What the heck is a 7z file, and how do I unpack it!

A couple days ago I got a weird request from a friend. “How can I unzip a 7z file?” Not only did I not have an answer for him, but I had no idea what the heck a 7z file was.


Turns out that a 7z file is actually a data compression format that uses multiple formats to ensure that the compression is super compressing things, I guess. It’s hard to explain it in non super boring terms, but that’s essentially it. It’s like a riddle wrapped in an enigma. It just is what it is.

Anyhow, if you come into contact with the file format on your Mac and need to figure out how to crack the safe, you can use a free application called 7zX. It’s a straight forward app that unpackages the files. It’s that simple, nothing complicated here.

I thought I’d pass along the information just in case you need it.

Photo Credit: sea legs snapshots

Joshua is the Content Marketing Manager at BuySellAds. He’s also the founder of Macgasm.net. And since all that doesn’t quite give him enough content to wrangle, he’s also a technology journalist in his spare time, with bylines at PCWorld, Macworld and TechHive.