diff --git a/base b/base
index 3b5dcdce5..60145efe0 160000
--- a/base
+++ b/base
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 3b5dcdce5d5fdb0032957acb17b18d4fe3c7cfe0
+Subproject commit 60145efe0d80c6ff502413294be38533b1a2e3bb
diff --git a/frontend/apps/reader/readerui.lua b/frontend/apps/reader/readerui.lua
index b058b2a7f..df8ed936c 100644
--- a/frontend/apps/reader/readerui.lua
+++ b/frontend/apps/reader/readerui.lua
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ ReaderUI is an abstraction for a reader interface.
 It works using data gathered from a document interface.
 ]]--
 
+local Archiver = require("ffi/archiver")
 local BD = require("ui/bidi")
 local BookList = require("ui/widget/booklist")
 local Device = require("device")
@@ -622,18 +623,16 @@ function ReaderUI:extendProvider(file, provider, is_provider_forced)
     -- or on the original file double extension ("fb2.zip" etc).
     local _, file_type = filemanagerutil.splitFileNameType(file) -- supports double-extension
     if file_type == "zip" then
-        -- read the content of zip-file and get extension of the 1st file
-        local std_out = io.popen("unzip -qql \"" .. file .. "\"")
-        if std_out then
-            local size, ext
-            for line in std_out:lines() do
-                size, ext = string.match(line, "%s+(%d+)%s+.+%.([^.]+)")
-                if size and ext then break end
-            end
-            std_out:close()
-            if ext ~= nil then
-                file_type = ext:lower()
+        local arc = Archiver.Reader:new()
+        if arc:open(file) then
+            for entry in arc:iterate() do
+                local ext = util.getFileNameSuffix(entry.path)
+                if ext and entry.mode == "file" and entry.size > 0 then
+                    file_type = ext:lower()
+                    break
+                end
             end
+            arc:close()
         end
         if not is_provider_forced then
             local providers = DocumentRegistry:getProviders("dummy." .. file_type)
diff --git a/frontend/device/android/device.lua b/frontend/device/android/device.lua
index 65b86e427..29e77c4d3 100644
--- a/frontend/device/android/device.lua
+++ b/frontend/device/android/device.lua
@@ -544,10 +544,6 @@ function Device:_showLightDialog()
     end
 end
 
-function Device:untar(archive, extract_to)
-    return android.untar(archive, extract_to)
-end
-
 function Device:download(link, name, ok_text)
     local ConfirmBox = require("ui/widget/confirmbox")
     local InfoMessage = require("ui/widget/infomessage")
diff --git a/frontend/device/generic/device.lua b/frontend/device/generic/device.lua
index 3199548cd..7154d1a63 100644
--- a/frontend/device/generic/device.lua
+++ b/frontend/device/generic/device.lua
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ Generic device abstraction.
 This module defines stubs for common methods.
 --]]
 
+local Archiver = require("ffi/archiver")
 local DataStorage = require("datastorage")
 local Event = require("ui/event")
 local Geom = require("ui/geometry")
@@ -1024,26 +1025,36 @@ end
 function Device:unpackArchive(archive, extract_to, with_stripped_root)
     require("dbg").dassert(type(archive) == "string")
     local BD = require("ui/bidi")
-    local ok
-    if archive:match("%.tar%.bz2$") or archive:match("%.tar%.gz$") or archive:match("%.tar%.lz$") or archive:match("%.tgz$") then
-        ok = self:untar(archive, extract_to, with_stripped_root)
-    else
-        return false, T(_("Couldn't extract archive:\n\n%1\n\nUnrecognized filename extension."), BD.filepath(archive))
+    local arc = Archiver.Reader:new()
+    local ok = arc:open(archive)
+    if ok then
+        for entry in arc:iterate() do
+            local dest_path = entry.path
+            if with_stripped_root then
+                local __, tail = dest_path:match("([^/]*)/*(.*)")
+                if tail then
+                    -- Non-root: strip one level.
+                    dest_path = tail
+                elseif entry.mode == 'directory' then
+                    -- Root directory: ignore.
+                    goto continue
+                else -- luacheck: ignore 542
+                    -- Root non-directory: don't strip.
+                end
+            end
+            if not arc:extractToPath(entry.path, extract_to.."/"..dest_path) then
+                break
+            end
+            ::continue::
+        end
+        ok = not arc.err
     end
     if not ok then
-        return false, T(_("Extracting archive failed:\n\n%1"), BD.filepath(archive))
+        return false, T(_("Extracting archive failed:\n\n%1"), BD.filepath(archive))..string.format("\n\n(%s)", arc.err)
     end
     return true
 end
 
