The popular 7zip compression format can be availed of in Ubuntu using the 7zip compression/uncompression tool.
To install it, open Terminal and type the following :
sudo apt-get install p7zip-full
Once installed, this tool will automatically integrate with Ubuntu archive manager.
This means that various files and folders can now be compressed/uncompressed with the following formats supported : 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, XZ and TAR (for compression) and APM, ARJ, CAB, CHM, VHD, UDF , WIM, XAR, Z and many more.
Check out the various platforms for which this tool is available at the official site here.
Happy compressing.