To achieve the "smallest" result for a .7z archive, users typically adjust specific settings within the 7-Zip software. For maximum reduction, you can use these "Ultra" settings: Recommendation for Smallest Size Set to Ultra . Compression Method Use LZMA2 for better multi-threading and efficiency. Dictionary Size Increase to 64MB or higher (limited by your available RAM). Solid Block Size Set to Solid to find patterns across multiple files. How to Open and Extract

: 7-Zip is the official free tool. You can also use PeaZip . macOS : Use The Unarchiver or Keka . Linux : Use the command-line version p7zip .

: It supports strong AES-256 encryption and can even encrypt the file names within the archive so they aren't visible without a password.

: It supports various compression, conversion, and encryption methods.

: It primarily uses LZMA/LZMA2 (Lempel-Ziv-Markov chain algorithm), which is designed for high-efficiency lossless compression.

: Theoretically, it can handle file sizes up to 16 billion gigabytes. Creating the Smallest Possible Archive