7-Zip is an open source file archiver with the high compression ratio for ZIP and GZIP formats, It’s a free alternative to the popular shareware archivers WinRAR and WinZip. It uses its own 7z archive format, but can read and write many other archive formats and offers a significantly higher compression ratio than its peers – up to 40% higher. It is developed by Igor Pavlov and was first released in 1999.
By default, 7-Zip creates 7z-format archives with a .7z file extension. Each archive can contain multiple directories and files. As a container format, security or size reduction are achieved using a stacked combination of filters. These can consist of pre-processors, compression algorithms, and encryption filters.
The core 7z compression uses a variety of algorithms, the most common of which are bzip2, PPMd, LZMA2, and LZMA. Developed by Pavlov, LZMA is a relatively new system, making its debut as part of the 7z format. LZMA uses an LZ-based sliding dictionary of up to 4 GB in size, backed by a range coder.
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.
Key Features:
- High compression ratio
- Strong AES-256 encryption
- Self-extracting capability
- Command line support
- Multiple-core CPU threading
- Integration with Windows Shell
- Plugin for FAR Manager
- Powerful File Manager
Last Update: November 30, 2024
Current Version: 24.09
License: Open Source
Languages: Multiple Languages
Supported Operating Systems:
Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10 / Server 2012 / Server 2016 (32-Bit, 64-Bit)
Linux
Developer: Igor Pavlov
Homepage: 7-Zip.org
- The bug was fixed: 7-Zip 16.03 exe installer under Vista didn’t create links in Start / Programs menu.
- Some bugs were fixed in RAR code.