fast level -m2, 190 MB of source code is archived in 1.7 s on one core, 56 times faster than 7-Zip's default level.
Encryption done right
Argon2id with 64 MiB of memory and XChaCha20-Poly1305 authenticated encryption. File names, sizes and dates are always hidden, and tampering is always detected.
Archive size at the maximum level
Percentage of the original size: lower is better. One CPU core, every archive extracted again and compared byte for byte.
8 BMP images
Music 48 kHz stereo 24-bit
60 office files
General data (11,473 files)
One window. Drop, and it's done.
Drop files or folders on the NikPak window, or click the circle to choose them. They are compressed with the best compression into one archive. The ring shows the progress and turns green when the archive is ready.
- Best compression (-m5) by default
- Remembers your destination folder
- Cancel at any time with Esc; nothing half-written is left behind
- An existing archive is never overwritten
unNik: the free archive browser
Double-click a .nik file and unNik opens it. Browse the folders, search the whole archive, view text and binary files, extract a selection, delete files or test the archive. unNik is freeware, for individuals and companies alike.
- Folder tree, breadcrumbs, search with Ctrl+F
- Built-in viewer for text (with search) and binary files
- Extract all or a selection, keep both or replace
- Switch between NikPak and unNik with one button
41 skins
Dark, bright, playful or classic: the skins button changes the colours of NikPak and unNik, and the sun / moon button switches between dark and bright in one click.
Speaks your language
The ten most spoken languages in the world, with real text shaping for Hindi, Bengali and Arabic. The first time, NikPak follows the language of your system; NikPak and unNik always share the same choice.
English · 中文 · हिन्दी · Español · العربية · Français · বাংলা · Português · Русский · Bahasa Indonesia
A command line RAR users already know
a, x, e, l, t, @listfiles, -p, -o+, -y: front-ends such as Total Commander can drive nikpak.exe like rar.exe. Clear exit codes make it a solid choice for scripts and backups.
nikpak a backup.nik C:\Docs\ Photos\ nikpak a -p secret.nik Taxes2026\ nikpak x backup.nik C:\Restore\ nikpak l backup.nik *.pdf nikpak t secret.nik nikpak mt song.wav tracker.mod photo.bmp
Free for you. Fair for companies.
Individuals may use NikPak free of charge, without time limit, for personal use; nothing is disabled. Companies and organisations get 40 days to evaluate, then one licence per seat.
Honest about the limits
RAR still offers recovery records, multi-volume and self-extracting archives, and decades of field testing. NikPak is new and has not been independently audited yet. We say so plainly, and the roadmap shows what comes next. Roadmap →
Try NikPak now
One setup installs NikPak and unNik. No registration needed to start.