Download 7-Zip for Windows

7-Zip is an open source file compression software under the GNU LGPL license while the unRAR code is under GNU LGPL + unRAR mixed license restrictions. 7-Zip can read and write numerous other archive formats like XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP and WIM for packing and unpacking, but it uses its own 7z archive format for default saving. 7z is an open and modular file format and the filenames are stored as unicode.

It also unpacks RAR, LZMA, CramFS, ARJ, XAR, ISO, NTFS, CHM, DEB, LZH, RPM, VHD, WIM, UDF, FAT, Z. NSIS, MBR, CAB, DMG, HFS, CPIO, and SquashFS. It's also able to open some MSI files, some CAB and NSIS installer formats, and some executable EXE programs containing archived content used to setup files.

Igor Pavlov began its development in 1999. And Pavlov also developed the new LZMA compression algorithm, which is made up of a large LZ-based dictionary, as part of the 7z format. The other 7z compression algorithms are bzip2, PPMd, and LZMA2.

The 7z format is very efficient at compressing files and the resulting compressed file is very small compared to other compression formats. It's been found that 7z is at least 17% better at compression than the zip format. While compression ratio depends on the file being used, the 7-Zip's site claims that 7-Zip's 7z format usually compresses 30% to 70% better than the zip format.

What's more, the software also compresses 2% to 10% better to zip format than most compatible zip programs. As such, the software has been awarded for its outstanding speed and compression ratio. 7-Zip ScreenShots

You can use this software program with the command line, a graphical user interface, and shell integration with Windows. It uses AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats, can self-extract 7z format, and it's available in 87 languages.

You can Download 7-Zip for Windows free and you don't need to register. It works in all versions of Windows, and other versions are also available in multiple platforms.