Make a .zip, .tar, or .tar.gz
Drop the files (or a whole folder) you want to pack. Pick a format. Set a password if you want one — that's a zip-only thing. The archive is built in your tab and downloaded; nothing leaves your machine.
drop files here
or click to browse
01.How to use it
- Drop the files on the box, or click to pick them. For a whole directory, use the add a folder button (Chromium and Safari let you do this).
- Pick a format. Zip is the safe default. Tar and tar.gz are for sending to Linux folks or for stuff that'll be untarred from a script.
- Compression level only matters for zip. For files that are already compressed (jpgs, mp4s, mp3s, pdfs) you can use store and skip the work. For text and source, best shaves more off.
- Type a password if you want one. Zip only.
- Hit the build button. The file downloads.
Folders
The folder button preserves the directory tree inside the archive. Drag-and-drop only gives the page the top-level files because browsers limit folder access to that one entry point. Annoying, but that's the rule we have to play by.
About zip passwords
We use AES-256 only. The old ZipCrypto scheme is breakable in seconds with off-the-shelf tools, so we don't offer it. The cost: if the person on the other end is opening it on a pre-2023 Windows machine with no third-party archiver, they'll need 7-Zip. Recent Windows 11 builds and every macOS / Linux tool handle AES zip natively.
Tar vs tar.gz
Tar is just file contents glued together with 512-byte headers in front of each one. No compression — the output is the sum of the inputs plus a little header overhead. It's what tar xf expects on Linux and macOS.
Tar.gz is that same tarball run through gzip. The gzip step uses your browser's built-in CompressionStream, which Chromium, Safari, and Firefox have shipped for a while now. Tar has no concept of a password, so if you need encryption, use zip.