Create and Extract ZIP Archives

ZIP is the one archive format built into every major operating system without installing anything — Windows Explorer, macOS Finder, and most Linux file managers can create and open one natively. That universality is why it is the default choice when you need to send a folder of files to someone whose setup you do not control, rather than a more efficient format like 7z that they may not be able to open.

This tool works with ZIP files entirely in your browser, so it behaves the same regardless of your operating system. Drop an existing .zip and its contents are listed straight away: nothing is unpacked until you download a file, so you can pull one document out of a large archive, or tick a handful of files and download just those, without extracting the rest. Password-protected archives work too; you enter the password locally and it never leaves your device.

Updating an archive usually means unzipping it, changing the folder, and zipping it again. The Add files tab skips that: drop the ZIP, then drop the files or folders to add, choose the folder inside the ZIP they should go into, and save. A file with the same name as one already in the ZIP replaces it, and you can mark files to remove at the same time.

The files already in the ZIP are copied into the updated archive exactly as they were, without being decompressed and compressed again, so saving stays quick even for large archives and nothing about the existing files changes. If the ZIP is password protected, enter its password once and the files you add are encrypted with it as well.

ZIP uses the DEFLATE algorithm, which trades some compression ratio for speed and near-universal compatibility. A folder of mixed office documents typically shrinks by 40-60% as a ZIP; the same folder as a .7z archive (LZMA2) might come in noticeably smaller, but at the cost of needing 7-Zip or a similar tool to open it on the other end.

If the person receiving the file already has a tool that can open anything, TAR.GZ or 7z usually pack tighter. If you are not sure what they can open, or the file is going to a general audience — an email attachment, a downloadable resource — ZIP is the safer default precisely because it needs no extra software.