File Extension 7Z

File extension 7Z is a compression file format used by 7-Zip application and library. 7z file format is open and publicly available under GNU Lesser General Public License. Following applications for windows currently support 7Z format: Peazip, 7-Zip, Altap Salamander, IZArc (no support for Ultra compression or Solid format), p7zip, PowerArchiver, QuickZip, ShellZip, SimplyZip, Squeez, TUGZip, ZipGenius, UltimateZip.

File extensions LHA and LZH are created by LHA which is freeware compression utility. It was created in 1988 and originally named LHarc. Microsoft has released a Windows XP add-on which enabled Japanese version of Windows XP to open LZH and LHA files.

File extension TAR is used as archive file format. TAR is also a name of the program to handle TAR files. Initially this format was developed to store large collections of files on tape backups and other sequential access devices. Now it is used to merge collections of files into one large file. This file preserves directory structures, dates and permissions.

File extension GZ is used to store files compressed by GZIP or bzip2 utilities. This file extension is very popular in Unix and Linux operating systems. To uncompress such files you will need gzip.exe utility. It is also very frequent to see files like data.tar.gz. It means that this file was initially created by TAR utility by collating large collection of files into one and then compressed by GZip. To get to the files stored in such file you will need first to uncompress it using GZip.exe and then untar it using TAR.exe.

File extension JAR stands for Java Archive. JAR files are based on ZIP format and generally used to distributed Java classes and metadata. Usually JAR files contain .class files which are compiled versions of .java file. Only experienced software developers could read .java and .class files thus it is not recommended for average computer user to work with these files.