ZIP (file format)
 | |
| Filename extension | .zip |
|---|---|
| Internet media type | |
| Uniform Type Identifier (UTI) | com.pkware.zip-archive |
| Magic number | PK\003\004 or PK\005\006 (empty archive) (unless a bootstrap script is present) |
| Developed by | Phil Katz |
| Type of format | Data compression |
The ZIP file format is a popular lossless data compression and archival format created by Phil Katz, founder of PKWARE. A ZIP file contains one or more files that have been compressed, to reduce their file size, or stored as-is. A number of compression algorithms are permitted in zip files but in 2008 only DEFLATE is widely used and supported.
Usage
[change | change source]ZIP files generally use the file extensions ".zip" or ".ZIP" and the MIME media type application/zip. Some software uses the ZIP file format as a wrapper for a large number of small items in a specific structure. Generally when this is done a different file extension is used.