Overview of 7-Zip: Features, Licensing, and Compression Performance

7‑Zip is an open‑source compression software renowned for its high compression ratios.

License : Most of the source code is released under the GNU LGPL, the AES implementation under BSD, and the unRAR code under both GNU LGPL and a restricted unRAR license. The software can be used on any computer, including for commercial purposes, without requiring a donation.

Main features :

Uses LZMA and LZMA2 algorithms in the 7z format for very high compression ratios.

Supports many formats: compression/decompression – 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP, WIM; extraction only – ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, CramFS, DEB, DMG, FAT, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MBR, MSI, NSIS, NTFS, RAR, RPM, SquashFS, UDF, VHD, XAR, Z.

Provides 2‑10% better compression for ZIP and GZIP compared to PKZip and WinZip.

Offers robust AES‑256 encryption for 7z and ZIP archives.

Supports creation of self‑extracting 7z packages.

Integrates with Windows Explorer.

Includes a powerful file manager.

Features an enhanced command‑line version.

Supports FAR Manager plugins.

Available in 87 languages.

7‑Zip runs on Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP/2000/NT and server versions such as 2016/2012/2008/2003. The p7zip project provides a command‑line port for Linux/Posix platforms.

Compression ratio : A comparison between 7‑Zip and WinRAR 5.20 using a full Windows installation of Mozilla Firefox 34.0.5 and Google Earth 6.2.2.6613 shows that the 7z format can produce archives 30‑70% smaller than ZIP, and ZIP archives created by 7‑Zip are typically 2‑10% smaller than those produced by most other compression tools.

Project address : GitHub repository – https://github.com/sparanoid/7z