7-Zip is open source software.

You can use 7-Zip on any computer, including a computer in a commercial organization. You don’t need to register or pay for 7-Zip.

The main features of 7-Zip

• High compression ratio in 7z format with LZMA and LZMA2 compression
• Supported formats:
  • Packing / unpacking: 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP and WIM
  • Unpacking only: 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, VMDK, WIM, XAR and Z.
• 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

7-Zip works in Windows 10 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP / 2012 / 2008 / 2003 / 2000 / NT.

DOWNLOAD LINK FOR 7 ZIP :  http://www.7-zip.org/

First download and install 7 zip.

RECOMMENDED SETTINGS

• To change the settings start 7-Zip File manager as “Run as administrator”

• Open 7 zip “options“
• Select the archive file types that you want to associate with 7-Zip
• Click on “+” button as shown below

• Click on second “+” button as shown below

• Click “Apply” to apply the settings

• Here you can set how 7 zip will be shown in windows explorer context menu
• Tick “Icons in context menu“

• Tick “Show “..” item“
• Tick “Show grid lines“

 

• Here you can set the language used by 7 zip

NAVIGATING THE FOLDERS AND FILES USING MAIN INTERFACE

• You can open a Folder by double clicking on it

• To move to parent folder click on Icons as shown below

USING MAIN INTERFACE

• The “Test” button tests the archived file to check if the files in it is error free
• To test a archive file, select a archive file and click “Test“
• A windows will popup as shown below

• The “Copy” button can be used to copy selected files/folders to a specified folder.
• To copy files/folders, select the files/folders and click “Copy“

• The copy operation will show this window
• Select the folder in which you want to copy the selected files by clicking on button as shown below

• Select the folder in which selected files will be copied
• Click “OK“

 

• Click “OK” to start the copy operation

• The “Move” button will move the selected files/folders to a specified folder
• To move files/folders, select the files/folders and click “Move“.  Then select a folder in which files/folders will be moved.
• The “delete” button will cause deletion of selected files/folders

USING MAIN INTERFACE TO COMPRESS FILES/FOLDERS IN AN ARCHIVE FILE

• Select files/folders that you want to compress in an archive file
• Click “Add“

• Archive: shows the name of archive file that will be created. You can edit the name to what you like
• It also shows the folder in which the archive file will be created. To change the folder click on button as hown below.
• “Archive Format” lets user choose the output file format. you can choose from from “7z’, “zip”, “tar”, “wim”.
• The “Encryption” section lets user create a password protected archive file. To password protect the archive enter a password in “Enter Password”
• Compression level lets user choose the level of compression. Higher level of compression require that your computer has more RAM installed. If you are going for high level of compression for compressing big files then you better have a 8 GB or more RAM. Various levels of compression are listed below
  • Store : the files are not compressed and just archived in a archive file. The process is extremely fast.
  • Fastest : The compression achieved is very low but process is very fast ( takes less time to complete)
  • Fast : The compression achieved is low but process is fast ( takes less time to complete)
  • Normal :  It provides good balance between compression achieved and time take to complete the process
  • maximum : It achieves maximum compression but time taken to complete the process is high
  • Ultra : It achieves ultimate level of compression but time taken can be many hours to complete.
• Dictionary Size : larger dictionary size means better compression level.  Larger dictionary size requires more Free RAM memory to compress files.  Recommendation : Use maximum dictionary size of 128 MB. Above it you won’t achieve any good compression level.
• Word Size :  Higher word size leads to more compression achieved. Recommended word size is 64
• Memory usage for compressing tells the free RAM memory size required compress the files with current settings. If you try to compress files in system with less RAM than required, then the system will hang.
• Memory usage for decompressing tells the free RAM memory required to decompress the archived file
• Ticking “Create SFX archive” creates a self extracting archive file
• Ticking “Delete files after compression” results in deletion of files that is being archived after the completion of compression
• Encryption lets user password protect archive files
• Ticking “Show password” lets user see the password being entered
• Ticking “Encrypt filenames” causes the file names of the files being archived to be encrypted so that no one can see the file names that has been archived. It is recommended to be used when you are password protecting a files which in confidential.
• When all settings are done click “OK” to create the archive file

• As shown below an archive file named “ARCHIVED SOFTWARE.7z” has been created

USING MAIN INTERFACE TO EXTRACT AN ARCHIVE FILE

• Select archived file/files that you want to extract
• Click on “Extract” button

• Select the folder in which you want to extract the archive files below “Extract to:“
• click “OK” to extract the archive files

• Shown below is the archive file extracted in folder named “Edimax USB wireless adapter windows driver“

 

USING MAIN INTERFACE TO EXTRACT A PASSWORD PROTECTED ARCHIVE FILE

 

• Select the password protected archived file/files that you want to extract
• Click on “Extract” button

 

• Since this is password protected archive, enter the known correct password for it below “password” as shown below
• click “OK” to start extracting the archive files

• password protected archive file “28-04-2016#18.zip” has been extracted to folder named “28-04-2016#18” as shown below.

