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3 Jul 2011 By AmyBradney-George

File Compression Formats In 7-Zip

3 Jul

Want To Compress Files In 7-Zip? This Guide To File Compression Format Options In 7-Zip Will Make The Process Much Easier.

With a variable dictionary size of up to 4 GB, compression speed of around 1 MB/s on 2 GHz CPU, and a decompression of about 10-20 MB/s on 2 GHz CPU, 7-Zip deals with a huge range of file compressions. Some supported formats are as follows:

LZMA, 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP and WIM

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For unpacking files 7-Zip will also support:

ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, CramFS, DEB, DMG, FAT, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MBR, MSI, NSIS, NTFS, RAR, RPM, SquashFS, UDF, VHD, WIM, XAR and Z.

This free program is easy to download and provides compression options that are at the top of the industry. In fact, for ZIP and GZIP formats, 7-Zip provides a compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than its competitors and leaders in the field.

7-Zip also has a high compression ratio in 7z format with LZMA and LZMA2 compression. LZMA compression algorithm is very suitable for embedded applications and is also available under a proprietary license for those who can not use the GNU LGPL in their code.

Packing/Unpacking Files With 7-Zip

The term “packing files” means to combine several files into one, which is also called an archive and allows the data to be compressed in the same step. To unpack files means the opposite, so where 7-Zip supports the file types for unpacking files only, it means the file types that one may receive in the form of an email, or on an external storage device (such as a memory stick).

Other features of 7-Zip

In addition to being able to compress numerous file types 7-Zip is also compatible and integrated with Windows Shell, has a Plugin for FAR Manager and it is localized for up to 79 languages. It also works in conjunction with Windows 7 / Vista / XP / 2008 / 2003 / 2000 / NT / ME / 98 and there is a port of the command line version to Linux/Unix.

For better security when sharing or archiving compressed files, 7-Zip supports encryption with AES-256 algorithm. This algorithm uses cipher key with length of 256 bits. To create that key 7-Zip uses derivation function based on SHA-256 hash algorithm.

If you have used a compression tool before such as Winzip, then 7-Zip is similar. With competitive compression rates, it's own file format and many additional features this freeware is a great program to consider for all file compression and extraction needs.