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.7z

Use caution

7-Zip archive

An open-source archive format known for high compression ratios via LZMA2. Typically smaller than ZIP for the same payload.

MIME types

  • application/x-7z-compressed

Category

archive

What opens this file

  • 7-Zip (Windows)
  • The Unarchiver (macOS)
  • p7zip (Linux)
  • Keka (macOS)

How to open by OS

Windows

  • Official 7-Zip app; Windows 11 23H2+ extracts 7z natively.

Mac

  • The Unarchiver or Keka.

Linux

  • `7z` from the `p7zip` package.

Ios

  • Files.app on iOS 13+.

Android

  • ZArchiver.

Safety notes

  • 7z supports AES-256 encryption; password-protected archives can't be scanned for malware by most gateways, so treat unsolicited password 7z files with caution.

Common mistakes

  • Encrypting only content but not filenames — enable 'encrypt filenames' in the GUI if that metadata is sensitive.
  • Solid compression is the default, so extracting a single file can require decompressing the whole archive.

Related extensions

References