7Z file: How to open? The best software for opening 7z files

7-ZIP compressed 7z archive

File type: Archive and compressed file

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

What is 7z file?

File type category:
Archive and compressed file

Date updated: July 19, 2025

File extension 7z is used for native file format of 7-ZIP archiver. 7z 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

How to open 7z file?

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 7z file?

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.

Suggested software to open 7z file:

Associated software actions with the 7z file

Open

Software applications that can open 7z files:

7-zip (Microsoft Windows)

WinRAR (Microsoft Windows)

PeaZip (Microsoft Windows)

Stuffit (Microsoft Windows)

StuffIt Deluxe (Microsoft Windows)

StuffIt for Mac (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)

StuffIt Deluxe for Mac (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)

Xarchiver (Linux/Unix)

RAR for Android (Google Android)

Edit

Software applications that can edit 7z files:

7-zip (Microsoft Windows)

PeaZip (Microsoft Windows)

StuffIt for Mac (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)

StuffIt Deluxe for Mac (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)

Xarchiver (Linux/Unix)

Save

Software capable of saving 7z files:

7-zip (Microsoft Windows)

PeaZip (Microsoft Windows)

StuffIt for Mac (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)

StuffIt Deluxe for Mac (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)

Xarchiver (Linux/Unix)

Create

Software apps that create 7z files:

7-zip (Microsoft Windows)

PeaZip (Microsoft Windows)

p7zip for Mac (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)

iPack (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)

p7zip for Linux (Linux/Unix)

Xarchiver (Linux/Unix)

Import

Software apps that import 7z files:

iPack (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)

Export

Software apps that export 7z files:

iPack (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)

Extract

Software apps that extract 7z files:

7-zip (Microsoft Windows)

WinRAR (Microsoft Windows)

PeaZip (Microsoft Windows)

ZipZag (Microsoft Windows)

Stuffit (Microsoft Windows)

StuffIt Deluxe (Microsoft Windows)

StuffIt Expander (Microsoft Windows)

The Unarchiver (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)

p7zip for Mac (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)

StuffIt Expander for Mac (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)

StuffIt for Mac (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)

StuffIt Deluxe for Mac (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)

iPack (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)

p7zip for Linux (Linux/Unix)

Xarchiver (Linux/Unix)

iZip (Apple iOS)

RAR for Android (Google Android)