7-Zip is a free and open source file archiver that can compress and decompress files in various formats, including ZIP, 7z, TAR, GZIP, and more. In this article, we will show you how to use 7-Zip to zip and unzip files on Windows 10.

To zip files with 7-Zip, follow these steps:

1. Download and install 7-Zip from https://www.7-zip.org/.
2. Select the files or folders that you want to zip. You can select multiple items by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking on them.
3. Right-click on the selected items and choose 7-Zip > Add to archive…
4. In the Add to Archive window, you can choose the archive format (such as ZIP or 7z), the compression level, the encryption options, and other settings. You can also change the name and location of the output archive file.
5. Click OK to start zipping the files.

To unzip files with 7-Zip, follow these steps:

1. Locate the zipped file that you want to unzip. It will have an extension like .zip or .7z.
2. Right-click on the zipped file and choose 7-Zip > Extract Here or Extract to “folder name” (where folder name is the name of the zipped file without the extension).
3. The files will be extracted to the same folder as the zipped file or to a new folder with the same name as the zipped file.

You can also open the zipped file with 7-Zip by double-clicking on it. This will launch the 7-Zip File Manager, where you can view and extract the contents of the archive.

7-Zip is a powerful and versatile tool that can help you zip and unzip files easily and securely. You can use it to save storage space, reduce file transfer time, and protect your data with encryption. To learn more about 7-Zip and its features, visit https://www.7-zip.org/.

Sometimes, you may need to split a large file into smaller pieces or merge multiple files into a single one. 7-Zip can help you with both tasks. Here’s how:

To split a file with 7-Zip, follow these steps:

1. Select the file that you want to split. Right-click on it and choose 7-Zip > Add to archive…
2. In the Add to Archive window, choose the archive format (such as ZIP or 7z) and the compression level.
3. Under the Split to volumes, bytes section, enter the size of each piece in bytes or choose a predefined size from the drop-down menu. For example, if you want to split a 1 GB file into 10 pieces of 100 MB each, enter 100M.
4. Click OK to start splitting the file. The output files will have names like filename.zip.001, filename.zip.002, etc.

To merge files with 7-Zip, follow these steps:

1. Locate the first file of the sequence that you want to merge. It will have an extension like .zip.001 or .7z.001.
2. Right-click on the first file and choose 7-Zip > Extract Here or Extract to “folder name” (where folder name is the name of the first file without the extension).
3. 7-Zip will automatically detect and merge the rest of the files in the sequence. The output file will have the same name as the first file without the extension.

If you want to check if two files are identical or different, you can use 7-Zip’s built-in file comparison feature. Here’s how:

1. Select the two files that you want to compare. Right-click on them and choose 7-Zip > CRC SHA > *.
2. A window will pop up showing the checksums of the two files for various algorithms. A checksum is a unique string of characters that represents the content of a file.
3. If the checksums are the same for all algorithms, it means that the two files are identical. If any of the checksums are different, it means that the two files are different.

Conclusion

In this article, we have shown you how to use 7-Zip to zip and unzip files, split and merge files, and compare two files. We hope you find these tips useful and enjoy using 7-Zip for your file management needs.