Zip (or ZIP) is a file format used for data compression stored on your computer. The purpose of compression is to reduce the size of a file or group multiple files into one.
It is possible to compress audio, video and image files. It's a simple way to group multiple files. Compressed files have the extension “.zip”.
For example, to send multiple documents via email, the task is simplified if the user creates a file that groups all documents together and sends a single file. When the recipient unzips the “.zip” file, each document will be shown separately.
In some operating systems, such as Mac OS X, the Zip compression format is already integrated into the system.
Some software that work with the Zip format are: PKZIP, WinZip, 7-Zip, among others.
The Zip format was created in 1989 by Phil Katz, founder of the company PKWARE, and was initially implemented in the “PKZIP” software to replace the previous compression format called “ARC”. The name "Zip" was suggested by a friend of Phil Katz.
Zip is an English word whose meaning in Portuguese is “very fast movement”.
“zip” is a word derived from “Zip” and a jargon often used in the computer environment to designate the action of compressing files.
