7z: 2002
While 7-Zip has evolved, the core features that defined the 7z format during its early 2000s rise include:
The debut of the Lempel-Ziv-Markov chain algorithm (LZMA), which provided a high compression ratio even on the hardware of the time. 2002 7z
It introduced strong hardware-level security for both file contents and encrypted headers (which hide filenames inside the archive). While 7-Zip has evolved, the core features that