-function Device:untar(archive, extract_to, with_stripped_root)
-    local cmd = "./tar xf %q -C %q"
-    if with_stripped_root then
-        cmd = cmd .. " --strip-components=1"
-    end
-    return os.execute(cmd:format(archive, extract_to))
-end
-
 -- Update our UIManager reference once it's ready
 function Device:_UIManagerReady(uimgr)
     -- Our own ref
diff --git a/frontend/device/kindle/device.lua b/frontend/device/kindle/device.lua
index c79a819ba..76e1a99ad 100644
--- a/frontend/device/kindle/device.lua
+++ b/frontend/device/kindle/device.lua
@@ -776,11 +776,6 @@ function Kindle:readyToSuspend(delay)
     self.suspend_time = time.boottime_or_realtime_coarse()
 end
 
--- We add --no-same-permissions --no-same-owner to make the userstore fuse proxy happy...
-function Kindle:untar(archive, extract_to)
-    return os.execute(("./tar --no-same-permissions --no-same-owner -xf %q -C %q"):format(archive, extract_to))
-end
-
 function Kindle:UIManagerReady(uimgr)
     UIManager = uimgr
 end
diff --git a/frontend/ui/wikipedia.lua b/frontend/ui/wikipedia.lua
index 774c8fb5c..f4df2eb6f 100644
--- a/frontend/ui/wikipedia.lua
+++ b/frontend/ui/wikipedia.lua
@@ -836,28 +836,31 @@ function Wikipedia:createEpub(epub_path, page, lang, with_images)
     -- Open the zip file (with .tmp for now, as crengine may still
     -- have a handle to the final epub_path, and we don't want to
     -- delete a good one if we fail/cancel later)
+    local Archiver = require("ffi/archiver")
+    local epub = Archiver.Writer:new{}
     local epub_path_tmp = epub_path .. ".tmp"
-    local ZipWriter = require("ffi/zipwriter")
-    local epub = ZipWriter:new{}
-    if not epub:open(epub_path_tmp) then
+    if not epub:open(epub_path_tmp, "epub") then
         return false
     end
 
     -- We now create and add all the required epub files
+    local mtime = os.time()
 
     -- ----------------------------------------------------------------
     -- /mimetype : always "application/epub+zip"
-    epub:add("mimetype", "application/epub+zip", true)
+    epub:setZipCompression("store")
+    epub:addFileFromMemory("mimetype", "application/epub+zip", mtime)
+    epub:setZipCompression("deflate")
 
     -- ----------------------------------------------------------------
     -- /META-INF/container.xml : always the same content
-    epub:add("META-INF/container.xml", [[
+    epub:addFileFromMemory("META-INF/container.xml", [[
 <?xml version="1.0"?>
 <container version="1.0" xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:opendocument:xmlns:container">
   <rootfiles>
     <rootfile full-path="OEBPS/content.opf" media-type="application/oebps-package+xml"/>
   </rootfiles>
-</container>]])
+</container>]], mtime)
 
     -- ----------------------------------------------------------------
     -- OEBPS/content.opf : metadata + list of other files (paths relative to OEBPS/ directory)
@@ -916,14 +919,14 @@ function Wikipedia:createEpub(epub_path, page, lang, with_images)
   </spine>
 </package>
 ]])
-    epub:add("OEBPS/content.opf", table.concat(content_opf_parts))
+    epub:addFileFromMemory("OEBPS/content.opf", table.concat(content_opf_parts), mtime)
 
