ZIPPING YOUR FILESthin blue line

Why ZIP a file? Because zipping compresses (i.e., “ZIPs”) a file, or several files, to make it smaller and thus quicker to email or upload/download. This is especially important when you have large media files or a slower bandwidth. Once compressed, ZIP files will have a “.zip” file extension. Once received, the zipped file can be “unzipped” with the same tool.

 

How to ZIPthin blue line

  1. Check your computer to see what ZIP archiving tools you have (such as WinZip, winRAR, MacZip or 7-Zip). Windows XP and Mac OS Xv10.3 feature built-in ZIP support.  Select ZIP tool to use.
  1. Select the files you want to include in your ZIP archive. For the Digital Media Show-And-Tell, these include your: 1) Media Product, 2) Goals and Process Statement 3) Text Transcript; and 4) English Transcript, if you used a language other than English in your media product.

 

USING “BUILT-IN” ZIP SUPPORTthin blue line

Windows XP: After selecting the files you want to include in your ZIP archive, right-click on one of the selected files and go to “Send To” and then click on “Compressed (zipped) Folder”. (If this is not your default method for zipping files, it will ask if you want this to be your default ZIP tool. You can say yes or no, and it will still ZIP your files.)  A new file will be placed on your desktop or in the folder containing your files, with the title of the first file you selected but with the “.zip” extension. In this example, you should see a file named “Clip 01.zip”. This zipped archive now contains a copy of each of the files that you selected.

win_right_click

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Mac OS Xv10.3: Command-click (or Shift-click contiguous files) on all the files you want included, then choose Create Archive of X Items from the Action menu (the button that looks like a gear up in the Finder window’s toolbar). A file will be created named “Archive.zip” on your desktop or in your folder that contains a copy of each of the files you selected. 

mac_right_click

NEXT STEPSthin blue line

    1. Rename your ZIP file to reflect your individual or team name and state (e.g., John Smith from South Carolina would be: JohnSmithSC.zip; the team named Video Whispers from California would be “VideoWhispersCA.zip”).
    2. You’ve successfully created your ZIP archive!
    3. You can now upload your zipped Digital Show-and-Tell files to the Contest Entry Form page: http://cyfernet.ces.ncsu.edu/mn/Digital_Media_Show-and-tell.php

 

TIPS

Note: If your media product is large, you may see one of these:

win_compressing


Don’t worry—just wait until the files have finished compressing.

 

ZIP ARCHIVING TOOLSthin blue line

7-Zip: http://www.7-zip.org/ (versions for Windows, Linux and Unix)

ALZip: http://www.altools.net/ALTools/ALZip/tabid/53/Default.aspx (Windows)

WinRAR: http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm/ (This is a link to the trial version; select the version that fits your operating system)

Mac Compression Tools: http://mac.sofotex.com/Mac_Utilities/Compression/

WinZip: http://www.winzip.com/ (To download an Evaluation version of WinZip, go to: http://www.winzip.com/downwz.htm).

 

MORE INFORMATION ON ZIPPING FILESthin blue line

http://eee.uci.edu/help/zip/how-to/

http://www.howstuffworks.com/file-compression.htm

http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/downloadingfiles/f/faq_zip2.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_files

 

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