7z (7-Zip) — Create and extract 7-Zip archives

Linux / File and disk management / 7z.html

A high-ratio archiver that handles 7z, zip, tar and many other formats.

Basic Information

What is this command?

7z reads and writes its own 7z format along with zip, tar, gzip and others. Its LZMA-family compression gives a high ratio.

It supports passwords and split archives; a adds files and x extracts them. The format is detected from the file extension.

What problems does it solve?

• You need maximum compression for large data
• You want one tool for zip and 7z
• You are creating an encrypted archive
• You only want to list archive contents

Key features

Create an archive

The a command takes the archive name and the files.

• When to use: You are bundling several files
• What you get: A 7z archive
• Limitations: Higher compression levels use more CPU.

Extract

The x command extracts into the current directory.

• When to use: You need to use a distributed archive
• What you get: The original directory structure
• Limitations: It may prompt before overwriting.

List and test

l lists entries and t tests integrity.

• When to use: You want to inspect before extracting
• What you get: A file list and a corruption verdict
• Limitations: Encrypted archives require a password.

Installation and usage

Check whether it is installed

7z i | head -n 5

sudo apt install p7zip-full # Debian/Ubuntu sudo dnf install p7zip # Fedora

Real-world examples

Create an archive

Bundle a directory at maximum compression.

7z a -mx=9 backup.7z /home/user/data

Extract

Extract into a chosen directory.

7z x backup.7z -o/restore

List contents

List entries without extracting.

7z l backup.7z