How to Zip Files on a Mac

If you're unsure how to share a large file, use ZIP compression.

If you want to save space on your hard drive, or if you need to transfer large files between computers, ZIP compression is one solution. When you a compress a large file, it shrinks down for efficient storage. Some files, like MP3s or JPGs, are already compressed, but EXE and movie file sizes are dramatically reduced when zipped. If you haven't zipped files on a Mac before, you may not know where to start, but the process is intuitive.

Instructions

1. Open the "Finder" and go to the file that you want to zip.

2. Click on the file. If you want to select multiple files for compression, press and hold the Command key while you click on each file.

3. Click on the "Action" menu at the top of the screen. This menu resembles a gear cog.

4. Click on "Compress." A progress bar appears on screen. When the bar fills, the file is fully compressed and appears on your screen. The ZIP file features the same name as the original file, but it ends in ".zip" instead of the original file extension. For example, "video.mpg" would turn into "video.zip" after compression.

References

• Apple Mac OS X 10.6 Help: Compressing Files and Folders