From the initial days of software and computers, we have been trying to reduce the file sizes to save up space and store more files. Back in the days when storage was expensive and would cost hundreds of dollars for even a little space, reducing the file size was required. However, today’s computers are able to store large numbers of files and do not cost hundreds of dollars. Still, the file size matters, and people try to reduce them. It is because the smaller the file size would be, the more files they can store. For this, they zip up files and folders into an archive. When it comes to archiving, there are a few solutions available out there.
You must be familiar with the ZIP and RAR, but there is another one as well known as 7z files. 7-Zip is a file archiver that you can use 7-Zip on any computer, including a computer in a commercial organization. However, people find trouble opening .7z files in Mac because, by default, Mac does not know how to handle such files. When it comes to opening such files in Windows, it is a lot simpler. If you are trying to figure out how to open 7z files on Mac and Windows, we have got you covered. In this article below, I have mentioned why people use 7z files and how to open them. Therefore, to learn about them, continue reading.
How to open .7z Files in Mac OS X?
If you have come across a .7z file on your Mac and wondering how to use it, you need to use a few things first. A .7z file is an archive format that is the same as any other archive file. For windows users, accessing .7z files using the 7-Zip utility is not difficult, but Mac users are still waiting for an official Mac release. However, this should not be a problem anymore because there are quite a few compression and decompression apps on OS X to handle these files on Mac, most of which are free. Unarchiver is such a decompression utility developed for OS X. Moreover, it can also open other formats such as ZIP, RAR, and TAR.
It is important to know that it is purely a compression tool and does not allow you to create new archives. However, you can use it to open .7z files. Here is how you can use this application:
- Download and launch Unarchiver
- Now, a file association list will appear
- From that list, associate with .7z files
- After the Unarchiver is associated with .7z files, click on any .7z file on your Mac to open and uncompress it
- Before opening the file, be sure to let the decompression process complete
This is all you need to do, and you will be able to open any .7z files on your Mac.
How to open .7z Files without Unzipping?
When you have zipped multiple files in one archive, you might want to open one file or two from that archive. To open one file, you do not want to unzip the whole archive and then zip it again, right? It is important to know that you cannot do this with Archive Utility, but there is another way of opening a .7z file without unzipping the whole archive. Here is how you would do that:
- Download and Launch BetterZip
- Now, you need to drag and drop your selected archive onto the application
- Next, you need to double click on files you want to open
- Your selected files will be opened without having to unzip the whole archive
How to open .7z Files with WinZip on Windows?
If you have come across a .7z file and are looking for a way to open it, you can do so using WinZip. If you want to learn how to do that, here are the steps.
- First, you need to save the .7z file to your Windows desktop
- From the start menu, launch WinZip
- Next, open the compressed file from the File
- If you have a compressed file extension linked with the WinZip program, you need to double-click on the file
- Now, choose the files and folders from the compressed file to open them
- Click Unzip and select Unzip to PC or Cloud
- Next, select the folder where you want to place your extracting files and again click on Unzip
- Finally, you can access your extracted files in your selected destination
Please note that you can also use WinZip to open your .7z archive folders on Mac!
