7-ZIP is a free and open-source file archiver, a utility used to place groups of files within compressed containers known as "archives".

It is developed by Igor Pavlov and was first released in 1999.

7-Zip uses its own 7z archive format, but can read and write several other archive formats,but can read and write several other archive formats.

The program can be used from a command-line interface as the command p7zip, or through a graphical user interface that also features shell integration.

Most of the 7-Zip source code is under the GNU LGPL license; the unRAR code,

However, is under the GNU LGPL with an "unRAR restriction", which states that developers are not permitted to use the code to reverse-engineer the RAR compression algorithm.

Features of 7 ZIP

• High compression ratio in 7z format with LZMA and LZMA2 compression
• Packing / unpacking: 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP and WIM
• For ZIP and GZIP formats, 7-Zip provides a compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
• Strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats
• Self-extracting capability for 7z format
• Integration with Windows Shell
• Powerful File Manager
• Powerful command line version
• Plugin for FAR Manager
• Localizations for 87 languages