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Learn how to install 7-Zip on Ubuntu and use it to compress and decompress any file or folder.
When you need to transfer large files or folders from one location to another, a good compression tool makes the task easier. Many free tools are available for compressing and decompressing files and folders, and one of the best is 7-Zip. It is an award-winning, open-source file archiver with a high compression ratio. This software supports most popular operating systems and various file formats. You can use it to compress and decompress files and folders in formats such as 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP, and WIM. Some key features of this tool are listed below:
- It offers a better compression ratio, typically 2-10% higher than other similar tools.
- It uses strong AES-256 encryption.
- It has a self-extracting capability for 7z file format.
- It supports 87 languages.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install and use the 7-Zip file archiver on the Ubuntu operating system.
Installing 7-Zip
Update your operating system before running the command to install the 7-Zip file archiver.
$ sudo apt-get update
The p7zip package contains 7-Zip. There are two types of p7zip packages: p7zip and p7zip-full. If you want to create self-extracting archives along with other archive options, install p7zip-full. Run the following command to install p7zip-full:
$ sudo apt-get install p7zip-full
Verify that the package is installed correctly by using the 7z command:
$ 7z
Here, version 16.02 of p7zip is installed, which contains 7-Zip 16.02.
Using 7-Zip
Select any file or folder to create a compressed file using 7-Zip. Type the command ls -la to display a list of all files and folders in the current directory. In this example, the file data.txt is selected for compression, with a file size of 540 bytes.
$ ls -la
Run the following command to create a compressed file named data.7z. The a option is for archive or compression. After compression, the archive file size is 152 bytes.
$ 7z a data.7z data.txt
To display detailed information about any archive file, run the 7z command with the l option:
$ 7z l data.7z
Run the 7z command with the e option to decompress or extract files and folders from the archive file:
$ 7z e data.7z
Using the above steps, you can also create archive files from any folder. You can create archive files without using commands or the terminal. Navigate to the file location, select the file, and right-click to open the pop-up menu. Click the "Compress" option from the menu to create an archive file.
Three archive options are available in the dialog box: .zip, .tar.xz, and .7z. In this case, .zip is selected to create a compressed file named myfile.zip.
Conclusion
The 7-Zip archiver is an efficient tool for compressing and decompressing files and folders. It allows you to easily transfer large amounts of data using this powerful archiver.