Ask Leo!

7-zip file archiving utility

Home » Recommendations » Software

Summary: There are many win ZIP archive programs. 7-Zip is free zip software, full featured, compatible and the zip software I recommend.

Most of you are probably familiar with "ZIP" files, which are compressed archives that pack one or more files into a single file. ZIP files are often a convenient way to distribute large numbers of files and folder structures in a single container.

You're probably also familiar with Windows somewhat cumbersome built-in support for ZIP files, as well as WinZIP, the shareware file compression utility that lets you create and extract files from ZIP formatted archives.

7-zip is a free, open-source utility roughly equivalent to WinZIP, that includes support for multiple file formats as well as a command-line interface.

I highly recommend 7-zip.

Some of you who've been around a little longer may remember the grandfather of the zip file format: PKZip. PKZip was a command-line utility for MS-DOS that, for all intents and purposes, defined the zip file format and its use. It's because of PKZip that zip files became as ubiquitous as they are today.

However, after all this time, there are problems. Both PKZip and WinZIP have gone to shareware models - meaning that they're not free. And neither have particularly good command line support.

Enter 7-zip.

7-zip is roughly equivalent to both WinZip's graphical interface and PKZip's command line. Open up the program within Windows and you can examine, create, and modify archive files, as you might expect.

Here's 7-Zip examining the contents of "FileZilla.zip", another popular free tool:

7-Zip Windowed Interface

7-Zip supports a full-featured command line, which, in all honesty, is how I use it the most.

7-Zip Command Line Interface

While "zip" files may be the most common among Windows users, there are actually many compressed archive formats. Another of 7-Zip's selling points is that it can create many of them and can read and unpack many more. From 7-Zip's home page:

Supported formats:

  • Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR

  • Unpacking only: RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS

You may not recognize most of those, but when you encounter one knowing that 7-Zip handles it, it can be a very good thing. Here's a partial list of an archive of a MovableType distribution in ".tar" format, a common Unix/Linux archive:

7-Zip Command Line listing of a .tar archive

"...7z format is perhaps the most effective compression format supported."

Note that full paths within the archive are listed. Redirect the output of the 7z command to a file, and you'll have the archive listing in a text file:

[c:\]7z l [archive file name] >listing.txt

I do want to call out one particular archive format: 7z. As its name implies, 7z format is 7-Zip's own compression format. You can see comparative numbers on 7-Zip's home page, but 7z format is perhaps the most effective compression format supported. The claim is that files compressed with 7z format are significantly smaller than when using other formats.

I tend to shy away from 7z format, only because it's unique to 7-Zip; I prefer a format on which I can use other tools should I need to. (Although, as we'll see in a moment, I don't foresee that need.)

7-Zip can also be better at some of the other compression formats than the original tools. That means you may often end up with smaller files even if you choose a more common compression or archival format.

The icing on the cake, for me, is the availability of "p7zip", a compatible command line version of 7zip available for several Linux distributions as well as Mac OSX.

So before plunking down money on any of the other archive tools, I recommend giving 7-Zip a try. It's certainly meeting all my needs, and then some.

Related:

Article 10958 | Posted November 28, 2006

Recent Comments
0 Comments

As my rusty memory recalls, Phil Katz (the "PK" in PKZip) originally crafted a clone of the SEA ARC compression utility called PKARC. SEA sued Phil, so he created his own compression standard - ZIP - in 1989. At the time the computer bulletin board systems were awash with different compression types - ZIP was fast, efficient, and free. BBS operators began to use it in droves. I'll have to give 7-Zip a try!

Posted by: Dave at November 28, 2006 1:34 PM

how do i copy a dvd made on a tv with a dvd recorder

Posted by: matt abbatiello at November 29, 2006 10:50 AM

ARC is still around. Howard Chu released it on a GPL in 2003. It can be found in a lonely area of sourceforge.net.

I was always amazed about how quick pkzip replaced SEA ARC as the standard.

Posted by: Dan at November 29, 2006 2:12 PM

Interesting story. I'll try 7zip.

Posted by: Peter at December 2, 2006 3:10 PM

Other nice things about 7-zip: The GUI is very simple and easy. No wizards, everything is in a single window. It can create self-extracting archives. Better yet, it can create encrypted, compressed, password protected, self-extracting archives.

Posted by: Michael Horowitz at December 2, 2006 4:48 PM

Hi,

I'm tring 7-zip in command line mode, do you know if it is possible to make 7-zip file with password?

I have try the option -p butte this will ask me a psw, and after compression if i try to use winrar to open 7zip file, i can and don't ask me for any password.

Regards,

Posted by: miguel Pires at February 14, 2007 1:55 AM

Post a comment on "7-zip file archiving utility":






(Email Address will not be published.)

Remember Me?

By popular demand...
my tip jar
Cuppa Joe
Buy Leo a Latte!

(you may use HTML tags for style)

New!

RSS feed Subscribe to the RSS Feed specifically for comments on this article.

Before commenting, please...

Please wait. Your comment is being processed ...


Ask Your Question:


ask-leo.com
Web

Stay Informed

Weekly Newsletter

Archives

By Category
By Date

Advertisers

Advertise on Ask Leo!

««   »»

Question? - Ask Leo!
Who is Leo?
Link to Leo!

Terms, Conditions & Privacy