Published 2020-08-25 by TechNet New England
macOS handles zip files natively through the Archive Utility. No additional software is needed. ## How to Create a Zip File ### Single File or Folder 1. Right-click (or Control-click) the file or folder in Finder. 2. Select **Compress "[filename]"**. 3. A .zip file is created in the same location. ### Multiple Files 1. Select all the files you want to include. Hold **Command** and click each file, or click the first, hold **Shift**, and click the last for a range. 2. Right-click the selection. 3. Select **Compress [number] Items**. 4. A single file called "Archive.zip" is created. Rename it to something descriptive. ## How to Extract a Zip File 1. Double-click the .zip file. 2. macOS automatically extracts the contents into a folder in the same location. 3. The original .zip file remains (it is not deleted). That is it. No dialog boxes, no extra steps. ## Using Terminal For more control, you can use Terminal: **Create a zip:** ```bash zip -r archive.zip foldername/ ``` **Extract a zip:** ```bash unzip archive.zip ``` **Extract to a specific folder:** ```bash unzip archive.zip -d /path/to/destination/ ``` ## Password-Protected Zips To create a password-protected zip on Mac, use Terminal: ```bash zip -er archive.zip foldername/ ``` You will be prompted to enter and verify a password. To extract a password-protected zip, double-click it and enter the password when prompted. ## Troubleshooting **"Unable to expand" error:** The zip file may be corrupted. Try downloading it again. **Zip file extracts to a folder called "__MACOSX":** This is normal. macOS includes resource fork data in zip files. The actual content is in the other folder. The __MACOSX folder can be deleted. **Large zip files not opening:** For zip files larger than 4 GB, the built-in Archive Utility may struggle. Use a third-party tool like The Unarchiver (free from the App Store) or Keka for large or complex archives.