The latest Canary release, Windows 11 build 25992, adds native support for 7z and Tar archive creation. Just like you've been creating ZIP archives for decades, you can now use these formats without having to install any external applications. Right-click a file or folder, select Compress to..., and pick the desired compression option.
While the change is not mentioned in the release notes for the build, Microsoft has updated the release notes, so the feature is now officially announced. It is not hidden and is available to everyone.
Microsoft first announced the extended archive support in Windows 11 during the Build 2023 event. The company had revealed that the operating system will get integration with the libarchive open source project. The latter supports a wide range of various compression formats, including popular RAR, 7Z, and TAR.GZ.
Starting with the Moment 4 update, Windows 11 can natively extract all those formats, without you having to install anything. The write support in stable version of the OS will become available in 2024. So now Microsoft is testing this feature with Insiders in the Canary channel.
Windows 11 build 25992 is also notable for several SMB protocol improvements, and for the Snipping Tool with the proper HDR support. You can learn more here.
Thanks to @PhantomOfEarth for sharing their finding.
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