How To Change Zip And 7z Compression Level & Method In Windows 11

We all know that the recent versions of Windows 11 support creating and opening 7z and Tar archive file formats in addition to the Zip file format.

Creating a Zip, 7z or Tar file is easy in Windows 11. You just need to select the file(s), right-click, click Compress to, and then select the archive format to create a archive file immediately in the same location.

With default settings, when you attempt to create a 7z, Zip or Tar file, Windows 11 does not offer options to select the compression level and compression method. As you likely know, a high compression level and a correct compression method can reduce the selected file size significantly than the default compression level.

If you often need to compress files with a compression level and compression method that is not selected by default in Windows 11, follow the directions given below to select a compression level and method of your choice while creating a 7z, Zip or Tar file.

Change Zip and 7z default compression level and method in Windows 11

Step 1: Navigate to the location where files/folders you want to compress are saved.

Step 2: Select files/folders, right-click on them, click Compress to and then click the Additional options instead of any other options.

Step 3: Clicking the Additional options brings up the Create Archive dialog where you can select the archive format, compression method and compression level. Select the archive format first to see available options.

Step 4: Once archive format, compression method and compression level are selected, you may click the Create button to create the selected file type at the same location of selected files.

Depending on the number of files and selected compression level, Windows 11 might take seconds to hours to create the archive. As you might know, a high compression level takes more time to complete the operation.