LRGEX Compress is built around Zstandard (zstd) — a modern compression algorithm optimized for speed. It uses all your CPU cores automatically, so big folders finish in seconds instead of minutes.
For everyday backups and file sharing, seconds matter more than a slightly smaller archive.
No app to open. No drag-and-drop. No compression levels to choose — LRGEX Compress always uses optimized defaults.
- Right-click any file or folder
- Click LRGEX → Compress
- A progress window shows live speed and ETA
- Done —
.zgxarchive appears next to your files
Right-click any .zgx, .zip, .rar, or .7z → LRGEX → Extract or Extract Here.
Extracts ZIP, RAR, 7z, and ZGX archives. You don't need WinRAR or 7-Zip installed.
- ✓ Zstandard compression — uses all CPU cores automatically
- ✓ Windows Explorer integration — right-click any file or folder
- ✓ Progress window with live speed and ETA
- ✓ Atomic archive creation — interrupted compress never leaves a broken file
- ✓ Split Compress — break large archives into parts (
.partNNN.zgx) - ✓ ZIP extraction
- ✓ RAR extraction
- ✓ 7z extraction (single + multi-volume)
- ✓ Empty folder preservation
- ✓ Overwrite confirmation before replacing existing files
- ✓ Instant cancel (compress + extract, all formats)
- ✓ Encrypted archive support — password prompt for RAR, 7z, and ZIP (CLI:
-p <password>) - ✓ Integrity checksum —
.zgxarchives verified on extract via XXHash64 - ✓ Clean archive names (
video.mp4→video.zgx) - ✓ Ed25519 cryptographically signed auto-updates
- ✓ GPL-3.0-or-later License
- ✓ No administrator required
- ✓ Command-line support
- Speed first. Built on Zstandard, optimized for raw speed over slightly smaller archives. Big folders finish in seconds.
- Atomic writes. If your PC crashes or loses power mid-compress, you never get a broken half-written archive. The file only appears when it's 100% complete.
- Empty folders preserved. Some archivers drop empty directories silently. LRGEX Compress keeps your exact folder structure.
- Metadata preserved exactly. File contents, modification/creation timestamps (whole-second precision), Windows attributes (hidden, read-only, system), and symbolic links all round-trip identically. NTFS alternate data streams are not supported (rarely used; not planned).
- Instant cancel. Click Cancel during compress OR extract — it stops immediately (even mid-file for RAR/7z) and cleans up. No orphaned files, no waiting.
- Resilient extraction. If one file is locked or unreadable, extraction continues and the file is listed in a skipped-files report — not a total failure.
- Signed auto-updates. Every update is cryptographically verified using Ed25519 before installation.
- Per-user install. No admin prompt. No UAC. Works on locked-down corporate machines.
- Download the latest
LRGEX-Compress-setup.exefrom Releases - Double-click — installs with no admin prompt
- Right-click any file or folder → LRGEX → Compress
Or install via Chocolatey:
choco install lrgex-compress
Or winget (pending):
winget install LRGEX.Compress
lrgex-compress <folder-or-file> # compress -> <name>.zgx
lrgex-compress --split [--size <MB>] <folder> # split compress -> .partNNN.zgx
lrgex-compress -x <archive> # extract -> <name>\ folder
lrgex-compress -x -h <archive> # extract here (into the archive's folder)
lrgex-compress --help # show usage- Windows 10/11
- ~20 MB free disk space
MSVCP140.dll missing? Older versions (≤1.4.1) required the Visual C++ runtime. Install it from Microsoft: https://aka.ms/vc14/vc_redist.x64.exe (Version 1.4.4+ uses a static CRT — no runtime needed.)
A .zgx file is a tar.zst archive (tar stream compressed with zstd) with a small
LRGEX header for identification.
New format (v1.4.1+):
bytes 0-4 : ASCII "LRGEX" (magic header)
byte 5 : format version (0x01)
bytes 6-13 : uncompressed total size (u64 little-endian, for progress accuracy)
bytes 14+ : zstd-compressed tar stream
Legacy format (pre-v1.4.1):
bytes 0-7 : uncompressed total size (u64 little-endian)
bytes 8+ : zstd-compressed tar stream
The extractor detects both formats automatically. Legacy archives continue to extract without any conversion.
This project vendors one crate with a patch:
| Crate | Version | Patch | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
vendor/libz-ng-sys |
1.1.29 | CMake static CRT defines (/MT + NDEBUG) | Self-contained exe (no VC++ redist needed) |
RAR extraction uses unrar-rs 0.4.0 (pure Rust, no vendored C).
Note: unrar-rs is licensed GPL-3.0-or-later with the UnRAR source-code restriction.
Review compatibility with your distribution model.
The previous vendored C unrar crate (0.5.8 with UCM_PROCESSDATA patch) was fully removed.
GPL-3.0-or-later. See LICENSE.
RAR extraction: unrar-rs — GPL-3.0-or-later + UnRAR restriction.
UnRAR source code may be used in any software to handle RAR archives without limitations free of charge, but cannot be used to develop RAR (WinRAR) compatible archiver and to re-create RAR compression algorithm, which is proprietary. Distribution of modified UnRAR source code in separate form or as a part of other software is permitted, provided that full text of this paragraph, starting from "UnRAR source code" words, is included in license, or in documentation if license is not available, and in source code comments of resulting package.
UI built with Slint (Slint Royalty-free License). Third-party crates under their respective licenses (Apache-2.0 / BSD-3 / GPL-3.0).