Does 7z compress better than zip?

To answer the question of whether 7z compress is better than zip, you can do a simple test yourself without installing any third-party software. Here are 3 methods for you to verify:

Compare with Windows' built-in compression function

1. Right-click on the file and select "Send to → Compressed (zipped) folder" to generate a zip file. Then use 7-Zip (if pre-installed) to compress the same file in .7z format. Compare the file sizes on both sides to experience whether 7z compress is better than zip.
2. Manually test with PowerShell commands
   Open PowerShell and enter:

powershell
Compress-Archive -Path "your file path" -DestinationPath "output path.zip"

After generating the zip file, use the command line to call 7-Zip (if it is Windows 11, you can enable the tar and 7z support built into the developer mode) to compress it into .7z, and then compare the sizes. It is clear at a glance and directly verifies whether 7z compress is better than zip.

Use macOS's built-in compression function + Keka test
If you use Mac, you can right-click to compress the zip file. Then use the terminal command:

bash
zip -r filename.zip directory/

Then use p7zip (open source version of 7z) installed after Homebrew is installed on the system,

bash
7z a filename.7z directory/

Compare the size and time, and you can feel more realistically whether 7z compress is better than zip by testing it yourself.