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Creating a Zip file on your computer is not difficult and is fundamental knowledge for anyone using a computer, especially office workers. However, have you ever delved deeper into the compression functions offered by these software tools and whether adjusting these parameters affects the quality or security of the file?
Every software tool has its own custom settings and accompanying support technologies. In this article, Mytour will guide you on how to create a Zip file on your computer using the best free software available today, 7-Zip. So, let's get started on creating a Zip file on your computer.
Guide to Creating a Zip File on Your Computer
Introduction to 7-Zip
7-Zip is a free software developed by Igor Pavlov and distributed under the GNU open source license. It is considered one of the best software for creating Zip files on computers today and directly competes with its remaining rivals, WinZip and WinRAR.
Creating a Zip File on Your Computer Using 7-Zip
Step 1: To create a Zip file on your computer using 7-Zip, of course, we need to have this software on our computer. If you haven't already, download
Step 2: After downloading and completing the installation of 7-Zip, simply right-click on any file to create a Zip file on your computer. The right-click menu will automatically add this tool, and select 7-Zip > Add to archive to create a Zip file on your computer and set more customizations in this software.
Step 3: Before determining to create a Zip file on your computer below, we have a bunch of different parameters including Archive format, Compression level, or Word Size, and in this article, Mytour will help readers understand these parameters to better understand the customizations in the process of creating a Zip file on your computer.
- Archive format: First is the Archive format section which allows us to choose the compression file type when exporting. There are several formats such as tar, wim, xz, and Zip, all of which are compression formats, but each has its own purpose. For example, Gzip you see in the image below is an example as this format is widely used to compress and reduce the size of files on the server before sending to the client to save bandwidth and speed up web loading.
However, we will certainly choose 7-Zip for its comprehensive nature and high security features.
- Compression level: You can understand this function as the compression level with the most basic level being Store and the highest level being Ultra. Typically, the system will set Normal for you when creating a Zip file on your computer. However, we have the complete right to change these parameters according to our preferences and the higher the level, the better the file compression speed, resulting in smaller file size but ensures data integrity. However, its weakness lies in the longer compression time due to the application of advanced compression algorithms to your files.
- Compression method: The next part is selecting the compression method, which is similar to choosing a formula for your problem. Currently, LZMA2 is the most popular method, improved from LZMA with encoding and decoding on the same table. LZMA2 is also certified as a secure, highly secure compression method, and provides output compressed files not too large.
- Dictionary Size: The amount of RAM used for compression and decompression, the larger the size, the more RAM is consumed, the more it is compressed and the faster it is.
- Word Size: The number of characters that the algorithm supports for your file, you are allowed to customize as desired and the maximum for LZMA2 and LZMA is 273 characters, the higher this number, the more secure and well encrypted for your file.
- Solid Block Size: This is the level of solid compression, the higher the number, the stronger the compression but of course, the compression and decompression speed slows down significantly.
- Number of CPU Threads: Based on your computer's CPU, it maximizes hardware support for file encryption, if you have a high-quality CPU then the compression and decompression time will decrease significantly.
- Encryption: Another very important aspect is security when creating a Zip file on your computer, 7-Zip supports AES 256 which is a symmetric block encryption algorithm with key lengths of 128 bits (a binary digit with a value of 0 or 1), 192 bits, and 256 bits corresponding to AES-128, AES-192, and AES-256. The highest encryption standard currently to ensure that no tool can break the password for your file.
And after thoroughly understanding the components of creating a Zip file on your computer, your remaining task is simply to create the compressed file. As shown below are 3 compressed files created by Mytour using 7-Zip software above. Creating 7-Zip files will tidy up your computer, with image files, data being compressed into smaller sizes.
Note: Exe format files can be compressed but cannot reduce file size.
We hope that with the parameters explained by Mytour above, you will be able to create Zip files on your own computer, ensuring a balance between performance and compressed file quality, depending on the type of file you apply each compression method to.
In addition to 7-Zip, there are still many other compression software tools such as WinRAR, WinZip. Especially WinRAR when it is very popular nowadays, have you ever wondered which one is better between WinRAR and 7-Zip? There are a series of articles comparing WinRAR and 7-Zip nowadays that can prove these two tools and if interested, refer to the article comparison of WinRAR and 7-Zip by Mytour for real-life experiences.
