How to open a zip file without downloading it

ZIP files are compressed files that use lossless data compression techniques to compress any and every kind of file. This file is important to you, and you have to have it on your PC. Now, what you can do is ZIP the file. Zipping the file will retain all the important data in the original file and remove the unnecessary cache and extra spaces within the file that is taking up space. Zip files are a compressed and smaller version of the original file that takes up less space and storage as compared to the original file while retaining the quality of the file.

You can compress any file, be it an image file, a word document, a pdf, an audio file, a video file, and every other file type.

ZIP files do have certain limitations like you can only compress the files to a certain limit and sometimes the ZIP file extensions get corrupted. On Windows, the process of zipping a file takes only a few clicks. There are two ways of zipping a file on Windows. The second method is to select the items that you want to ZIP and directly send them to a zip folder that will be created on the spot.

The second method is faster and easier, but the new zip file will be created at the same location as the other files. You can rename it later, move it to the destined location.

Which method you select depends on your need at the moment and what works for you. For zipping multiple files, repeat the same process as above after selecting all the required files. Once you click on extract all, a window will open asking you the location where you want your files to be extracted.

Go to the ZIP folder. Open the location in which the ZIP folder that you want to open is located. Double-click the ZIP folder. Doing so opens the ZIP folder. You should see the contents of the ZIP folder here. If you just want to view the ZIP folder's compressed contents, you can stop here. The contents of the ZIP folder may appear different when compressed than when you extract them. Click the Extract tab.

It's at the top of the window. Doing so prompts a toolbar to appear at the top of the window. Click Extract all. This is in the toolbar at the top of the window. Clicking it prompts a pop-up window. Select an extraction location if necessary. By default, your ZIP folder will extract its contents to the same folder in which it is located e. If you want to extract the folder to a different location, do the following: Click Browse Select a folder.

Click Select Folder in the bottom-right corner. Check the "Show extracted files when complete" box. This is in the middle of the window. Selecting this option ensures that the ZIP folder's extracted contents will be displayed as soon as you finish extracting them.

Click Extract. It's at the bottom of the window. Doing so extracts the ZIP folder's files into a regular folder; once the extraction is complete, the regular folder will open to display the files. Method 2. Move the ZIP folder if necessary. Click Edit at the top of the screen. Click Copy in the drop-down menu. Go to the folder in which you want to extract the folder.

Click Edit , then click Paste in the drop-down menu. Doing so will prompt the ZIP folder to begin extracting into a regular folder in your current location. Wait for the extracted folder to open. Once the ZIP folder finishes extracting, the regular folder to which it extracted will open to display the extracted files.

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Zip File Without Winzip. Download Article Explore this Article methods. Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Article Summary. Method 1. All rights reserved. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc. Find the ZIP file. Go to the location of the ZIP file that you want to open. Since ZIP files store regular files and folders in a compressed format, you'll need to extract the ZIP file in order to use properly the stored files and folders.

Right-click the ZIP file. This displays a menu to the right of your mouse cursor. Click Extract All. It's in the menu that pops up when you right-click a ZIP file. Click Browse and select a location optional. If you want to extract it to a separate location, click the button that says Browse. Then click a folder you want to extract the ZIP file to and click Select folder. Click Extract. This extracts the contents of your ZIP file. Alternatively, if you want to extract specific files within the ZIP file without extracting the whole file, double-click the ZIP file to view the contents inside.

Then drag and drop the files and folders you want to extract outside the ZIP file. Method 2. Navigate to the ZIP file. Use the Finder to navigate to the location the ZIP file is saved to.

If the ZIP file was downloaded from the internet, it will most likely be found in your Downloads folder.. Double-click the ZIP file. This will prompt the ZIP file to begin extracting automatically. A new folder with extracted contents from the ZIP file will be created. This may take a few minutes depending on how big the file is.

Mac does not allow you to view the files inside the zip file or extract individual files from a zip file without first extracting the entire zip file. Open the new folder. Double-click the newly extracted folder to access the contents of the zip file. Method 3. Navigate to the folder containing the ZIP file. Tap whichever folder the ZIP file is saved to. If it was downloaded from the internet, it will most likely be found in the Downloads folder.

Tap the ZIP file. If this sounds all too familiar, then you should try an extension called ZIP Extractor. This extension can be an invaluable time-saver if you do a lot of cloud work and want to bypass the inconvenience of unzipping. Install the Chrome extension from the Chrome Web Store. Search for ZIP Extractor and install it. Now, you can select any archived file in Google Drive for extraction. After that, the unzip operation takes a couple of steps:.

Use the ZIP Extractor interface to view the extracted file, share the file, or extract another file.