Standard ZIP passwords use a 30-year-old algorithm that takes minutes to crack. FilesLock applies AES-256-GCM , the same encryption protecting classified government data.
ZIP, RAR, 7z, TAR , any archive format
Standard ZIP encryption is often weak and easily broken. FilesLock wraps the entire archive in AES-256 for maximum security.
When you right-click a folder and select "Add to ZIP with password," most tools use ZipCrypto , an encryption scheme designed in 1989. Security researcher Eli Biham demonstrated a known-plaintext attack against ZipCrypto that recovers the password in minutes using a standard laptop. The algorithm is fundamentally broken.
Even when ZIP tools offer AES-256 as an option (like 7-Zip's AES-256 mode), the implementation varies, the file listing remains visible (an attacker can see file names and sizes inside the archive), and compatibility between tools is inconsistent.
FilesLock encrypts the entire archive as a single opaque blob. No file names leak, no directory structure is visible, no metadata is exposed. The .locked file reveals nothing about its contents.
Comparable strength for the encryption itself (both use AES-256), but with key differences: FilesLock hides the entire file structure (7-Zip AES still exposes file names in the archive listing), uses GCM authenticated encryption (tamper detection), and applies PBKDF2 with 600,000 iterations for key derivation.
Yes. FilesLock encrypts the ZIP file itself as a single unit. You do not need to extract and re-compress. Just drop the .zip file, encrypt it, and you get a .zip.locked file.
FilesLock encrypts any file type. RAR, 7z, TAR, GZ, BZ2 , they are all treated as raw bytes and encrypted with the same AES-256-GCM algorithm.
No. Unlike encrypted ZIP files (where the directory listing is often unencrypted), FilesLock encrypts the entire file. An attacker cannot see file names, sizes, counts, or any other metadata.