Installing openwrt-21.02.3-ath79-generic-tplink_archer-a7-v5-squashfs-factory.bin via the tp-link stock web ui was smooth sailing and I encountered no problems. For purposes of this section of the wiki:
https://openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/archer_a7_v5#installation_using_the_tp-link_firmware_updater
My region is US and the hardware is v5.8