TAR.XZ to 7Z Converter

How to Convert TAR.XZ to 7Z Online

1. Upload Your TAR.XZ File: Drag and drop one or more .tar.xz (or .txz) archives, or click "+ Add Files" to browse. Batch upload is supported — queue several archives and convert them in one pass.
2. Pick Single Archive or Individual Archives: Default is Single Archive (everything you uploaded is repacked into one combined .7z). Switch to Individual Archives to produce one .7z per input — useful when you want to keep each release tarball as its own download.
3. Review the Output Extension (Optional): The output is .7z (native 7-Zip container). Defaults are already tuned for LZMA2 with a balanced compression preset, so most users can leave the panel collapsed.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. Files are processed on our servers (large .tar.xz archives benefit from server-side multi-threaded LZMA2), then each result is delivered with a direct download link — no watermark, no sign-up, no email gate.

Why Convert TAR.XZ to 7Z?

Both .tar.xz and .7z use the LZMA2 algorithm under the hood, so the raw compression ratio is similar — the real difference is the container, the tooling, and the platform conventions. TAR.XZ is the de-facto source-code tarball format in the Linux/BSD world (kernel.org has shipped .tar.xz since 2013), while 7Z is the dominant high-ratio archive on Windows thanks to the popularity of 7-Zip. Converting between them is mostly a re-packaging step — you keep the LZMA2 payload's compression efficiency while gaining (or losing) container features like AES-256 encryption, a central index, and a single-file structure.

• Windows recipients without xz tooling — Windows 11 added native .tar.xz extraction in late 2023, but anything older (Windows 10, Server 2019) ships without it. A .7z opens in the universally-installed 7-Zip, WinRAR, or PeaZip with no command line.
• Single-file delivery for download portals — .tar.xz is technically two layered formats (tar inside xz). Some download managers, file-share platforms, and antivirus gateways double-scan the layers or strip one. .7z is one container with one MIME type (application/x-7z-compressed).
• Adding password protection — XZ itself has no encryption in the spec. 7Z supports AES-256 with optional filename encryption, which is the lightest way to add a password to a Linux source bundle before emailing it to a client.
• Smaller archive when you have many small files — 7Z's solid-archive mode groups small files into one LZMA2 stream, often shaving 5-15% off a tarball that already used xz -9 per-file. The savings show up most on source trees with thousands of tiny .c/.h/.po files.
• Random-access extraction — .7z stores a central directory at the end of the file, so 7-Zip can list contents and extract a single entry without streaming the whole archive. .tar.xz has no internal index, so a partial extraction still streams every prior block.
• Cross-platform team handoffs — If half your team is on macOS/Linux and half on Windows, .7z is a safer lowest-common-denominator: macOS users install Keka or The Unarchiver, Linux users use p7zip, and Windows users already have 7-Zip.

TAR.XZ vs 7Z — Format Comparison

LZMA2 Settings — Quick Reference

Because both formats use LZMA2 internally, expect output size within roughly 1-3% of the original when converting at default presets. If your .tar.xz was built with xz -9 --extreme, switch the xconvert advanced panel (when expanded) to the ultra preset on the 7z side to match — otherwise the new .7z may be slightly larger than the input.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will my .7z file be smaller than the original .tar.xz?

Usually within a few percent either way — both formats are LZMA2 under the hood, so the compressed payload is similar. 7Z can edge ahead when the source has many small files (its solid-block tuning is more aggressive than xz's default), while .tar.xz compressed with xz -9 --extreme is hard to beat on a single large blob. Don't expect dramatic savings; the reason to convert is usually container compatibility or encryption, not ratio.

Does the conversion preserve Unix file permissions and symlinks?

The TAR layer carries POSIX permission bits, ownership, symlinks, and timestamps. 7Z stores Windows-style attributes (read-only, hidden, archive, system) plus NTFS timestamps, and has limited support for Unix-mode bits via an optional extension. Expect symlinks to be flattened to regular files when extracted on Windows, and execute bits to be lost unless the recipient extracts with 7z x -snl on Linux using p7zip-full 17.04+. If you need a lossless round-trip, keep the .tar.xz and only ship .7z to Windows users.

Can I add a password to the resulting 7Z?

7Z natively supports AES-256 encryption with optional filename encryption. xconvert's default convert profile does not enable encryption, so the output is unencrypted by default. To password-protect the result, download the .7z and re-archive it locally with 7-Zip's GUI ("Add to archive" -> set Encryption method to AES-256 and check "Encrypt file names").

What's the difference between .7z and .tar.7z?

.7z is the native single-container format — it stores file metadata, paths, and the LZMA2 payload all in one structure. .tar.7z first wraps everything in a tar archive (preserving exact POSIX metadata), then compresses the tar with the 7z LZMA2 codec — the same two-layer pattern as .tar.xz. Use .tar.7z if you need to keep precise Unix permissions and symlinks; use plain .7z if you want a self-contained Windows-friendly archive. This tool produces .7z; for the tar-wrapped variant see TAR.XZ to TAR.GZ and then re-encode externally.

Why is my Windows 10 PC asking which app to open the .tar.xz with?

Windows 10 (and Server 2019/2022) ship without native .tar.xz or .xz extractors. Microsoft added native support for several archive formats — including .tar, .tar.gz, .tar.bz2, .tar.xz, and .7z — to Windows 11 22H2 via optional update KB5031455 in October 2023, with broader rollout in the November 2023 Patch Tuesday cumulative update. On older Windows you need a third-party tool like 7-Zip or PeaZip. That's the single most common reason teams convert source-code .tar.xz releases to .7z before sharing with Windows users.

Will the integrity checksum survive the conversion?

XZ stores a per-block integrity check (CRC32, CRC64, or SHA-256, depending on how the archive was built); 7Z stores a CRC32 per file. The two are computed differently, so the checksum value itself isn't preserved — but the converter re-verifies the XZ check on read and writes a fresh CRC32 on write. If decompression of the source .tar.xz fails the XZ integrity check, the conversion aborts and reports the error rather than emitting a silently corrupted .7z.

Should I pick "Single Archive" or "Individual Archives" when uploading multiple .tar.xz files?

Single Archive repacks everything (after decompressing each input) into one combined .7z — useful when the tarballs are pieces of a larger release you want bundled. Individual Archives produces one .7z per uploaded .tar.xz — the right choice when each input is an independent release (e.g., linux-6.6.1.tar.xz, linux-6.6.2.tar.xz) and you want them downloadable separately.

Is there a file-size limit?

The free tier handles single archives up to several hundred megabytes comfortably in-browser. For multi-gigabyte source dumps (Chromium, kernel monorepos, Yocto layers) the conversion still runs server-side but takes longer because LZMA2 at high presets is CPU-bound. Files are deleted from our servers automatically after processing — see the privacy policy.

How does this compare to other archive conversions?

If you need a different output container, see TAR.XZ to ZIP (broadest compatibility, weaker compression), TAR.XZ to TAR.GZ (faster decompression, larger file), or TAR to 7Z for uncompressed tarballs. To go the other way, use 7Z to TAR.XZ.