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 works on all Windows operating systems, from Windows NT to 10 (32-bit and 64-bit).
7-Zip main features:
- High compression ratio in 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 24.09 :
- The default dictionary size values for LZMA/LZMA2 compression methods were increased: dictionary size compression level
v24.08 v24.09 v24.09
32-bit 64-bit
8 MB 16 MB 16 MB -mx4
16 MB 32 MB 32 MB -mx5: Normal
32 MB 64 MB 64 MB -mx6
32 MB 64 MB 128 MB -mx7: Maximum
64 MB 64 MB 256 MB -mx8
64 MB 64 MB 256 MB -mx9: Ultra
- The default dictionary size values for 32-bit versions of LZMA/LZMA2 don’t exceed 64 MB.
- 7-Zip now can calculate the following hash checksums: SHA-512, SHA-384, SHA3-256, and MD5.
- APM and HFS support was improved.
- If an archive update operation uses a temporary archive folder and the archive is moved to the destination folder, 7-Zip shows the progress of moving the archive file, as this operation can take a long time if the archive is large.
- 7-Zip File Manager did not correctly propagate the Zone. Identifier stream for files extracted from nested archives. This meant that files extracted from archives within other archives did not retain their original security zone information.
- Some bugs were fixed.
Supported Operating Systems:
- Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10, 11 (32-bit, 64-bit).
- Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2019.
