Open 7z file

7z file icon Did your computer fail to open 7z file? We explain what 7z files are and recommend software that we know can open your 7z files.

What is 7z file?

A 7z file extension is used for compressed archives created with the 7-Zip archive utility. 7-Zip archives are similar to RAR files, but are using different compression method. Most good archives are able to extract 7zip formats without trouble.

7z file description

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

7z is the new backup and archive file format, providing high compression ratio.

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.

7z file format was developed as as part of the 7-Zip compression utility distributed under the GNU LGPL.

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

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.

Software that will open 7z file

7-zip

Popular open source file archiver with a high compression ratio

What file extension actually is?

Simply put, file extensions are the characters after the dot in the file name, so for example filename.mp3 has file extension „mp3“. This helps Windows to identify which program should be used to open the file.

We can help you to open your file

Our database contains a huge list of different file extensions, usually with detailed description and programs that can be used to open or otherwise work with that particular file type.

Only original software

Every software listed in our database is verified and ve provide link to the developer or to the software own website, which should hopefuly be enough for you to download the most recent version of the program.