tldr/pages/common/7z.md

# 7z

> File archiver with a high compression ratio.
> More information: <https://manned.org/7z>.

- [a]dd a file or directory to a new or existing archive:

`7z a {{path/to/archive.7z}} {{path/to/file_or_directory}}`

- Encrypt an existing archive (including filenames):

`7z a {{path/to/encrypted.7z}} -p{{password}} -mhe=on {{path/to/archive.7z}}`

- E[x]tract an archive preserving the original directory structure:

`7z x {{path/to/archive.7z}}`

- E[x]tract an archive to a specific directory:

`7z x {{path/to/archive.7z}} -o{{path/to/output}}`

- E[x]tract an archive to `stdout`:

`7z x {{path/to/archive.7z}} -so`

- [a]rchive using a specific archive type:

`7z a -t{{7z|bzip2|gzip|lzip|tar|zip}} {{path/to/archive}} {{path/to/file_or_directory}}`

- [l]ist the contents of an archive:

`7z l {{path/to/archive.7z}}`

- Set the level of compression (higher means more compression, but slower):

`7z a {{path/to/archive.7z}} -mx={{0|1|3|5|7|9}} {{path/to/file_or_directory}}`