Involved in the activation cascade of caspases responsible for apoptosis execution. Cleaves and activates sterol regulatory element binding proteins (SREBPs). Overexpression promotes programmed cell death (By similarity). Cleaves phospholipid scramblase proteins XKR4, XKR8 and XKR9 (By similarity). Strict requirement for an Asp residue at position P1 and has a preferred cleavage sequence of Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-|-. Heterotetramer that consists of two anti-parallel arranged heterodimers, each one formed by a 20 kDa (p20) and a 11 kDa (p11) subunit. Interacts with BIRC6/bruce. Interacts with HSPA5 (By similarity). Cleavages by granzyme B or caspase-10 generate the two active subunits. Propeptide domains can also be cleaved efficiently by caspase-3. Active heterodimers between the small subunit of caspase-7 and the large subunit of caspase-3, and vice versa, also occur (By similarity). Belongs to the peptidase C14A family.