The A to Z Guide to the Internet

Z

ZIP file- A compressed file used on Windows. ZIP is the standard technology for data compression. On the Internet, larger graphics and programs are normally compressed as ZIP files before they are made available for download. This allows downloading to go much faster. After downloading a ZIP file, you need to use a decompression software (such as WinZIP, a free program) to “unzip” it and access the data. The technology is very useful when sending photos through e-mail.