7-Zip is an open-source file archiver with a high compression ratio, predominantly for the Microsoft Windows operating system.
It can be used as a command-line tool or with a graphical user interface, integrating with the Windows shell environment.
Compression ratio results depend heavily on the data used for testing. Typically, 7-Zip compresses to the 7z format 30–70% more efficiently than the zip format. Additionally, it compresses to the zip format 2–10% more efficiently than most other zip-compatible programs.
7-Zip is free software, developed by Igor Pavlov and distributed under the GNU LGPL license. This file archiver is compatible with all Windows operating systems, from Windows NT to Windows 10 (both 32-bit and 64-bit).
7-Zip main features:
- High compression ratio in the new 7z format with LZMA compression and LZMA2 compression
- For ZIP and GZIP formats, the provided compression ratio is 2-10 % better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
- Strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats
- Self-extracting capability for 7z format
- Integration with Windows Shell
- Powerful File Manager
- Powerful command-line version
- Plugin for FAR Manager
- Localizations for 87 languages
- Supported formats:
- Packing / unpacking: 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP and WIM
- Unpacking only: AR, ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, CramFS, DMG, EXT, FAT, GPT, HFS, IHEX, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MBR, MSI, NSIS, NTFS, QCOW2, RAR, RPM, SquashFS, UDF, UEFI, VDI, VHD, VMDK, WIM, XAR, and Z.
Changes in 7-Zip 25.01 :
Supported Operating Systems:
- Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10, 11 (32-bit, 64-bit).
- Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2019.