Create ZIP File

Zipping files is meant to be a right click. Then you find yourself on a locked down work laptop, a borrowed machine, a Chromebook, or a phone, and suddenly there is no obvious way to turn eleven files into one attachment. I built this for that gap. Drop any files onto the page, in any mix of types, and get a single zip back with a filename you choose.

The list shows every file you have added with a remove button beside each one, so a stray screenshot that came along with a drag does not sink the whole batch. The total size before and after is displayed, so you can see what the compression actually bought you. Real deflate compression is used wherever your browser supports it. Everything happens on your device and nothing is uploaded, which is the difference between this and the file sharing sites that offer zipping as bait. If the files going in are photographs, running them through the image compressor first will do more for the final size than zipping ever will.

How to use

1. Drop your files onto the box, or press the button and select them. Any file type is fine.
2. Add more files at any point. They join the list rather than replacing what is already there.
3. Check the list and press remove on anything that should not be in the archive.
4. Type a name for the zip. A clear name beats archive.zip when it lands in someone else's inbox.
5. Look at the total size before compression to see whether you are already over an attachment limit.
6. Create the zip and wait a moment while your device compresses the files.
7. Compare the before and after sizes, then download the finished archive.

Why use our create zip file?

One attachment instead of eleven is the real product. Email clients mangle multi file attachments, upload forms often accept a single file, and a folder of loose documents arrives at the other end as a mess somebody has to reassemble. A zip keeps the set together, keeps the names intact, and travels as one item anyone on any operating system can open without installing anything.

Compression is real where your browser can do it. Modern browsers expose the deflate algorithm through the standard CompressionStream API, which is the same algorithm zip has used for decades, so a folder of text files, CSVs, logs, code or documents can shrink substantially. Where that support is missing, files are still bundled into a valid zip, just stored rather than squeezed. Either way you get a working archive, and the before and after numbers on screen tell you which of the two you actually got.

The part I got wrong first was implying that everything compresses. It does not, and pretending otherwise makes a tool look like it is lying to you. JPEGs, PNGs, MP4s, MP3s and most PDFs are already compressed internally, so zipping them saves a few percent at best and sometimes nothing at all. Text based files are the opposite and can shrink dramatically. That is why the size comparison is shown plainly instead of a cheerful percentage: if your zip came out roughly the same size as its contents, that is the honest answer, not a failure.

If the reason you are zipping is an attachment limit and the contents are already compressed formats, zipping will not rescue you. Shrink the individual files first. A heavy scanned document responds to the PDF compressor far better than to any archive tool, and photos respond to a resize. Then zip the result to keep the set tidy. That order saves people a lot of confused retrying.

Nothing is uploaded, which is why I use this on files I would never drag onto a web based zip service. Contracts, tax documents, ID scans, client photos and payroll spreadsheets are exactly what people bundle up to send somewhere, and the bundling step should not itself be a data transfer. What I refuse to add is a password option. It would be easy to build and it would give a false sense of security, because classic zip encryption is weak and the strong variant is not universally supported.

Who is this tool for?

Sending a set of documents is the everyday case. A tenancy application with references, payslips and ID. A design handover with logos in five formats. A grant submission where the portal wants exactly one file. Photographers delivering a shoot, accountants sending a year of statements, teachers distributing a lesson pack.

Backups and tidying come next. Zipping a project folder before archiving keeps everything together and gives you one item to store rather than a directory that will eventually lose a file. The same trick clears space on a laptop when the folder is mostly text and logs.

Data work has its own version. Analysts bundle a set of exports for a colleague, often after slicing a big file with the CSV splitter, so the parts arrive together and in order rather than as a dozen separate attachments that get opened out of sequence.

Then there is the chore of collecting evidence: screenshots for a support ticket, photos for an insurance claim, receipts for an expense report. A small pile of files that means nothing separately and everything together.

Frequently asked questions