Let me demonstrate how to compress and decompress files on your Mac. It's very simple to compress a file group of files or even folders on your Mac by using a simple command in the Finder.

Because the zip format is mostly used for compression, this is also known as zipping the files. Similarly easily. Any zip file that you receive via email or download can be decompressed. So compressing a file is a simple process.

All I have to do is use the Context menu, which is accessible with two fingers: When I click on a file with my trackpad or by Control, I get the option to Compress. So look for the option Compress and the name of the file. If I select that, I will get the same file, but with a dot zip after it, indicating that it has been compressed. As an example, 187 KB to 137 KB

Now, to decompress it's even easier than that:

If I want to do that with multiple files, I can first select one and then another while holding down the Command key for a multiple selection.

Then Control-click one of them, and it will say, Compress 2 items or however many items are selected. Then you get a file called Archive.zip. I can quickly rename it whatever I want by pressing the Return key. I desire.

Then I save both of them to a single file. I'm able to do the same thing with a folder. I can Control-click it and select Compress, and the entire folder is compressed. I can even select multiple folders and have it compress both of them. I can choose a variety of items and compress them all into a single archive.

Simply double-click the file as if you were going to open it in something. What happens is that it is opened in a programme called the Archive Utility Watch.

You'll notice it quickly appear here in place of the Finder as the app that's currently running, and then you'll get a folder. That is the zip file's name.

So, if I name it something else, you can see that it will simply take the name from here and create a folder with it. If I look inside, I'll see that all of the contents have been decompressed and are ready to use as usual. There are three main reasons why you might want to compress something. The first is to be able to send it.

Someone who is free of complications, Email, apps, or even downloading from a web browser can all cause issues with certain types of files.

For example, an image may be displayed rather than downloaded. Also, you may want to send multiple files to someone, and as you can see, it's simple to zip up multiple files, whereas sending an email with a slew of files as attachments may be confusing for the recipient.

The third reason is that it compresses it, allowing it to make things smaller. Compressions will now vary; images are already fairly compressed.

Because jpeg is a compressed image format, you may discover that zipping a jpeg saves almost no space. However, compressing word processing documents and some other types of documents can significantly reduce file size. As you can see, there was an Archive Utility. That's actually quite useful, because you can run it on its own and gain some additional options:

So I'll launch the Archive Utility by looking for it in Spotlight.

So Command Space and I can easily find it there. The Archive Utility isn't doing anything by itself right now. You can also go to File, Create Archive, then Files, and finally Archive. You can also go to Expand Archive and select a zip file to expand, but the interesting thing about using Archive Utility for this is that there are some Preferences.

As you can see, you have more options than just a simple double click or Control click to decompress.

You can set a position for expanded files to go into instead of the same location as the zip file when compressing a file. After expansion, you can have the file moved to the trash, deleted, or even moved to a special folder. Also, if there are zip files within zip files, whether the expansion process continues until everything is unzipped. You can specify a location for an archive when creating it.

There are three formats to choose from. The first is a special format that you should probably avoid unless you're simply moving to another Mac.

It's nothing more than a compressed archive. You can also do a noncompressed version of that, which may save time if you have a large set of files and aren't going to get much compression out of it. It will take some time to compress and decompress it.

Using a regular archive, on the other hand, saves time. The third option is to create a zip archive that can be opened by all kinds of different operating systems and devices, which is the default option in the Finder. You have control over what happens to the original files after they are archived, so you probably want them to be left alone, but they are automatically moved to the trash.

If you use the Archive Utility to archive files, this is useful.

After all, the utility's name is Archive Utility, so zipping files isn't just for sending to others. You may wish to compress your files into a single file in order to save space on your hard drive or to better organise your files. For example, at the end of a semester at school or a large project at work, you may want to take all of the files and compress them into a single archive that takes up less space on your hard drive and creates less Clutter.