ALZip

ALZip was developed in 1999 as an internal application by the South Korean software company ESTsoft in response to employees' frustration using the English interface in WinZip.

The Korean interface was immediately well received{{cite journal

|last = Jeong

|first = Jong Oh

|title = HOW: 한글 지원 국산 압축 유틸리티 3종

|journal = HowPC

|pages = 308–311

|language = ko

|date = November 1999

}} and later that year, ALZip was publicly released{{cite news

|last = Lee

|first = J. N.

|script-title=ko:모든 압축파일 자유자재로 풀어줍니다

|work = Yonhap News

|language = ko

|publisher = Yonhap

|date = 23 August 1999

}}{{cite news

|last = Yoon

|first = H. J.

|script-title=ko:압축유틸리티 '알집' 발표

|work = 전자신문

|language = ko

|publisher = Chunjashinmun

|date = 30 August 1999

}}{{cite journal

|last1 = Wi

|first1 = Yoonhee

|last2 = Ji

|first2 = Hyunjung

|title = PC 유틸리티는 쉽고 편하게, 알집에서 알툴즈까지

|journal = Microsoftware

|issue = 2

|pages = 152–155

|date=February 2003

|language = ko

}} as freeware.{{cite journal

|last = Han

|first = Sujin

|date=November 2002

|title = CEO of the Month: 국산 소프트웨어의 자존심

|journal = Popular Science

|issue = 11

|page = 90

|language = ko

}} In just over a year, ALZip became the most popular archiver program in South Korea{{cite web

| url = http://www.bomul.com

| date = 9 February 2001

| title = Most used compression program poll

| access-date = 27 February 2001 | archive-url= http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20020813183445/http%3A//www%2Ebomul%2Ecom/| archive-date= 13 August 2002| url-status= live}} and by December 2001, was the top downloaded softwareMaeilkyungjae IT Internet (2001-12-03){{cite news

| last = Choi

| first = Yeonjin

| title = 2001 디지탈 이노베이션 大賞 수상업체

| work = Hankooki

| language = ko

| publisher = Hankook Ilbo

| date = 19 December 2001

}} in the country. By 2004, it had reached a 70% market share in South Korea.{{cite web

| url = http://www.sw.or.kr/demand/2004/html/3_report_2.htm

| year = 1999

| language = ko

| title = Korea Software Industry Association

| access-date = 30 October 2006

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160402214540/https://www.sw.or.kr/demand/2004/html/3_report_2.htm

| archive-date = 2 April 2016

| url-status = dead

}} The popularity of the software and the ALZ and EGG archive format played a large role in earning ESTsoft a place in the Digital Innovation Awards Top 100 Companies in South Korea{{cite news

| script-title=ko:디지탈 이노베이션 大賞

|work=Hankook Ilbo

| pages = 2

| language = ko

| date = 28 November 2001

}} with the software taking special mention.

The first English version was released in 2002. Since then, support for over 20 languages has been added.{{Citation Needed|date=February 2025}}

Version 11.07 is available through Microsoft Store.{{Cite web|title=Get ALZip|url=https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/alzip/9wzdncrdct3q|access-date=2020-09-15|publisher=Microsoft Store|language=en-us|archive-date=22 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122020819/https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/alzip/9wzdncrdct3q|url-status=live}}

ALZip was originally released as pure freeware. In October 2001 it changed to free for home use with government usage requiring a software license. In April 2002, a business license was also introduced for commercial usage.{{cite web|url=http://www.pdmc.or.kr/webzine/200306/people.htm |date=June 2003 |language=ko |title=Program Deliberation and Mediation Committee |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060622094930/http://www.pdmc.or.kr/webzine/200306/people.htm |archive-date=22 June 2006 }} Licensing was based on the honor system, and there were no nag screens.

With the version 7 release, the license was changed from freeware to adware, displaying downloaded banner ads. Beginning on December 1, 2008, all new releases are shareware requiring a paid license{{Cite web |title=ALTools Free PC Utilities |url=http://www.altools.com/Default.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220123920/http://www.altools.com/Default.aspx |archive-date=20 December 2008 |access-date=24 December 2008}} except in its original Korean language, which requires no licensing fee.

With version 8.51 from 22 August 2012, ALZip changed the license so that it can be licensed freely. On the download page of ALZip is a serial number to copy and paste when you start the program, in order to have the license for the software free of charge.{{cite web |url=http://www.altools.com/Home/News.aspx?&articleIdx=59&m=3 |title=ALTools News – New product releases, updates, company info, events, and other points of interest at ALTools |website=altools.com |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223091755/http://www.altools.com/Home/News.aspx?&articleIdx=59&m=3 |archive-date=23 February 2014 |url-status=dead}}

The name "ALZip" was chosen as the "AL" part is a transliteration from the program's Korean name "aljip" (Hangul: {{Lang|ko|알집}}), literally EggZip. Other ALTools feature similar egghead cartoon characters as mascots for each program.

Additionally, ALZip integrates into the "New Folder" function of Windows Explorer, where new folders are created with the option of using custom icons and names.

In 2003, there was a controversy over ALZip's own compression file format ALZ when a developer of another Korean compression utility, "빵집," insisted that ALZip users were forced to use the ALZip archiver when decompressing ALZ files. He also stated that ESTsoft does not offer decompression libraries, and that third-party archiver developers have had to use reverse engineering to develop their own algorithms.{{cite web|url=http://caukorean.net/new_site/bbs/board.php?bo_table%3Dcolumn%26wr_id%3D167%26page%3D5 |title=중앙대 국문학과 > 칼럼게시판 > 알집 alz 포맷의 비밀 |access-date=2009-09-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090703131717/http://caukorean.net/new_site/bbs/board.php?bo_table=column&wr_id=167&page=5 |archive-date=3 July 2009 }}

The EGG format is used to apply multiple different compression algorithms, choosing the algorithm based on the file extension. For example, it may use Bzip2 to compress .txt files, while using Deflate for files with a .exe extension. For .com or .sys files, ALZip uses the ALZ algorithm.

The ALZ algorithm is slower but has a high compression ratio. It has a faster compression rate than the Deflate algorithm used in the ZIP format, and is comparable to the LZMA algorithm of 7-Zip.

Reverse engineering revealed similarities between it and LZMA. It has been confirmed that LZ77 is used.{{Citation Needed|date=February 2025}}

• File archiver
• Data compression
• Comparison of file archivers
• Comparison of archive formats
• List of archive formats

{{reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://www.altools.com/default.aspx}} {{in lang|ko}}
• [https://www.flickr.com/photos/53042144@N00 Flickr pages with various ALTools Eggheads]
• [http://kippler.com/win/unalz/ unalz] {{in lang|ko}} – Open-source decompressor for ALZip files, for Windows and Linux.

{{Compression Software Implementations}}{{Archive formats}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alzip}}

Category:Windows compression software

Category:ESTsoft