Zip (file format)

Zip is an archive file format that supports lossless data compression. A zip file may contain one or more files or folders that may have been compressed. The zip file format permits a number of compression algorithms. The format was originally created in 1989 by Phil Katz, and was first implemented in PKWARE’s PKZIP utility, as a replacement for the previous ARC compression format by Thom Henderson. The zip format is now supported by many software utilities other than PKZIP.