What is the difference between `>` (redirection) and Out-File in PowerShell

Question

I have found comparisons of > against Set-Content, and of Set-Content against Out-File, but I have not found any description of how > and Out-File differ in PowerShell.

The "about redirection" document currently states,

Typically, you use the Out-File cmdlet when you need to use its parameters...

... which leads me to believe that they are the same, that > is preferred because it is concise, but that | Out-File is necessary in some cases because > does not take parameters.

Is this a correct interpretation, or are there differences in the runtime behavior of these two methods of redirection? For example, is > more efficient because | Out-File has the extra overhead of pipe and commandlet abstractions? Does > have any difference in default settings for the sake of backwards compatibility with DOS or Unix >?

Answer 1

Is this a correct interpretation

Yes, spot on!

When you use ... > $path, PowerShell indeed executes ... | Out-File -Filepath $path in the background.

When you use ... >> $path, PowerShell simply adds the -Append switch.

This is evident from the source code of the current (version 7.0) implementation, and has been the case at least back to version 3.0 (and, I presume, 1 and 2)