In one of the previous article, I have mentioned Free WinRar Alternatives for Windows or Mac now in this article, I have mentioned how to open Zip file in Windows or how to zip/unzip files in windows.

Before we continue, I suppose you have downloaded WinRar or any of the Winrar alternative, once you have downloaded it then we can open Zip File in Windows.

What is Zip File?

If you are not aware about what is Zip file, then we can first understand it. ZIP is an archive file format that was developed by Phil Katz and Gary Conway.

This file format was created in the year 1989. A ZIP file may contain one or more files in a compressed format.

Compress or Zip File Together

You can use the below steps to compress multiple files and save them in a single file called as ".zip".

  1. First, you need to navigate to the folder or file, which you want to Compress and Zip.
  2. Then Right-click on file and select "Send to" -> then select "Compressed (Zip) folder", as shown in the below image
    zip-file-open-zip-file-min.png
  3. Once you have done it, This will create a ZIP folder grouping all the three selected files in a folder named "Windows Input" (in this example, may change in your system, depending on selected files).
  4. If you wish to rename it, press and hold (or right-click) the folder, select the Rename option, and then type the new name.

Open Zip file (Unzip files)

Although, Windows 10/11 supports zip natively, which means that you can just double-click the zipped folder to access its content and open files.

But, it is always better to extract all the compressed files before using them, to access zip content files easily.

  1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the zipped folder.
  2. To unzip or open ZIP file, the entire folder needs to be unzip, so right-click to select "Extract All", and then follow the instructions.
    extract-zip-files-min.png
  3. To unzip a single file or folder, double-click the zipped folder to open it. Then, drag or copy the item from the zipped folder to a new location.
  4. That's it.

Unzip using WinRar

If windows zip utility is not working properly, then you can also download tools like WinRar to unzip files.

Once you have downloaded it, you can select Zip file, right-click on it, and then select "Extract Here" option.


That's it, hope it helps you.

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