It's interesting to note that, in Python 3, if you get the encoding wrong, Python will complain *loudly*.

For example,
>>> x = bytes([128])
>>> x
b'\x80'
>>> x.decode('ascii')
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
UnicodeDecodeError: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0x80 in position 0: ordinal not in range(128)

Incidentally, I have had debian's 'reportbug' program fail in this manner when trying to read certain bug reports. (I don't know whether this bug has been fixed.)

i must just have a number of tools that hate me then... Although i've long since started relying more on 7zip than anything else.

That reminds me, I saw someone charging for 8zip on the Windows Store, they can't be serious/legit, right? I mean 7zip is FREE.

If DLC will charge for the ending, for basic features, then you can bet they'll charge for free programs too... Nickel and diming...

But considering that 97% of people aren't really computer literate to a proficient degree (other than double-click or use google to search for porn), it's probably going to work quite well for them...

Yeah, but my worry is that like I've already seen on Google play, the deceptive and terrible practice of charging for free code.

Does 7zip run on phones as well? The apps in the store have to run on phone/tablets as well, and a quick look shows a distinct lack of compression tools in it, with most of the decently rated ones been paid for.
The case seems a bit better with android, since you can find free compression tools a bit easier, but there are still paid ones as well as ones with IAP.

If you can root your phone, you can create a chroot and run standard linux utilities on it, and there is I believe a command line version of 7zip that you can install.

Alternatively (no root required), you could cross-compile a static build of 7zip, install a Terminal Emulator app on the Android device, copy the binary to the home directory, and use it from there.

Of note, there is an app that lets you install busybox without root, and busybox includes versions of tar, gzip and bzip2. It also is able to decompress (but not compress) lzma and xz.

Let me rephrase the question, though I do thank you for the answer.
Can you run 7zip on a Windows phone/tablet? And I don't mean an x86 tablet, but an RT one.

If you jailbreak it, and can find the application, yes.

An article at <i>Into Windows</i> from 2013 mentions that "Windows enthusiasts over at the XDA forums have successfully ported 7-Zip for Windows RT and is now available for download", gives a link to the forum post over at XDA, which in turn links to a 7-zip download at Mega.co.nz, which just gives me a white page.

With Windows 10 aiming to unify the entire ecosystem, I'd have to say there probably will be a way.