Popular free and open source archive application, 7-Zip, has completed a major milestone leap that will be welcomed by PC power-users. Version 25.00 of the application, released via GitHub this weekend, is the first Windows release to support processing across more than 64 threads. In addition to its newfound massively parallel CPU processing support, this ‘Threadripper Edition’ offers significantly faster bzip2 compression for all users.
Before version 25.00, 7-Zip was perfectly acceptable for PC owners packing the best CPUs aimed at consumers. Its multithreaded processing capabilities comfortably coped with the likes of the Ryzen 9950X with 16C/32T, and the Core Ultra 9 285K with 24C/24T. These are the top consumer processors targeting PC DIY enthusiasts.
However, some of the most potent Ryzen Threadripper, Epyc, and Intel Xeon chips would be underutilized by this archiving app. Example modern AMD and Intel chips that were left underutilized by 7-Zip would have included the Threadripper Pro 9995WX (96C/192T), Threadripper 9980X (64C/128T), the Xeon Platinum 8692+ (64C/128T), and the Xeon W9-3495X (56C/112T).
Here’s how the 7-Zip developers describe version 25.00’s new multithreaded capabilities. “7-Zip for Windows can now use more than 64 CPU threads for compression to zip/7z/xz archives and for the 7-Zip benchmark. If there are more than one processor group in Windows (on systems with more than 64 CPU threads), 7-Zip distributes running CPU threads across different processor groups.”
General optimizations and fixes
The benefits of upgrading your 7-Zip install to 25.00 don’t begin and end with improvements targeting the beefiest Ryzen Threadripper, Epyc, or Intel Xeon chips. The standout feature for the rest of us is probably the claims that “bzip2 compression speed was increased by 15-40%.”
Improvements in bog-standard zip performance would be most warmly welcomed, though, and 7-Zip says that “deflate (zip/gz) compression speed was increased by 1-3%,” which we won’t complain about. Other than that, 7-Zip 25.00 is also claimed to deliver some improved support for certain archive formats, and the quashes some bugs and vulnerabilities.
7-Zip has been a must-have staple of any PC software refresh for years now. As well as offering much broader archive file type support than the built-in Windows Zip folders feature, its performance has been a major attraction.
Windows built-in Zip folders feature remains single-threaded
In contrast to 7-Zip, we understand that Windows Zip folders remain single-threaded, even for Windows 11 users today. Last year, we reported on Windows dev Dave W Plummer and his claim to have bought a little red Corvette – paid for by his work in introducing Windows Zip folders. Plummer lamented that the Windows Zip folders code today still used “25+ year old code, [and] it's single threaded.”
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