The Right Tool: The 7-Zip freeware compression tool

I haven't looked at the graphical interface of 7z, but I've been looking at 7za, the stand-alone command line version of it.

To begin with, I'd like to stress that 7za is an excellent tool, and I intend to continue using it.

That said, I'll also say that the documentation for this tool is something that only an expert user could like referring to. Please note: appreciation of the concise elegance of this documentation is another matter.

This documents 7z's command line syntax (version 4.73 beta) taken from its CHM file:

7z [ ...] [ ...]

::= | | |
::= [ ]
::= '/' | '-'
::= @{filename}

This is the answer a skilled user gave in response to a request for help to create a command line yealding a 7z archive with the highest possible compression (note: different file types require different compression algorithms for highest compression ratios).

7za a -bd -mhcf -mx -m0=BCJ2 -m1=LZMA -m2=LZMA -m3=LZMA -mb0:1 -mb0s1:2 -mb0s2:3 -y

Without doubt Igor Pavlov has created a remarkable instrument. Without doubt the user documentation of this instrument could well be rewritten using narrative form and including numerous examples, starting with the simplest of cases and introducing switches as the examples get more complex.

The existing CHM documentation can well continue to serve as an Expert's Reference.

7-Zip is the perfect compression utility.

pretty new to using it myself, works fast, just cant figure out how to place the created zip elsewhere.