A zip file is a compressed file. Files often are zipped in order to make them smaller—to save space on a hard drive and make it possible to them with email. Once you zip a file, the file takes on a .zip file extension and the file icon appears as a zipped up folder. Files may be zipped using a commercial zip utility, but both Mac OS and Windows have built-in utilities allowing you to zip and unzip files. On a Mac, the built-in “Archive Utility” will form a zipped file out of several files, making it possible to send a collection of files in one zipped folder. The utility will also automatically extract a zipped file. Writer Bio
