Smith Micro, StuffIt's owner, also makes StuffIt Expander for Mac users who just want to open archives. One of the most historically popular commercial Mac compression apps is called StuffIt - it supports features like encryption and password protection, support for Apple's Automator software and more. There are also third-party utilities that can help you compress and decompress files, too, and they'll work with many non-ZIP formats. You should find out if ZIP archiving will save you enough time and enough space to make it worth your while: You may find that you can save hundreds of gigabytes this way, or you may ultimately decide it's more worth your while to simply buy a large external hard drive instead. Regardless, if you've never compressed a file before, it's worth the experiment. But if you have a big archive of, say, images you won't need access to, it can be a handy tool to keep your hard drive from filling up too fast.
ZIP archive, which will make it more difficult to view and check its contents.Īs such, I wouldn't recommend using this technique to routinely archive everything on your hard disk. File compression also changes the file type to a. Macs with faster processors and more RAM can compress and decompress files much faster than slower Macs. VPN Deals: Lifetime license for $16, monthly plans at $1 & moreĪlso, file compression can take time.
