What are the pros and cons of using MetaDefender Core's archive extraction engine vs. AV engine archive handling?

This article applies to all MetaDefender Core versions

MetaDefender Core Archive Extraction Engine

Pros:

  • Provides detailed scan results for each file inside the archive in the scan report.
  • Delivers more effective threat detection by leveraging multiple AV engines and additional modules (e.g., CDR, DLP) that can detect threats beyond the scope of traditional AV engines.
  • Required if your MetaDefender Core deployment includes CDR or DLP and you want to apply these technologies to files within archives. (You can disregard this if your license does not include CDR or DLP.)
  • Might be faster for large archives being scanned by many AV engines. However, it will depend on many other factors when it comes to performance.

Cons:

  • May introduce noticeable processing overhead, especially when scanning small archives or using only a few AV engines. This can result in additional seconds of total processing time.

AV Engine Archive Handling

Pros:

  • Can be faster for small archives, particularly when only a few AV engines (e.g., two) are enabled.

Cons:

  • May become slower when scanning large archives with many AV engines, since each engine must extract and scan the same archive independently.
  • Not all AV engines support archive handling, and OPSWAT does not maintain a list of which ones do.
  • The range of supported archive formats may be narrower than that of MetaDefender Core’s archive extraction engine.
  • Scan reports do not include per-file details for the contents of archives.

Recommendation

  • Use MetaDefender Core archive extraction if you need detailed reporting, use CDR or DLP, or require the broadest file type coverage and most comprehensive threat detection.
  • Use AV engine archive handling if your deployment is performance-sensitive, uses only a small number of AV engines, and does not rely on CDR or DLP.

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