Compressed zipped files

[Coldicote]

I've often seen references to compressed zipped files, but am not sure what they are and have never used one. A few points I would appreciate knowing please:- Are they just for storage purposes on one's own PC? Can they be attached to an email? Does one need any special program for preparing them or opening them? Sorry to pose several questions - but maybe I'm not the only one who doesn't understand them.

[MASS1961]

http://netforbeginners.about.com/

[MASS1961]

sorry, when you click on the link, type zip in the search box

[VHG]

Programs like WinZip can produce things called compressed zipped files.

Basically they are useful for bundling up a number of files in one single "zip" file if you want to perhaps send them to someone or make them available to download from the internet. As well as packing them up into a single file they also try and compress each file to make it smaller.

So supposing you are a software company who has written a program that consists of say 20 assorted files. Rather than getting your customers to download the 20 files individually you "pack" them all up into a single file using a program like WinZip (there are others).

When the customer downloads this zip file they "unpack" or "extract" it into the individual files so it is then ready to install.

There are a number of similar technologies that do a simliar job and winRAR is another one, but it produces RAR files not ZIP files.

I believe Windows has the technology built in to make and extract zip files. You just right click on the file and choose extract, or one of its variants.

You can use zip files to store files on your computer, it makes it easy to keep together all files of a particular type - maybe all the photos of your holiday so you dont accidentally delete one. Or keep a spare "zip" version of your photos in case you ever delete the originals.

Yes you can send ZIP or RAR files to anther person via email, though if the ZIP or RAR file gets too big your email system may reject it.

[Coldicote]

Thanks for these helpful answers - there's some study and experiment to be done!

[ChuckFickens]

"Programs like WinZip can produce things called compressed zipped files"

As can programs like windows.

there is no need to install anything extra to open or create ZIP files these days, windows treats them just like a normal folder if you want to open them and you can create them by by right clicking on a file (or multiple files) or a folder and selecting send to > compressed (zipped) folder

[Old_Geezer]

Note the Zip spec is just one of many forms of compression. VGH mentions RAR also. And it can be useful to zip single files so they take up less space on your disk, or reduce the size of your e-mail attachment.

[ChuckFickens]

It also worth keeping in mind that a lot of files types, such as MP3s, JPEGs, and most commonly used movie files are already compressed so zipping them won't make them any smaller (in fact it can make them bigger as you'll be adding the zip headers to the file)

[gingejbee]

This, from Computeractive, will help:

http://www.computerac...uable-hard-disk-space

[Coldicote]

Thanks very much everyone. Your answers have been most helpful.

[beso]

AFAIK Windows does not support adding passwords to zip files when they are created.

I use 7-zip which is a free opensource program for zipping files.