     -- ----------------------------------------------------------------
     -- OEBPS/stylesheet.css
     -- crengine will use its own data/epub.css, we just add/fix a few styles
     -- to look more alike wikipedia web pages (that the user can ignore
     -- with "Embedded Style" off)
-    epub:add("OEBPS/stylesheet.css", [[
+    epub:addFileFromMemory("OEBPS/stylesheet.css", [[
 /* Generic styling picked from our epub.css (see it for comments),
    to give this epub a book look even if used with html5.css */
 body {
@@ -1270,7 +1273,7 @@ abbr.abbr {
     display: none;
 }
 /* hiding .noprint may discard some interesting links */
-]])
+]], mtime)
 
     -- ----------------------------------------------------------------
     -- OEBPS/toc.ncx : table of content
@@ -1351,7 +1354,7 @@ abbr.abbr {
   </navMap>
 </ncx>
 ]])
-    epub:add("OEBPS/toc.ncx", table.concat(toc_ncx_parts))
+    epub:addFileFromMemory("OEBPS/toc.ncx", table.concat(toc_ncx_parts), mtime)
 
     -- ----------------------------------------------------------------
     -- HTML table of content
@@ -1479,7 +1482,7 @@ abbr.abbr {
     if self:isWikipediaLanguageRTL(lang) then
         html_dir = ' dir="rtl"'
     end
-    epub:add("OEBPS/content.html", string.format([[
+    epub:addFileFromMemory("OEBPS/content.html", string.format([[
 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"%s>
 <head>
   <title>%s</title>
@@ -1493,7 +1496,7 @@ abbr.abbr {
 %s
 </body>
 </html>
-]], html_dir, page_cleaned, page_htmltitle, lang:upper(), saved_on, see_online_version, html))
+]], html_dir, page_cleaned, page_htmltitle, lang:upper(), saved_on, see_online_version, html), mtime)
 
     -- Force a GC to free the memory we used till now (the second call may
     -- help reclaim more memory).
@@ -1535,11 +1538,11 @@ abbr.abbr {
             end
             if success then
                 -- Images do not need to be compressed, so spare some cpu cycles
-                local no_compression = true
-                if img.mimetype == "image/svg+xml" then -- except for SVG images (which are XML text)
-                    no_compression = false
+                if img.mimetype ~= "image/svg+xml" then -- except for SVG images (which are XML text)
+                    epub:setZipCompression("store")
                 end
-                epub:add("OEBPS/"..img.imgpath, content, no_compression)
+                epub:addFileFromMemory("OEBPS/"..img.imgpath, content, mtime)
+                epub:setZipCompression("deflate")
             else
                 go_on = UI:confirm(T(_("Downloading image %1 failed. Continue anyway?"), inum), _("Stop"), _("Continue"))
                 if not go_on then
diff --git a/plugins/archiveviewer.koplugin/main.lua b/plugins/archiveviewer.koplugin/main.lua
index eb7edfdf8..2d1bb072c 100644
--- a/plugins/archiveviewer.koplugin/main.lua
+++ b/plugins/archiveviewer.koplugin/main.lua
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+local Archiver = require("ffi/archiver")
 local BD = require("ui/bidi")
 local ButtonDialog = require("ui/widget/buttondialog")
 local DocumentRegistry = require("document/documentregistry")
@@ -15,28 +16,22 @@ local T = ffiUtil.template
 local ArchiveViewer = WidgetContainer:extend{
     name = "archiveviewer",
     fullname = _("Archive viewer"),
-    arc_file = nil, -- archive
+    arc = nil, -- archive
     -- list_table is a flat table containing archive files and folders
     -- key - a full path of the folder ("/" for root), for all folders and subfolders of any level
     -- value - a subtable of subfolders and files in the folder
     -- subtable key - a name of a subfolder ending with /, or a name of a file (without path)
     -- subtable value - false for subfolders, or file size (string)
     list_table = nil,
-    arc_type = nil,
-    arc_ext = {
-        cbz  = true,
-        epub = true,
-        zip  = true,
-    },
 }
 
