ARCHIVED: In Windows, how do I compress or decompress files?
Compressed (e.g., archived or zipped) files may contain many separate files in one large archive, which often takes up less space than the original files. Before you can read or run all the separate files and programs, you must use an archiving program to extract the files from the archive. In Windows, you can compress (zip) and decompress (unzip) files without installing any third-party programs.
Compressing a file or folder
- From the menu, open (Windows 7 and Vista) or (Windows XP).
- Select the files or folders you want to compress. To select
multiple files or folders at once, hold down the
Ctrl
key while you click each item. - Right-click the selected items, choose
.zip
.Note: The new
.zip
file will have the same name as the file or folder you compressed. If you compress multiple items, the file name will be the same as the file you right-clicked to start the compression. , and then
click . This will create a zipped
file in the same directory that the files are located. The file
extension will be
Decompressing a zipped file or folder
- From the menu, open (Windows 7 and Vista) or (Windows XP).
- Find the file you want to decompress, right-click it, and choose .
- In the dialog box that appears, to choose the destination for the decompressed files, click . You can also check the option .
- Click
Note: When you zip or unzip files, the original files are not deleted. If you want to delete the original files, you will have to do so manually.
.
Other options for file compression and decompression
For zipping and unzipping most files, the built-in Windows utility will suffice; however, if you encounter a compressed format not supported by the built-in Windows tools, you can try one of the following programs:
Note: These third-party tools are not available on IUware and may require purchase, although most offer free trials.
This is document ahyt in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-01-18 12:45:22.