The article describes what a zip format is, what it is for, what programs it works with, and in particular, the two most popular ones.
The beginning of the digital era
Once upon a time computers could affordNot everyone. They were cumbersome, and their computing abilities left much to be desired. By the way, most modern smartphones are more powerful than computers from the late 90s of the last century.
But gradually it changed, new technologiesbecoming more accessible, and with the transition of various enterprises and institutions to electronic document management there was a need to transfer various files. However, as with ordinary users. First, floppy disks were used for this, then laser disks, and in our time flash drives with memory cards. But the first floppy disks and PC hard disks had a very small memory size, and it became necessary to somehow compress and archive files for storage. And various archivers came to the rescue. Including such a built-in function is in the operating systems of the Windows family. So what is a zip archive?
Definition
Zip is a compressed file format.Regardless of its original appearance, be it music, film or text, after compression, it acquires exactly this format, and before using it, it must be unzipped. This can be done with the help of a “native” program or other similar software. In Windows, starting with XP, there is a built-in ability to reduce the size of files, the so-called compressed zip-folders. You can find this function as follows: right-click on a file or folder, select "Send" and then "Compressed Zip-folder". After that, archiving and reducing the size of files will occur.
However, it is worth remembering that compression is subject toAlthough all kinds of files, the success of this operation depends on their type. For example, it is best to reduce the size of text, binary files and system libraries, while music or movies in size lose slightly. So now we know what a zip archive is.
Third-party software
Built-in operating system capabilitydata reduction is not perfect. It is greatly simplified for the sake of speed, and over time, many archiver programs appeared with the same ability, but with a more “advanced” work algorithm and a number of additional functions. And one of them is 7Zip, in common people called "7 zip". It has a wide range of possibilities, such as choosing a compression method on which the final result and the elapsed time depends, the archive format, the ability to set a password, split “heavy” files into several parts and so on. It also supports the work with the formats of other archiver programs. It is distributed free of charge, and you can find it on the official website of the developer.
Winzip
Win Zip is another similar program.But its peculiarity is that it is greatly simplified and intended for people who do not want to understand the mass of settings and job opportunities. At the output, it creates an archive of Zip-format and only supports it. Simply put, the same 7 zip or rar-format it will not open.
The advantages include the simplicity and high speed, and the disadvantages - low compression and support for only one format. Nevertheless, the program is popular.
Mobile OS
Although modernInternet technologies provide fast data transfer speeds, sometimes archivers are still needed, including in tablets with smartphones. For example, it is easier to archive a dozen photos or other files and send them than to fiddle with each one individually. In this case, even the compression itself is optional.
So we figured out what a zip format is.
