Everything You Need to Know About Zip Files

  Zip files can be used for a lot different things.  File compression, encryption, split archives, and more are all just a few clicks away o...

 

Zip files can be used for a lot different things.  File compression, encryption, split archives, and more are all just a few clicks away once you understand the different things that zip archives are capable of.

What Are Zip Files?

Think of the way a folder works in Windows.  You drop contents into a folder to organize your files, and then you can transport that folder to any location on your computer, and the files inside of it go with it.  Zip files work in a similar way, except the contents inside the “folder” (zip file) are compressed to reduce storage use.

What if you have a folder that contains 20 files, and need to email it to someone?  Well, you can’t email a folder to someone, so you’d have to email the 20 individual files.  That’s where zip files become really useful, because you can “zip up” those 20 files into a single zip archive, and then email it.  Along with the convenience of having all those files in a single zip archive, they’ll also be compressed to reduce storage and make transmitting them across the internet that much easier.

This is where the definition of a zip file ends for most people.  What you may not realize is that you can do much more than just compress and combine files with zip archives.

How to Zip and Unzip Files

Before we get to the more complicated topics, let’s go back to our example and show how we would zip those 20 files that we need to email, and then show how the receiving user would unzip them.  Windows has the ability to zip and unzip files without any extra software, so don’t download any programs just to create basic archives or to unzip them.

To create a zip file, right-click in a blank area on your desktop or in explorer, go to new, and select Compressed (zipped) Folder.

You’ll notice the process is similar to creating a new folder, as you can now rename the zip folder and move it around to different locations on your computer.  With the zip file created, just select and drag your files into the zip folder.

As you can see in the screenshot, the files are copied into the zip folder, and not moved or deleted from their original location.  Now, you can transfer, backup, or do whatever else you want with your zipped contents.

Another way to quickly zip some files is to highlight them, right-click and hit Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder.

The easiest way to unzip a file is to right-click on it and press Extract All.