Compressed Files

Compressed files are also known as ZIP files. They are used to reduce the amount of space a file takes to store, and to compress a folder and its contents into one “zipped” file. This allows the zipped file to be emailed/transferred as one file, rather than the user having to email all the individual files within the original folder. To access the zipped folder, all the receiving user needs to do is to open the zipped folder and the original folder, with all its files, will be inside.'

I have used this when doing my digital technology assessment, as we were required to make a program using visual basic express. Visual basic express stores the program as many separate files, so to email my program to Mr Wood I was required to compress the files that made up my program into one folder, which I could then email. This made it possible to send the program to Mr Wood in one email, rather than many. Note that any files, not only folders, can be compressed into zip files.

A zip file can also compress and conserve folders and folder structures. This is very useful when compressing files for websites, as it will conserve the folders and sub-folders, allowing images and files to still be easily found. If this structure was not conserved, InDesign would be unable to find images and therefore would be unable to display them.