7-Zip is a file archiving software offered by 7-zip.org. It is a free and open source archiving program available for download in the internet. Latest release of this software is version 4.65, but there is a new beta version available for download. The size of this version is somehow bigger at 1.02 MB because of added features that are not included in the previous software release. There were no mentioned reasons why the version number jumped from version 4 to version 9. Right now I’m using the 7-Zip beta version 9.13 as it offers more features than the previous release of 7-Zip.

7-Zip was developed to run on variety of windows operating systems but it has also support for Linux/Unix operating systems using command line version. 7-Zip is compatible with a wide variety of archive formats like ZIP, RAR, TAR, GZ and 7z. This cross platform capability is one of the reasons why 7-Zip is already on top of the list in a short amount of time.

First thing that you will notice on this software is its user interface because it just looks like one of the forms in Windows XP. Unlike other file archiving software, 7-Zip displays bigger user interface big enough to have a better view of files and folders inside your hard drives and removable drives. Large icons on the top of the window allow you to do the compression and decompression of files easily. Functions are organized using menus for easy access to different features. Overall, its user interface is very simple but very user-friendly.

Compression performance of 7-Zip was incredible as compared to its competitors WinZip and WinRAR, offering a 2-10% better in terms of compression ratio (depending on file size). A 280 MB file when compressed, the resulting compressed file in .7z format is only 273 MB. But one problem when compressing file using this beta version is that my computer slows down a little bit. Hopefully this problem will be addressed soon since 7-Zip version 9.13 is still a beta version. The official release of 7-Zip version 9.13 will hopefully solve this problem.

Overall, 7-Zip version 9.13 is good file compression software though it is only a beta version. It is a freeware so no need to purchase a license. It requires minimal hardware to run smoothly. The program’s features in compressing original files and its support for a variety of file formats as well as its cross platform compatability are way better than its competitors.

Get 7-Zip beta version 9.13 at 7-zip.org

This entry was posted on Friday, April 30th, 2010 at 9:56 am and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.