Let’s talk about file compression. We’ll start this off simple and point you to a folder in Windows Explorer.

That one.

Compressed files are used by people all across the web to allow quicker download times and space-saving. You may find yourself creating your own compressed files if something you want to carry from one computer to another won’t fit on the device you’re using to transfer — say, your movie collection is too big for your flash drive. Likewise, people hosting file downloads generally keep them compressed so they take up less space when stored, are and are quicker to upload and download — it’s a win-win situation. If you want to learn more about online hosting, learn more about the wordpress hosting platform at the link.

To easily create a compressed file, download a tool like WinRAR or 7Zip — these programs will add an option to compress or archive a folder whenever you right-click it. The compressed folder will then be created within the same folder the original originates from.

You can also create a compressed file using the right click context menu built directly into Windows. All you need to do is to select the file, files or folder that you want to turn into a compressed file and then right click on the selected item or items. Then select ‘Send to’ and then ‘Compressed (zipped) folder’. This compressed file will then appear in the folder where the selected files were located.

Whenever you’re browsing the internet, you may find yourself downloading, say, a photo album or a website archive. Most files like this that you download are compressed — and to access them, you’ll need to identify the file’s suffix before you take action.