Windows 10: Compress files - how it works

If you want to send documents or other files by e-mail, for example, it makes sense to compress the files beforehand. Windows 10 comes with its own archiving feature that allows you to package files as a ZIP archive.

How to compress files in Windows 10

To compress files, you don't need an additional program in Windows 10. In fact, Windows allows you to pack and unpack ZIP archives using the existing on-board tools. Follow these steps to pack files into an archive:

1. First create a new folder. To do this, right-click on a free space on the desktop to open the context menu. Select the menu item "New" and then click "Folder".
2. Now copy the files you want to compress into the newly created folder.
3. Once you have copied all the data into the folder, right-click on it and select the menu item "Send to..." and then the option "ZIP compressed folder".
4. The ZIP archive is stored in the same location as the source folder.

Alternative to the Windows on-board tools: Archiving software

Alternatively to Windows' own compression function, you can also resort to additional archiving software, such as WinRAR or 7Zip. The software is usually equipped by a lot more extensive than the archiving function integrated in Windows. For example, it allows you to customize the compression and choose other file formats.