I need to compress multiple files into a single archive using Delphi. I\'d prefer to use freeware components or open-source components because I am very very cheap :-)
I'm surprised no-one has mentioned JclCompression yet - it's part of the well-known Jedi Code Library (JCL). Here's a view of the unit itself : http://jcl.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/jcl/trunk/jcl/source/common/JclCompression.pas?view=markup
Note, it's compatible with 7-zip DLL version 4.64 - newer versions might not be backwards-compatible...
There are infozips zip32 and unzip32 dlls. They can be used from Delphi (even from Visual Basic), there are interface units/modules for both. The interface isn't as good as I would have liked it, but it works.