Which should I use to protect sensitive files?

7-Zip with AES-256 and header encryption, or RAR5, both with a long generated passphrase stored in a password manager.

Is a ZIP password useless?

Not if it uses AES-256. Avoid old ZipCrypto for anything sensitive — it’s fast to break.

Yes, when the password is guessable from hints. A long random password on 7z/RAR5 is effectively unrecoverable by design.

If you’re about to password-protect an archive — or trying to recover one — the format matters. They don’t all encrypt the same way.

Here’s how ZIP, 7-Zip and RAR compare, and what each means for security and recovery.