-local ZIP_LIST            = "unzip -qql \"%1\""
-local ZIP_EXTRACT_CONTENT = "unzip -qqp \"%1\" \"%2\""
-local ZIP_EXTRACT_FILE    = "unzip -qqo \"%1\" \"%2\" -d \"%3\"" -- overwrite
-
-local function getSuffix(file)
-    return util.getFileNameSuffix(file):lower()
-end
+local SUPPORTED_EXTENSIONS = {
+    cbr  = true,
+    cbz  = true,
+    epub = true,
+    rar  = true,
+    zip  = true,
+}
 
 function ArchiveViewer:init()
     self:registerDocumentRegistryAuxProvider()
@@ -53,23 +48,18 @@ function ArchiveViewer:registerDocumentRegistryAuxProvider()
 end
 
 function ArchiveViewer:isFileTypeSupported(file)
-    return self.arc_ext[getSuffix(file)] and true or false
+    return SUPPORTED_EXTENSIONS[util.getFileNameSuffix(file):lower()] ~= nil
 end
 
 function ArchiveViewer:openFile(file)
     local _, filename = util.splitFilePathName(file)
-    local fileext = getSuffix(filename)
-    if fileext == "cbz" or fileext == "epub" or fileext == "zip" then
-        self.arc_type = "zip"
-    end
-    self.arc_file = file
 
+    self.arc = Archiver.Reader:new()
     self.fm_updated = nil
     self.list_table = {}
-    if self.arc_type == "zip" then
-        self:getZipListTable()
-    else -- add other archivers here
-        return
+
+    if self.arc:open(file) then
+        self:getListTable()
     end
 
     self.menu = Menu:new{
@@ -97,7 +87,7 @@ function ArchiveViewer:openFile(file)
     UIManager:show(self.menu)
 end
 
-function ArchiveViewer:getZipListTable()
+function ArchiveViewer:getListTable()
     local function parse_path(filepath, filesize)
         if not filepath then return end
         local path, name = util.splitFilePathName(filepath)
@@ -119,14 +109,10 @@ function ArchiveViewer:getZipListTable()
         end
     end
 
-    local std_out = io.popen(T(ZIP_LIST, self.arc_file))
-    if std_out then
-        for line in std_out:lines() do
-            -- entry datetime not used so far
-            local fsize, fname = string.match(line, "%s+(%d+)%s+[-0-9]+%s+[0-9:]+%s+(.+)")
-            parse_path(fname, fsize or 0)
+    for entry in self.arc:iterate() do
+        if entry.mode == "file" then
+            parse_path(entry.path, entry.size)
         end
-        std_out:close()
     end
 end
 
@@ -266,29 +252,12 @@ function ArchiveViewer:viewFile(filepath)
 end
 
 function ArchiveViewer:extractFile(filepath)
-    if self.arc_type == "zip" then
-        local std_out = io.popen(T(ZIP_EXTRACT_FILE, self.arc_file, filepath, util.splitFilePathName(self.arc_file)))
-        if std_out then
-            std_out:close()
-        end
-    else
-        return
-    end
-    self.fm_updated = true
+    local directory = util.splitFilePathName(self.arc.filepath)
+    self.fm_updated = self.arc:extractToPath(filepath, directory .. filepath)
 end
 
 function ArchiveViewer:extractContent(filepath)
-    local content
-    if self.arc_type == "zip" then
-        local std_out = io.popen(T(ZIP_EXTRACT_CONTENT, self.arc_file, filepath))
-        if std_out then
-            content = std_out:read("*all")
-            std_out:close()
-            return content
-        end
-    else
-        return
-    end
+    return self.arc:extractToMemory(filepath)
 end
 
