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I understand that 7za.exe supports a smaller number of compression formats, but I was curious what else may be different between the two, other than just that?

Having some additional information on these would help me understand some of the trade-offs between the two and help ensure I pick the best one to suit my particular needs.

For example, I wasn't sure if one is faster than the other? Assuming that 7za.exe has support for the archive formats I need, what are the substantive differences between the two in terms of such things as specifications, features, and documented performance?

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  • I found 7z i, 7za i and 7zr i commands useful to compare; i lists formats, codecs and hashers supported by each variant. 7zr is the slimmest while 7z is the fattest.
    – legends2k
    Dec 6, 2022 at 8:17

1 Answer 1

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7Z.exe versus 7Za.exe

Comparison

According to the Command Line Version User's Guide:

"7za.exe (a = alone) is a standalone version of 7-Zip. 7za.exe supports only 7z, lzma, cab, zip, gzip, bzip2, Z and tar formats. 7za.exe doesn't use external modules."

In contrast, according to 7z Format:

"7z has open architecture, so it can support any new compression methods. Now the following methods are integrated to 7z: LZMA, LZMA2, PPMD, BCJ, BCJ2, BZip2, and Deflate."

Quick Recap

  • 7Za.exe: Standalone and less archive formats supported
  • 7Z.exe: Open architecture able to support any new compression methods moving forward

Choosing One

You could choose 7Za.exe over 7Z.exe for a more light weight and standalone utility that doesn't need external modules to function as expected.

You could choose 7Z.exe over 7Za.exe if obviously 7Za.exe doesn't support the newer archive formats for your need or you foresee the need to use newer archive formats than 7Za.exe will support moving forward since it's open architecture.

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    It appears that there is not much more to be said about this. I wish that 7za.exe was included in the 7-zip download.
    – lit
    Jul 27, 2016 at 14:46
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    To summarize, if you need features such as LZMA2, pick 7z.exe + 7z.dll (2 files, 1.27 MB), otherwise pick 7za.exe (1 file, 637 KB).
    – Gras Double
    Dec 31, 2016 at 12:08
  • um.. this looks weird to me.. the first point mentions 7za.exe command line executable and the second part compares it with 7z Format which is the archive file format.. somehow confused with 7z.exe executable..
    – Afriza N. Arief
    Jun 11, 2022 at 10:37

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