7 ZIP WINDOWS EXPLORER CONTEXT MENU

• 7 zip adds a context menu in Microsoft Windows explorer
• Select archived file and right click on it
• User will see a 7 zip menu as shown below
• “open archive” is used to open the selected archive file in 7 zip main interface
• “Extract files…” is used to extract the selected archived files in a specified directory selected by the user
• “Extract Here” is used to extract the selected archive files in current folder
• “Extract to” is used to extract the selected archive files in a new separate folder which has name same as archive files
• “Test archive” test the selected archive files to check for error in it

• Select files/folders and right click on it
• “Add to archive…” is used to archive selected files/folders
• “Compress and email” is used to compress selected files/folders into a archive file and then email is using a email client software installed in the system
• “Add to <filename>.7z” is used to compress the selected files/folders into a 7z archive file format
• “Compress to <filename.7z>and email‘ is used to compress selected files/folders into a 7z archive file and then email is using a email client software installed in the system
• “Add to <filename>.zip” is used to compress the selected files/folders into a zip archive file format
• “Compress to <filename.zip>and email‘ is used to compress selected files/folders into a zip archive file and then email is using a email client software installed in the system

 

 

• CRC SHA menu can be used to calculate the CRC & SHA checksum
• First select a file for which you want to create a checksum. Right click and select any of “CRC-32”, “CRC-64”, “SHA-1”, “SHA-256” to create that checksum

• SHA256 hash created for a file

• CRC64 checksum created for a file

OPEN A ARCHIVE FILE USING WINDOWS EXPLORER CONTEXT MENU

• Select a archive file and right click on it
• Select “Open archive“

 

• The files in archive file will be shown in 7 zip main interface

EXTRACT A ARCHIVED FILE USING WINDOWS EXPLORER CONTEXT MENU

• To extract a archive file using windows explorer context menu, select a file and right click on it.
• Select “Extract to <filename>” as shown below

 

• As you can see below that the archived file has been successfully extracted in folder name”CrystalDiskInfo6_8_2“

• You can see the content of extracted file

 

EXTRACT MULTIPLE ARCHIVED FILES USING WINDOWS EXPLORER CONTEXT MENU

 

• To extract multiple archived files using windows explorer context menu, select the files and right click on it.
• Select “Extract to “*\”  ” as shown below

 

• As you can see below multiple archived files has been extracted to separate folders, each having a name same as the name of archive file

COMPRESS A FILE/FOLDER USING WINDOWS EXPLORER CONTEXT MENU

• Select a file/folder and right click on it
• To compress the file/folder into a 7z archive file, select “Add to <Filename>.7z” as shown below

• File/folder compression procedure taking place. Depending on the file size and CPU speed the archiving process will take time to complete.

• 7z archive file named “WhatsAppSetup” successfully created

COMPRESS MULTIPLE FILES/FOLDERS USING WINDOWS EXPLORER CONTEXT MENU

• Select multiple files/folders and right click on it
• To compress the files/folders into a 7z archive file, select “Add to <Filename>.7z” as shown below

• Files/folders compression procedure taking place. Depending on the files/folders size and CPU speed the archiving process will take time to complete

• 7z archive file named “Programs” successfully created

• User can rename the archived file as he wishes

CREATE A PASSWORD PROTECTED ARCHIVE FILE USING EXPLORER CONTEXT MENU

 

• Select files/folders and right click on it
• To compress the files/folders into a password protected archive file, select “Add to archive” as shown below

 

• Enter the password the will be used to encrypt the archive file below “Enter password” under Encryption. use a strong password that cannot be easily guessed by others.
• Always choose “Encryption method:” as “AES-256” because it is strong encryption method
• click “OK” to start creating archive file

• Password protected archive file named “Programs” created as shown below

EXTRACT A PASSWORD PROTECTED ARCHIVE FILE USING EXPLORER CONTEXT MENU

• Select password protected files/folders and right click on it
• To extract the files/folders  select “Extract to <filename>” as shown below

• User will be asked to enter known correct password for the password protected archive file. Enter the password as shown below
• Click “OK“

• As shown below the password protected archived file has been extracted in folder named “ARCHIVED FILE“

ARCHIVE AND SPLIT A FILE INTO SMALLER PIECES

• Select a file

• select “Split file” as shown below

• Enter the size of split files in “Split to volumes, bytes“. You can enter any size you want but it should be lower than the size of file being split. 20M means 20 Megabyte
• click “OK“

• As you can see the file has been archived with name “AVSDocumentEditor64.exe” and split into 20 MB files

• To combine the archived files you need to select the archived file as shown below

 

• Select “Combine files…” as shown below

CREATE A ARCHIVE FILE AND SPLIT IT INTO SMALLER PIECES USING CONTEXT MENU

• The benefit of splitting files is that it can send as emails which as file size limits. Large sized file size can be split into 700 MB size to be written in CD. Large sized file can be split to fit into smaller size pendrive.
• Select the files/folders and right click on it
• Select “Add to archive” as shown below

• You can set the file split size in “Split to volumes, bytes“. as example i have set it to 20M which is 20 megabytes.
• Click “OK” to create the archive

• You can see below that archived file named “programs.7z” has been created and split into 20 MB size filess

• To extract the split archive files select the first file as shown below and right click on it
• Select any of the three extract sub-menu as shown below. In this case “Extract Here“

• The split archive files has been successfully extracted

CREATE A SELF EXTRACTING ARCHIVE FILE

The benefit of creating self extractinf archive file is it does not need any software to extract the files in it.

This time the files extension of archived file will be .exe

• Select the files/folders you want to archive in a self extracting file. Right click on it
• Select “Add to archive…” as shown below

• Tick “Create SFX archive“
• Click “OK“

• Self extracting archive being created

• Self extracting archive named “Programs” created.
• To extract it select it. Right click on it and select “Open“

• Set the location in which files will be extracted

• Files successfully extracted as shown below