The most common and popular form of file compression is the

ZIP format

. You'll find ZIP files everywhere you go on the Internet. Today, Doc looks at four,

free programs for working with ZIP files

. They're all good, they'll all archive and unarchive ZIP files and, perhaps best of all, they're all

free software

.

There are programs on your computer that seem ubiquitous; you might not know what they are specifically, or what exactly it is that they do. WinZip is a fine example; it's one of those computer concepts that have become a verb. Like "Google it" for search, "tweet" for share and the like, "Zip it" has become synonymous with file compression. Miss Download explains.

Many files on your computer can get quite large. This is true of documents, text files, photos, and more. You can use WinRAR to

compress files into a RAR archive

and make them smaller.

If you're new to computers you may have heard others talking about

compressed files

, but what does that really mean. Yes, you know what compressed means, but how does it pertain to computers and files?

Just what the heck are the RAR files that you sometimes see online? If someone sends you a compressed file with the .RAR file extension, you'll want to download WinRAR so you can open it. Extracting files is quick and easy.

Photos can be very large files and sending large files via email can be a problem. One way to reduce the size of your photos is to compress them with WinRAR. It makes the files smaller, puts them all into a handy RAR file package, and you can deliver them to friends and family.

Maybe you want to send 10 or more pictures to friends and family via email or perhaps you're looking to store some files that you don't access regularly but that you don't want to lose. We've looked at creating a compressed or zipped archive using WinZip previously. In this tutorial we'll look at creating an archive with software that's included in Windows.

Compressing or zipping makes sending large files via email easier. It's also a good way to send a group of files like a folder full of pictures via email without having to attach each one individually. In WinZip 12, it's easy to compress files to send or store.