- To unzip a single file or folder, open the zipped folder, then drag the file or folder from the zipped folder to a new location. To unzip all the contents of the zipped folder, press and hold (or right-click) the folder, select Extract All, and then follow the instructions.
- Remove.pages extension and enter.zip as the extension and press enter. Open the zip file, and it should allow you to open the file and its contents. This is my method to edit pages files on my Windows Laptop First, make sure you see file extensions. Go to Windows File Explorer, on the View Ribbon, and check the box marked File Name Extensions.
- How to Move Your Mac files to a Windows PC. Connect your external drive to your Mac, open the drive and select File. Select New Folder.
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Sometimes when you want to download a file, you might notice that it comes in a .zip format. If you don’t know what it is and are having trouble opening it, you’ve come to the right place! This article is going to teach you how to unzip files using default applications in Windows and macOS as well as third-party programs.
- Two Ways to Unzip Files
What is a .zip File?
A .zip file is an archive containing one or more files that have been compressed to reduce its size. Zipping a file is useful to spare up to 80% or more storage space.
![Files Files](https://artisticdigitals.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Fairy-Godmother-SVG.jpg)
Additionally, zipping big files enables users to upload and send them faster over the internet, simultaneously decreasing the chance of it being corrupted. Users can also use .zip format to encrypt their data for extra security.
There is plenty of software that can be used to unzip files. However, your computer is generally already equipped with a built-in program that can perform the task just fine.
Two Ways to Unzip Files
There are two ways to extract zipped files: either by using your operating system’s built-in software or by using third-party tools.
Regardless of what tool you use, it is a good practice to delete the .zip file after you extract its content because keeping both consumes more space.
1. Using an OS Built-In Tool
First, let’s take a look at how to extract files using native software found in Windows and macOS. Because you’re only using what your computer already has, there is no need to download another tool.
Windows
While it is possible to see the content of a zip file by double-clicking on it on Windows, you still need to extract the files to use it. The Windows default support for .zip goes by the name of Compressed (zipped) folders and here’s how to use it:
- Right-click the file that you want to decompress and choose Extract All.
- Choose the directory where you want to keep the extracted files and click Extract. It is optional to check the box underneath if you need to see the content immediately after the extraction is done.
- The files that were inside the .zip now can be found in the location you picked in step two.
macOS
Archive Utility is Mac’s built-in tool that handles the .zip format. To unzip a file, follow these steps:
- Double-click on the file you want to unzip.
- Once extracted, the file will appear in the same folder as its archive.
Download Unzip For Mac
If you want to change the default folder location, access Internal Hard Drive -> System -> Library -> Core Services -> Archive Utility. Once there, select Preferences and set the location by clicking Save Expanded Files.
If you’re using Linux, read here for an in-depth guide on how to unzip your file.
2. Using a Third-Party Tool
While it is not necessary to download third-party tools to extract a .zip file, they do come with added features that allow you to customize, password-protect, and repair your zip files.
Below are our recommendations.
7-Zip
This file archiver is a free and open-source program with a 2-10% higher compression rate compared to WinZip and PKZip. It also has its own 7z extension that compresses data 30-70% better than the .zip format.
Among the many features are secure encryption and an easy-to-use file manager. Plus, it is also localized for 87 languages.
Although it is only available for Windows, it also has a port for Linux/Posix command line called p7zip.
To unzip with this tool, follow these steps:
Download Zip For Mac
- Right-click on the file that you plan to extract. 7-Zip should be listed there after installation.
- Hover your mouse above the program name, and you will see a drop-down menu with multiple commands. Click Extract Files.
- In the next menu, choose the save location by clicking on the three dots, leave it be if you want it in the same folder as the original. Click OK.
- Alternatively, you can also choose Extract Here to immediately save your file in the archive’s location or Extract to [File Name] to make a folder out of the extracted data.
PeaZip
PeaZip is a Windows and Linux-supported free unzipping program that is compatible with over 180+ extensions. Among its best features are a powerful file manager and reliable security protection with two-step verification. Additionally, it also has a portable version that you can use without installing it.
Using PeaZip on Windows is pretty straightforward and works the same as with the previous tool. The only differences are the name of the commands:
- Extract – use to unpack your data to another location.
- Extract here – saves the content inside the same location as the archive.
- Extract here (smart) – used to create a standalone folder for the files.
Zipware
Just like 7-Zip, Zipware is also a Windows-only extractor. However, it has a few features that stand out, such as a streamlined file manager, a password manager, conversion of all compatible formats to .zip, .exe, or .7z and a virus scan.
Mac virus removal free. Again, decompressing using this tool follows the same method as the previous ones with slightly different options:
- Extract to this folder – for immediate extraction to the location of the zip.
- Extract to this folder + Filenames – for a similar effect but with a folder made out of the file.
- Extract to other… – opens a drop-down menu to choose another location.
Conclusion
A zip file is an archiving method that is useful to save storage since it compresses file sizes.
You can unzip files either using default Windows and macOS settings or by utilizing third-party software such as Zipware, PeaZip and 7-Zip.
The process itself takes only a few clicks, so you can have the task done in no time.
Terminal
Hey
Terminal, the wonder app, can do pretty much anything. This post is going to show you how you can unzip files using Terminal. I will also show you how you can can combine commands to download and unzip files really quickly. Its really simple to complete. You may want to use Terminal since you can access extra options which you may normally be hidden away from you.
The first step is to open Terminal. Use the “cd” command to change the directory to the location where you want to unzip the zip file. For example you can use:
cd ./Desktop
The next step is to invoke the unzip command. Type the following into Terminal. This assumes you have a zip file ready to unzip.
unzip file.zip
Workflow designer mac.This will unzip you file into you desktop location. If you want to change this location you can type the following.
unzip file.zip -d ~/another/folder
You can also remove all of the text that Terminal will output when you run the command by adding a modifier/option to the front of the syntax.
unzip -q file.zip
Optionally you can also add more information by adding a verbose option. This will show you all of the details of the file you unzip.
unzip -v file.zip
You can combine this command with other command so you can download and unzip a file automatically. For example if you have wget installed you can type in Terminal.
cd ~/download;wget http://www.example.com/file/zip;unzip file.zip
The different commands are separated by a semi-colon (;). The previous command will change your directory to your downloads folder. It will then grab the zip file from your website and unzip the file to your location.
The one problem with unzip command is that it creates a an extra folder called “__MACOSX” this folder would normally be hidden as it stores extra data that you don’t need to see. You can easily get rid of this by combining the delete command with the unzip command.
unzip file.zip;rm -rf __MACOSX
That will unzip the file and then delete this extra folder. You can of course combine this with the download command previously.
cd ~/download;wget http://www.example.com/file/zip;unzip file.zip;rm -rf __MACOSX
You could even take this further by moving files and folders although that would be out of the scope of this article. How quick do you reckon it would be to type that command compared to downloading a zip folder normally and then normally extracting it. You do have to type more, but it is a lot less clicking and searching in Finder.
If you want to take your skills with Terminal a bit further I recommend you check out the Terminal Category on this site. If you fancy reading a book there is a couple on Amazon that I regularly see mentioned and recommend, O’reilly Unix Geeks and Unix Under the Hood both are designed for Mac OS X and take Terminal further.
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