PeaZip opens archive files, extracts selected content, and builds new archives from files or folders. It also converts archives, splits large data into numbered volumes, calculates hashes, and performs file-management actions. An archive is a container with its own directory and compression rules; dragging a file into one is different from placing it in an ordinary folder. PeaZip may need to decompress and rebuild data when the archive changes, so an edit can rewrite far more than the one visible entry.
Archive jobs
The Add screen collects the intended archive contents before PeaZip runs the job. The user chooses the output path, archive type, compression level, and optional volume size. A padlock control adds a password or keyfile. These settings describe the output container; they do not modify the source files unless the user enables a separate deletion option.
Archive conversion first extracts input data and then compresses it into the selected output. It can combine several source archives into one result or create a separate result for each source. Those choices produce different directory layouts. Pure compression formats accept one file rather than a folder tree, so a conversion to one of those formats fails when the uncompressed input contains several files or folders. Creating RAR output also requires WinRAR on the same computer, even though PeaZip can open and extract RAR data without that extra writer.
Split volumes
It can divide an archive or a raw file into parts sized for an attachment limit or storage device. Presets cover common media sizes, and a custom value can set another boundary. The numbered files remain pieces of one data stream rather than independent mini-archives.
Joining requires every part in the same folder. The user opens the first numbered volume, usually the part ending in .001, and PeaZip reads the later parts in order. A missing or renamed middle part prevents reconstruction even when the first and last files remain available. An optional control file stores checksums or hashes for each volume and the original input, which lets PeaZip distinguish a missing control record from a part whose data no longer matches.
Passwords and names
Encryption protects archive content only when the chosen format and settings support it. A 7Z archive can also encrypt its file-name table, preventing someone without the secret from reading the internal names. Content encryption without name encryption can still expose project titles, account names, or folder structure before extraction.
PeaZip can require both a password and a keyfile. Losing either one blocks normal decryption; the archive does not contain a reset route. Sending the keyfile beside the archive and password weakens the separation that the second factor creates.
File actions
The file manager can calculate hashes, find duplicate files, split raw data, and compare files byte by byte. It also has Quick delete and Secure delete. Quick delete bypasses the recycle bin. Secure delete overwrites selected data and treats the operation as permanent.
Secure deletion has storage limits. Flash devices can remap writes to different physical cells, so an overwrite command may not reach the original cells. Temporary files, cached copies, backups, and remote copies also remain outside the selected file’s operation. The operation cannot erase data held by another system merely because it securely deleted the local path.
Source removal
Delete files after archiving can move originals to the recycle bin, delete them without the bin, overwrite them with zeros, or run secure deletion. PeaZip normally asks for confirmation, but its settings can disable that request. The option belongs to the archive job rather than a later cleanup step, so the program can remove the sources immediately after producing the output. The user should open and check the new archive before making that setting part of a repeated workflow.
