What are the benefits of compressing files?

If you need to save or send larger amounts of files, it is recommended to compress these files beforehand. You can find out here exactly what compression does and how you need to proceed in order to compress files on Windows, macOS or Linux.

That's why it makes sense to compress files

Compressed files are usually files in ZIP format. These are created either with on-board means of a PC or by using special programs. The compression of files has the advantage that these, compared to the original files, require significantly less storage space. For this reason, files are mostly compressed in order to archive them on the computer in a space-saving manner, to send them as attachments by e-mail or to speed up the download of the files.

How to perform file compression

If you want to compress a file or an entire folder, the procedure required for this depends on the operating system you are using on your computer.

1. If you have a Windows PC, first search for the file you want to compress and right-click on it. In the context menu, then go to "Send to" > "ZIP compressed folder" to create a ZIP file with the same name in the same location.
2. If you use a computer with macOS, compressing files is also possible without additional programs. To do this, simply select the file to be zipped, right-click to open the context menu and select the option "Compress objects".
3. Under Ubuntu, compressing files is done via the terminal by first navigating to the respective folder and then execute the command "zip -r zipfile.zip ordnername".