High compression ratio
The 7z format uses LZMA and LZMA2 compression and is often much smaller than ZIP for software packages, logs, documents and backups.
Free, open source, high-compression archiver
7zip is a fast file archiver for everyday files, backups and automation.
Use 7zip to compress files into 7z, ZIP, TAR and other formats, extract dozens of archive types, encrypt archives with AES-256, verify checksums and script repeatable archive tasks.
Best choice for most Windows PCs
Recommended download
7zip 26.01 for Windows x64
Use this on most Intel and AMD 64-bit Windows PCs.
Official package
Windows 64-bit .exe installer
7z2601-x64.exe
Size1.6 MB
Downloads6,382,940
Why people use 7zip
Free for personal and commercial use
7zip is free software. You can use it at home, in companies, on servers and in deployment images without buying a license.
Strong encryption
7z archives support AES-256 encryption, including optional file-name encryption for private archive listings.
Graphical and command-line tools
Use the Windows file manager and shell integration, or automate with the 7z command line on Windows, Linux and macOS.
Archive formats supported by 7zip
Creates: 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP and WIM.
Extracts: 7z, APFS, 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, VHDX, VMDK, WIM, XAR, XZ, Z, ZIP and more.
Current release at a glance
- Latest release
- 7zip 26.01
- Release date
- April 27, 2026
- Release details
- View release
- linux version of 7zip can use huge pages (2 MB pages). It can increase compression speed for 10% for 7z/xz/LZMA/LZMA2 compression.
- new
-spo[d|c|r]switch specifies the path generation mode for the output directory for archive extraction. The output directory path is generated from the path specified in the-o{dir_path}switch and the name of the archive being unpacked. - some bugs were fixed.
Security, privacy and integrity
7zip can encrypt 7z and ZIP archives, test archives before extraction, calculate hashes and keep workflows local. For sensitive data, use strong passwords, keep the latest release installed, and verify checksums when distributing installers internally.
Useful for users, admins and developers
The graphical file manager is convenient for desktop use. The 7z command-line program is useful in scripts, build pipelines, software deployment, backups and batch extraction jobs.