How to Zip or unzip Files on Windows 11

Zip is still a vital feature for compressing files to conserve space or share data with others over the internet, and here’s how to do so on your Windows 11 PC.

In this article, I will walk you through the steps to use the native compression support to zipping and unziping files on your Windows 11 PC.

Video Tutorial:

Zip files on Windows 11

To zip files on Windows 11, all you need is to go to the folder location with the files you want to compress.

Select all the files/items that you want to compress. Then click on three dots button located on the top right, and then click on Compressed to Zip file.

Enter a name for the new zipped file and press Enter. The file name is My Compressed Files.

All of your files will be zipped and stored in the same folder.

The other way to compress the files is the right-click on the empty space, click on New and then Compressed (zipped) Folder.

Name the Zip folder as you like, in my case I named it Compressed Files.

Now select all the files that you want to compress and drag them to the Zip folder that you have just created.

Once you complete the steps, you will end up in the .zip container that includes all the compressed files, which you can keep on your PC or share with other people.

Unzip files on Windows 11

Windows 11 comes with built-in support for zipping natively, which means that you can double-click the zipped folder to access its content.

However, you will need to extract the files if you like to change their contents or if it’s an application you wish to install on your Windows 11 PC.

To extract all the files, open the File Explorer. Select the .zip folder and then click on Extract All from the top right.

Select the path where do you want to extract the zip folder and click Show extracted files when complete and then click on Extract.

The folder with all the extracted files should launch automatically on your screen when you’re done.

Muhammad Imran Habib

Imran is a technology evangelist with 8 years of experience working with some of the Industry leading companies. Imran's expertise includes On-Prem/Virtual Infrastructure deployments, IT Solutions for SMEs, End User Computing Support.

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