 return ArchiveViewer
diff --git a/plugins/newsdownloader.koplugin/epubdownloadbackend.lua b/plugins/newsdownloader.koplugin/epubdownloadbackend.lua
index 4d0cf5c54..f3b714b43 100644
--- a/plugins/newsdownloader.koplugin/epubdownloadbackend.lua
+++ b/plugins/newsdownloader.koplugin/epubdownloadbackend.lua
@@ -442,29 +442,32 @@ function EpubDownloadBackend:createEpub(epub_path, html, url, include_images, me
     -- Open the zip file (with .tmp for now, as crengine may still
     -- have a handle to the final epub_path, and we don't want to
     -- delete a good one if we fail/cancel later)
+    local Archiver = require("ffi/archiver")
+    local epub = Archiver.Writer:new{}
     local epub_path_tmp = epub_path .. ".tmp"
-    local ZipWriter = require("ffi/zipwriter")
-    local epub = ZipWriter:new{}
-    if not epub:open(epub_path_tmp) then
+    if not epub:open(epub_path_tmp, "epub") then
         logger.dbg("Failed to open epub_path_tmp")
         return false
     end
 
     -- We now create and add all the required epub files
+    local mtime = os.time()
 
     -- ----------------------------------------------------------------
     -- /mimetype : always "application/epub+zip"
-    epub:add("mimetype", "application/epub+zip", true)
+    epub:setZipCompression("store")
+    epub:addFileFromMemory("mimetype", "application/epub+zip", mtime)
+    epub:setZipCompression("deflate")
 
     -- ----------------------------------------------------------------
     -- /META-INF/container.xml : always the same content
-    epub:add("META-INF/container.xml", [[
+    epub:addFileFromMemory("META-INF/container.xml", [[
 <?xml version="1.0"?>
 <container version="1.0" xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:opendocument:xmlns:container">
   <rootfiles>
     <rootfile full-path="OEBPS/content.opf" media-type="application/oebps-package+xml"/>
   </rootfiles>
-</container>]])
+</container>]], mtime)
     logger.dbg("Added META-INF/container.xml")
 
     -- ----------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -517,7 +520,7 @@ function EpubDownloadBackend:createEpub(epub_path, html, url, include_images, me
   </spine>
 </package>
 ]])
-    epub:add("OEBPS/content.opf", table.concat(content_opf_parts))
+    epub:addFileFromMemory("OEBPS/content.opf", table.concat(content_opf_parts), mtime)
     logger.dbg("Added OEBPS/content.opf")
 
     -- ----------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -525,9 +528,9 @@ function EpubDownloadBackend:createEpub(epub_path, html, url, include_images, me
     --- @todo We told it we'd include a stylesheet.css, so it's probably best
     -- that we do. In theory, we could try to fetch any *.css files linked in
     -- the main html.
-    epub:add("OEBPS/stylesheet.css", [[
+    epub:addFileFromMemory("OEBPS/stylesheet.css", [[
 /* Empty */
-]])
+]], mtime)
     logger.dbg("Added OEBPS/stylesheet.css")
 
     -- ----------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -567,12 +570,12 @@ function EpubDownloadBackend:createEpub(epub_path, html, url, include_images, me
   </navMap>
 </ncx>
 ]])
-    epub:add("OEBPS/toc.ncx", table.concat(toc_ncx_parts))
+    epub:addFileFromMemory("OEBPS/toc.ncx", table.concat(toc_ncx_parts), mtime)
     logger.dbg("Added OEBPS/toc.ncx")
 
     -- ----------------------------------------------------------------
     -- OEBPS/content.html
-    epub:add("OEBPS/content.html", html)
+    epub:addFileFromMemory("OEBPS/content.html", html, mtime)
     logger.dbg("Added OEBPS/content.html")
 
     -- Force a GC to free the memory we used till now (the second call may
@@ -619,7 +622,7 @@ function EpubDownloadBackend:createEpub(epub_path, html, url, include_images, me
                 if img.mimetype == "image/svg+xml" then -- except for SVG images (which are XML text)
                     no_compression = false
                 end
-                epub:add("OEBPS/"..img.imgpath, content, no_compression)
+                epub:addFileFromMemory("OEBPS/"..img.imgpath, content, no_compression, mtime)
             else
                 go_on = UI:confirm(T(_("Downloading image %1 failed. Continue anyway?"), inum), _("Stop"), _("Continue"))
                 if not go_on then