Why do you need to unzip files?

Question

I am far from a techie, so please answer in simplified explanation.

Answer 1

Many files now are so big they take a long time to send or download. People zip or compress them to send. They can not be read in compressed form, so you have to de-compress them to use them.

Answer 2

Do you mean to say that there is no need to unzip files from a zipped file since you can open and view the files within?
If so, every time you do open a file from within a zipped file, that file gets extracted/unzipped to a temporary location.

So its better to actually extract unzip files to proper location.

Answer 3

Because someone else compressed (zipped) the contents (files and folders) to reduce the file size.

Imagine a zip file as a mailed envelope, and inside the envelope there are folded pages. You open the envelope and unfold the pages to read them. That's what unzipping does.

I highly recommend the free IZArc to do the job, from:

Answer 4

Ensure your unzipping software is installed
Now whenever you have a file that you need to unzip, just right click on that file and select “Extract To” or “Extract To Folder” (for Winzip) or “JustUnzipit” (for the JustZIPit program).
Your unzipping program will now unzip the file contents to the location you specified.

Answer 5

Files are zipped, in other words - compressed, at times so that it would take less space.
So you need to uncompress the file before you can see it.
MP3's are the best example of compressed files.
MP3 files are much smaller in size as compared to the original CD tracks. so you can fit many songs on a CD where as an audio CD can generally store up to 80 minutes of audio.
but one needs an MP3 decoder to read the mp3 files, where as all CD players can read an audio CD.

Answer 6

Here is a good link where you can download winrar for here: http://bit.ly/1BooiXa

You can use winrar to decompress zip files and a bunch of other formats. Other good programs are 7zip and winzip but in my opinion winrar is the best one. Fuctionalities are pretty similar for all programs: basically you can decompress a file simply by right-clicking it and by choosing the destination folder.

Winrar is available for free under a trial licence. The good thing is the trial period never ends so you can use it for free with no limitations.

Winrar opens all formats like .zip, .rar, .7z, .iso, .tar, .jar etc. That's why I recommend it.

Answer 7

Ehm..
Have tried Winrar lately. I got it from this site http://bit.ly/1p3PbpY
The best choice to open (extract) zipped files is definitly WinRar. It's able to decompress a lot of different files as zip,rar,iso,7z,jar and much more.
Bye Bye

Answer 8

why??

for example, your document,file, picture was like that about 300 megabytes, when it is unzip it will decrease..what i mean is, the memory or bytes that your consuming will be less,..
to shorten it, it was to save space....i hope i have make it on you..

Answer 9

You can't read ziped files. They are compressed so you need unzip them if you want to read it.

Answer 10

Zip files are basically locked closets

Unzipping them simply removes the lock and they can be normally used