Create ZIP File (Compress Files to ZIP)

Sending ten attachments, or uploading a folder to a form that takes one file? Bundle them into a single archive. This tool packs any files you choose into a ZIP, which Windows, macOS, phones and every archive program open. You can also make a TAR.GZ, the usual format on Linux servers and for developers, or a plain TAR. It all happens in your browser, so even private documents never leave your computer, and the finished archive is read back and checked before you download it.

How to use this tool

1. Choose all the files you want in the archive (hold Ctrl or Shift to select several).
2. Pick the format: ZIP for sharing, TAR.GZ for Linux and servers.
3. Set the compression level and the archive name.
4. Press Calculate and download the archive.

Formula

ZIP: each file DEFLATE-compressed at level 0–9 with a CRC-32 checksum (PKWARE APPNOTE) · TAR: 512-byte POSIX ustar header per file, data padded to 512 bytes · TAR.GZ: the TAR stream gzip-compressed (RFC 1952)

Text, documents and spreadsheets shrink a lot; JPEG photos, MP4 videos and existing ZIP files are already compressed and barely change, so level 0 (store) saves time for them. ZIP file names are stored as UTF-8 with the UTF-8 flag set, so Korean and other non-English names survive on current systems. In TAR, names longer than 100 bytes or with non-ASCII characters get a PAX path record. Files with the same name are numbered, for example "photo (2).jpg". A browser can build archives up to about 2 GB.

Example

Three files of 1.2 MB in total, a 900 KB Word report, a 250 KB CSV and a 50 KB text file, typically become a ZIP of about 400–500 KB at level 6. CSV and text compress to around a quarter of their size, while a .docx is already a ZIP and changes little. The same three files as TAR.GZ come out at a similar size.