How to open 7z and tar.gz files on Windows, Mac and Chromebook

Step by step

1. Open the archive opener

   Go to the archive opener and drop the .7z, .tar.gz, .tgz or .tar file on the card, or click Choose a file. The 7z and tar.gz pages work the same way: choose Edit file once the card says Ready.

2. Type the password, if there is one

   A protected 7z asks for its password only when it needs it, such as to preview, open or extract a file. The password is checked on your device.

3. Look before you take anything out

   Folders open in place, like a Finder or File Explorer list, sorted by name, date, size or kind. Select a file to see a preview beside the list: pictures, the start of a text file, audio and video players, or its details. Nothing inside an archive is ever run.

4. Extract what you need

   Press Extract all on the toolbar, or select some files and press Extract selected. In Chrome and Edge they go into a new folder you choose, named after the archive; Safari and Firefox can’t write to a folder, so you get a ZIP instead. A single file downloads as itself.

A tar.gz is two layers: a tar archive of files, squeezed by gzip. The opener unpacks both at once, so you see the files, not a lone .tar. Archives up to 500 MB open, with up to 1 GB inside. A rare kind of 7z compressed with PPMd is refused, with the reason, and so are damaged or cut-short archives.

To send the files on to someone without 7-Zip, open the arrow next to Download and save the archive as ZIP, or drop it on 7z to ZIP for the one-step version.

Nothing is uploaded: your browser reads the file and makes the new one on your device. See how it works, and how to check.

Other ways to do it

Windows 11. Version 23H2 and later open 7z, tar, tar.gz and RAR in File Explorer: double-click to look inside, or right-click and choose Extract All. Password-protected archives don’t open this way. Windows 10 has no built-in support, so it needs an app such as 7-Zip.

Mac. Archive Utility, built into macOS, opens ZIP and tar.gz when you double-click them. For 7z, The Unarchiver and Keka are free and widely used.

Chromebook. The Files app has opened 7z and tar.gz since ChromeOS updates in 2022: double-click the archive and it appears like a drive, ready to copy files out of. An older or managed Chromebook may not.

When Anyfile is quicker

Anyfile is quicker when the built-in tool can’t open the file (Windows 10, an older Chromebook, a protected 7z), on a computer where you can’t install anything, or when you want to look inside before unpacking a large archive. If File Explorer or Archive Utility already opens it with a double-click, use that.