Files with 7z extension are compressed archives created with the 7-Zip archive utility. 7Z is a popular alternative to ZIP/RAR formats.

Detailed description

Software that open 7z file

Add comment

7Z file extension - 7-ZIP compressed 7z archive

What is 7z file? How to open 7z files?

File type specification:

Archive and compressed file type icon Archive and compressed file type

7z file icon: 7z filetype icon

File extension 7z is used for native file format of 7-ZIP archiver7z file format was developed as as part of the 7-Zip compression utility distributed under the GNU LGPL.

7-Zip supports encryption with the AES-256 algorithm. This algorithm uses a cipher key with a length of 256 bits. To create that key, 7-Zip runs a derivation function based on a SHA-256 hash algorithm. A key derivation function produces a derived key from the text password entered by the user. To increase the cost of an exhaustive search to crack a password, 7-Zip uses a large number of iterations when it produces a cipher key from a password.

The main features of 7z file format:

  • Open architecture
  • High compression ratio
  • Strong AES-256 encryption
  • Ability of using any compression, conversion or encryption method
  • Support for very large files with sizes up to 16000000000 GB
  • Unicode file name support
  • Solid compression ratio
  • Archive headers compression

7z file format has an open architecture, so it can support any new compression methods. LZMA is the default and general compression method of 7z file format.

The main features of LZMA are:

  • Variable dictionary size (up to 4 GB)
  • Compression speed: about 1 MB/s on 2 GHz CPU
  • Decompression speed: about 10-20 MB/s on 2 GHz CPU
  • Small memory requirement for decompression (depend from dictionary size)
  • Small code size for decompression: about 5 KB
  • Supports multi-threading and P4's hyper-threading

The LZMA compression algorithm is very suitable for embedded applications. LZMA is released under the terms of the GNU LGPL.

MIME type used for 7z files: application/x-lzma

Updated: November 24, 2023

The default software associated to open 7z file:

7-zip icon

Igor Pavlov logo7-zip  Microsoft Windows software

Company or developer:
Igor Pavlov

A free file archiver developed by Igor Pavlov featuring higher compression ratios with LZMA and LZMA2 compression.

It is mainly available for Windows platform (for Mac and Linux are available command line tools) and is the primary program to handle 7z archives. However, also supports various compression file formats.

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

Related articles:

Useful information about multi-volume archives

7-Zip Review

Help how to open:

The native application, that can open and extract 7z compressed file is 7-Zip.

7zip compression format is supported by third party archive applications such as WinRAR, PowerArchiver, PeaZip, ZipZag and etc... This applications can open and extract 7z compressed archives.

How to convert:

The easiest way how to convert 7z archive is to decompress the 7z archive with the use of 7-ZIP and repack the content with another compression or archive application of your choice.

WinRAR has integrated conversion utility, that can convert 7z compressed archive files (and other compression formats) into RAR compressed archives.

Find conversions from 7z file:

7z to 001

7z to bin

7z to exe

7z to iso

7z to rar

7z to wbfs

7z to zip

Find converter to 7z file type:

001 to 7z

7z.001 to 7z

apk to 7z

exe to 7z

pup to 7z

rar to 7z

zip to 7z

File identification strings:

HEX code: 37 7A BC AF 27 1C
ASCII code: 7z '

List of software applications associated to the .7z file extension

Recommended software programs are sorted by OS platform (Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android etc.)
and possible program actions that can be done with the file: like open 7z file, edit 7z file, convert 7z file, view 7z file, play 7z file etc. (if exist software for corresponding action in File-Extensions.org's database).

Hint:
Click on the tab below to simply browse between the application actions, to quickly get a list of recommended software, which is able to perform the specified software action, such as opening, editing or converting 7z files.

Software that open 7z file - 7-ZIP compressed 7z archive

Programs supporting the exension 7z on the main platforms Windows, Mac, Linux or mobile. Click on the link to get more information about listed programs for open 7z file action.

Microsoft Windows:

Main software associated with 7z file by default:
7-zip small icon 7-zip
Other suggested software:
WinRAR small icon WinRAR
PeaZip small icon PeaZip
Stuffit small icon Stuffit
StuffIt Deluxe small icon StuffIt Deluxe

Apple macOS / Mac OS X:

Linux/Unix:

Google Android:

Windows Phone / Windows 10 Mobile:

Previous file extension
7-ZIP file extension

File-Extensions.org > Archive and compressed file types

Next file extension
file extension 7Z.001

 

Enter any file extension without dot (e.g. pdf)
Search for file extension details and associated application(s)

RSS feed