PeaZip 10.6 makes browsing giant archives way faster, adds new features

PeaZip, a free and open-source file manager and archiver tool available for Windows, Linux, and macOS, has gotten its version 10.6 update, bringing updates to several dependencies like 7z and more.

As mentioned before, version 10.6 comes with 7z 25.01, which itself brings better security for handling symbolic links, a small but important fix to prevent potential mischief. Pea, the native archive format for the application, has been updated to 1.26.

Other backend changes include McMilk codex on Windows getting a refresh. For Linux and macOS users, the software now integrates T.Yamada's cielavenir p7zip fork, which adds support for Brotli, Lizard, LZ4, LZ5, and Zstd codecs within the .7z format. The Zpaq interface was also updated to support Zpaqfranz as its default binary.

In the file manager, the developers added the Documents directory to the default bookmarks and put a handy search function in the settings screen. The real story, however, is the performance improvement when you are browsing gigantic archives or folders.

The file browser performance has also been improved significantly, making it over six times faster, per claims, on Windows and an insane thirty times faster on macOS. This includes a new dynamic virtual mode for its file list, which kicks in when you are looking at a huge number of items. The threshold is 8K for Windows and 16K for Qt6, but it is always on for macOS, where it provides the biggest gains. This mode does have a few limitations; it disables showing application icons and image thumbnails and you can only rename items with the F2 key.

Several bug fixes come with the new version, including a correction for how multipart archive sizes are reported in the progress screen. The application now also defaults to unchecking the "Keep password/keyfile" option for the session, a safer approach. If you frequently use hidden files, the toggle for "Show hidden files (in the filesystem)" has moved from the settings deep dive to the main Organize menu.

For non-Windows users, PeaZip can now automatically find your RAR binary to enable RAR creation, and the status bar displays free disk space. New alternative icons are available for system integration. You can now limit the number of threads for Zpaq from the archive creation screen, and the general compression presets have been updated.

On a related note, a serious vulnerability was recently discovered and exploited in PeaZip's much popular alternative WinRAR, letting attackers sneak malware onto systems. So it's definitely a good idea to check out this article and update your WinRAR if you're affected.

If you're interested, you can have a look at the complete change log, as well as grab a download for your OS.

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Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Posted Sunday 10 August 2025 at 5:25 pm AEST (my time).

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