How to Use the Internet

To put it simply, Boston College explains the file compression is the process of packaging a file to use less disk space. Essentially, you can take many files and compress them into one file which is smaller than the combined size of all of the original files. 

Compressing files brings numerous advantages: 

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• Makes file storage and backup extremely efficient allowing you to back up more data, faster. 
• To post files on a website for someone to download or to send large documents as an email attachment. Compressing files avoids the change that your file is corrupted when they are transferred over the internet. 
• Transfer time between two devices is lessened and it is easier to compress multiple documents into one document to attach. 
• To download and open files from websites or emails that have been compressed.

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Both Mac and Windows computers have built-in file compression systems that will archive files as zip files, allowing you to open them whenever and wherever. Learn how to do so down below. 

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How to Open a Zip File or a Compressed File

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Step #1: Right Click the Zipped File and click on Open. The file will automatically open without you having to do anything. 

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It is extremely easy to open a Zip file or a Compressed file. If you have files to compress, the process can save you a lot of space on your computer and in the long run, can be worthwhile. Make sure you know the risks of compressing files because each file that is compressed must be uncompressed to be opened and be prepared to compress only certain files not an entire drive. 

If you enjoyed our video tutorial on how to open a Zip file or a Compressed file, check out the rest of our How to Use the Internet series. This Youtube series of short video demonstrations are designed to teach users various online skills through visual storytelling, like how to stop seeing horror movie ads on Youtube and how to turn on dark mode on a Mac.