The software supports other compression types as well as its own 7Z format, but the homespun format does incorporate a file reducing engine that boasts a significantly higher compression ratio than some other compression standards in this class. It's from this main window that all currently active and archived data files are manipulated. Reminiscent of Windows Explorer or an Internet browser, this approach yields fast results due to its intuitive design. On still holding a light to the main window, the interface uses a traditional layout, one that places commonly used tools on an upper menu strip and lists files within a large main window. With this fact in mind, the copying, moving, and deletion of an archive is easily accomplished. The main features include compression, extraction, archive splitting, testing of compressed files, encryption, and many of the file management tools modern computer users take for granted. Next, the user interface is gratifyingly uncluttered, yet every feature lies only a single mouse click away. It's also free to use and comprehensively supported by an open source community. The 7-Zip downloader is as compact as one of the archives it creates, so the software downloads rapidly. Additionally, the size-reducing utility uses its own proprietary 7z compression format, one that can be used to build self-extracting archives. Above and beyond this primary feature, the software also manages archived data and encrypts each archive, so security is assured by a 256 bit AES algorithm when this facility is selected. Created originally to simply compress data files, the 7-Zip file archiving utility still efficiently shrinks files in size, but the program has evolved somewhat over the years.

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