How to use Compress Files
- Add the files: photos, PDFs, Word and Excel files, anything.
- Leave "Shrink photos and PDFs inside" on unless you need the originals for printing.
- Give the ZIP a name and click "Compress to ZIP".
- Save the ZIP, or share it straight to email or chat from your phone. The list shows what changed inside.
Why use Compress Files
- Really smaller
- Photos are scaled for screens and saved as JPGs; PDFs go through the PDF compressor. Zipping alone saves nothing on them.
- One ZIP for everything
- Any file types in one archive that opens on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android without extra software.
- See what changed
- Every file is listed with its size before and after, so you know what the ZIP holds.
- Nothing uploaded
- Files are read and packed in your browser. Once it has made one ZIP, it keeps working with Wi-Fi off while the page stays open.
About this tool
Zipping is good at squeezing text: documents, spreadsheets, CSV exports and code often shrink by half or more. It does almost nothing for photos, videos and PDFs, which are already compressed inside; a ZIP of ten phone photos is as big as the photos. This tool fixes that by scaling photos to screen size (longest side 2560 pixels, enough for any screen and small prints) and saving them as good-quality JPGs, and by compressing the pictures inside PDFs the way the Compress PDF tool does. Files that are already as small as they get are stored as they are, which is also faster.
A see-through PNG, such as a logo, stays a PNG so its transparency survives. Videos are stored unchanged: compressing them properly takes a different tool. Switch the shrinking off to make a plain ZIP with every file byte for byte as it was.
Frequently asked questions
Why did my ZIP barely get smaller?
Because the files in it were already compressed: photos, videos, PDFs and Office files. Turn on "Shrink photos and PDFs inside"; a ZIP of phone photos then typically drops by 70 to 85%. Videos stay as they are.
Will the photos lose quality?
They are resized to 2560 pixels on the longest side and saved as JPGs at a high setting, which looks the same on screens and makes fine small prints. Keep the originals if you want to print large.
Can I compress a folder?
Add all the files from the folder (on a computer, select them all in the file picker, or drag them in). The ZIP holds them in one list.
Which files stay unchanged?
Videos, audio, Office files, archives and any file the tool cannot make smaller. Transparent PNGs stay PNG. Everything is listed with what happened to it.
Can I open the ZIP on a phone?
Yes. iPhone and Android open ZIP files without extra apps, and so do Windows and Mac.
Are my files uploaded?
No. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is sent to a server.
Does it work on iPhone and Android?
Yes. Pick files from Files or Downloads, compress them, and save the ZIP. On an iPhone the ZIP goes to the share sheet, where Save to Files keeps it; on Android it goes to Downloads.
Built and maintained by Saad Naeem
AI engineer, Doha · Updated