Zip

Zip is the most popular lossless compression archive file type. It allows the storage of multiple files and folders in one compressed archive. Zip file type for lossless

Zip was originally developed by Phil Katz for the software utility called PkZip also developed by him. The Zip file type has developed a lot over the years and is different than the one originated in late 90s. Zip has become so popular that practically every archive utility has to support it. It is also supported over multiple operating systems including Windows, Mac OS and Linux.

Zip is the only archive file type that became so popular as to have its uncompress feature included in Windows. Windows machines installed out of the box can open Zip archives and extract files from Zip archives.

Software Supporting Zip Files

Archive Utility Name	Open Archive	Create Archive
7Zip
WinZip
WinRAR
PkZip
WinAce
ZipGenius
WinRK
Zipeg
ZipZag
BitZipper
AlphaZIP
ALZip
TUGZip
The Unarchiver
StuffIt
Squeez
Filzip
PeaZip
ZipitFree
IZArc
PowerArchiver