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How to Open and Create ZIP Files (Windows, Mac)

Tap a method to see how compressing and extracting works.

Windows β€” creating a ZIP

Right-click the file or folder you want to compress and choose 'Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder' β€” no extra software needed.

Windows β€” extracting a ZIP

Right-click a ZIP file, choose 'Extract All,' pick a destination folder, and the contents will be extracted there.

Mac β€” compressing and extracting

Right-click a file or folder and choose 'Compress' to create a ZIP file; to extract one, just double-click it and it unpacks automatically.

Opening RAR or 7Z files

Windows and Mac both support ZIP natively, but RAR and 7Z formats often require installing a separate archiving program to open.

Password-protected ZIP files

Choosing the password-protection option in an archiving program means anyone opening the file will need to enter that password first β€” useful for sending sensitive files.

You don't need extra software to handle ZIP files

Both Windows and Mac support compressing and extracting the ZIP format out of the box. Other formats like RAR or 7Z, though, usually need a separate program, so it's worth checking the file format first.

If the compressed file is still large

ZIP compresses best on text-based files like documents and spreadsheets. Files that are already compressed, like photos (JPG) or videos, won't shrink much further no matter how many times you zip them β€” for those, look at reducing the original file's quality or resolution instead.

Frequently Asked Questions

The filenames inside a ZIP file show up as garbled text β€” why?

Files created on a different operating system or with an older archiving program can end up with garbled filenames due to differences in character encoding. Trying a different archiving program to open the file usually helps.

Compressing barely reduces the file size β€” is that normal?

Yes β€” already-compressed files like JPG photos or video files won't shrink much even when zipped again, while documents and plain text files compress far more effectively.