How to Compress Files Using zip Command

How to Compress Files Using zip Command in Linux

Hey there, welcome to this beginner-friendly tutorial on how to compress files using the zip command in Linux.

Let’s say you have a few files or folders, and you want to package them into a single, smaller file that’s easier to share or store. That’s where the zip command comes in!

🧰 Step 1: Install zip (if not already installed)

Most modern Linux distros come with zip pre-installed. But in case it's missing, here’s how to install it:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install zip

📁 Step 2: Create Some Files

Let’s first create a few sample files to zip. You can skip this step if you already have files to compress.

mkdir myfiles
cd myfiles
echo "Hello World" > file1.txt
echo "Linux is awesome" > file2.txt
echo "zip command tutorial" > file3.txt

📦 Step 3: Compress Files into a Zip Archive

Now let’s compress all those files into a single zip archive.

zip myarchive.zip file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt

This creates a new file called myarchive.zip which contains the three files.

  adding: file1.txt (deflated 10%)
  adding: file2.txt (deflated 20%)
  adding: file3.txt (deflated 30%)

📁 Step 4: Zip an Entire Folder

To compress a whole folder (e.g., the current folder), use the -r (recursive) option:

zip -r myfolder.zip .

  adding: file1.txt (stored 0%)
  adding: file2.txt (stored 0%)
  adding: file3.txt (stored 0%)

🔍 Step 5: View the Contents of a Zip File

Want to peek inside your zip file without extracting it?

unzip -l myarchive.zip

Archive:  myarchive.zip
  Length      Date    Time    Name
---------  ---------- -----   ----
       12  2025-07-02 10:01   file1.txt
       20  2025-07-02 10:01   file2.txt
       25  2025-07-02 10:01   file3.txt
---------                     -------
       57                     3 files

🗃️ Step 6: Extract the Zip File

And finally, to unzip and get your files back:

unzip myarchive.zip

Archive:  myarchive.zip
  inflating: file1.txt
  inflating: file2.txt
  inflating: file3.txt

✅ Recap

• Use zip myfile.zip files... to compress files.
• Add -r for folders: zip -r archive.zip folder/
• Use unzip -l to list contents.
• Use unzip archive.zip to extract files.

That's it! You've learned how to zip and unzip files on Linux like a pro. 🐧✨

See you in the next tutorial!