What a huge hassle! Not even this time were you able to send your colleague those documents by e-mail! The fault, by now you have the most absolute certainty, is their excessive weight. There is nothing left to do but move your files to a USB stick and deliver everything by hand… unless you resort to using a dedicated compressor!
How do you say? Are you interested in this and would you like to know more? No sooner said than done. Read my tutorial dedicated to the subject and in the end you will have perfectly clear ideas on what to do. In the following lines I will go to point out and explain to you what I believe to be the best programs for compressing files currently on the square. You can use them to drastically reduce the size of your documents by grouping them into a single compressed archive, to make images, MP3s, etc. smaller. In short, whatever your need you will see that you will be able to find a resource suitable for the purpose.
There are resources of this type for both Windows and Mac and they are all free. Then choose the one that you think will do the most for you and download it immediately to your computer. So? Are you ready? Yup? Great. Let’s ban the chatter and proceed. I wish you, as usual, happy reading and I wish you a big good luck for everything!
Index
- Programs to compress files for free
- Windows native solution
- 7-Zip
- Other programs to compress files for free
- Programs to compress Mac files
- Mac native solution
- Keka
- Other programs to compress Mac files
- Programs to compress photos
- Programs to compress documents
- Programs to compress audio files for free
- Programs for compressing video files
Programs to compress files for free
You can’t wait to find out which programs to compress free files you could use on your Windows PC to finally be able to reduce the excessive size of a file, or even more than one, that you may want to send via email to your colleague.
Below I will tell you about the best solutions suitable for the purpose and, above all, completely free. What do you say, let’s get started?
Windows native solution
You probably weren’t aware of it, but if you want to compress a file via your PC running Windows 7 and later (for example Windows 11 ), you don’t need to install any third-party programs, because you can take advantage of the native Windows solution . To compress a file, simply use the Windows default compressed archive manager .
If you use Windows 10 and want to compress a file, just right- click on it, click on the Send to item and then Compressed folder : an archive will be created in the same directory as the file or folder. Now you just have to type the name you want to give the compressed file, click anywhere on the Desktop (or a folder) or on the Enter key on the keyboard to confirm the operation.
If you are using Windows 11 , however, the entries will change slightly. To proceed, right-click on the file you want to compress and from the menu that appears click on the item Compress in ZIP file . Once this is done, type in the name you want to give the compressed file.
7-Zip
The native Windows solution for compressing files is not entirely satisfactory for you, so you would like to know if there are any third-party programs that you can use as an alternative. In this case I recommend that you use the free 7-Zip program , which you can download from the official website , which you can access via any web browser .
Once on the official website, from the side menu click on the Download item and then on the Download button next to the version with the .exe extension you need, 64-bit or 32-bit (depending on the type of operating system in use ) for Windows.
Once the installer download is complete, double-click on it and proceed with the installation by pressing Yes , Install and Close .
After completing the installation, right-click on the file you want to compress: from the pop-up menu click on the 7-Zip item and then on Add to archive . If you are using Windows 11 , however, you will first have to click on Show other options and then on 7-Zip> Add to archive .
In the screen that appears on the screen, type the name you want to give to the archive in the Name section and choose the archive format (for example ZIP ). In a few seconds a ZIP archive will be created containing the file you selected.
Other programs to compress files for free
The application just mentioned does not fully convince you, so you are curious to understand if there are other programs to compress files for free .
The answer is yes: below I will show you other alternative programs that may come in handy to compress a file for free.
- WinRAR– application that allows you to compress a file quite effectively. In addition to RAR archives, all major compressed file formats (ZIP, 7Z etc.) are supported. WinRAR has a trial period of 40 days , after which, however, it continues to work, net of the impossibility of creating password-protected archives and a screen that appears at every start that offers you to purchase a license. More info here .
- WinZip– very complete software for managing ZIP files which was very popular in the past. The program is paid, but a30-day trial version is available. More info here .
Programs to compress Mac files
You recently bought a Mac , after so many years with a Windows PC. On the latter you had no major problems going to compress a file to reduce its size, but on the Mac you have no idea how to proceed.
For this reason you are looking for programs to compress Mac files , so that you can finally be able to compress a file.
No problem, I’m here to help you. Over the next few paragraphs, I’ll tell you about all the solutions you could take to compress a file on your Mac.
Mac native solution
Before talking to you about third-party solutions to compress a file, you should know that even on Mac , just like on Windows , there is a native Mac solution to compress a file.
If you want to compress a file, all you have to do is use the Compression Utility app , which you find installed by default within the macOS operating system. To proceed with the compression of a file, all you have to do is locate it and then right- click on it: from the menu that appears, click on the item Compress “file name” . In a few seconds, a file with the extension .zip smaller than the original will be created, located in the same folder where the original file is present.
To be able to compress multiple files at the same time, instead, all you have to do is select all the files you want to compress using the keyboard or mouse: once selected, right- click and from the menu that appears click on the Compress item . In a few seconds a ZIP file called Archivio.zip will be created with all the previously selected files or folders inside.
If you want to access all the settings of the Compression Utility app, all you have to do is press on the icon with the magnifying glass in the bar at the top right in order to access the Spotlight search : type the word “compression” and click on the first result in the list, which is the Compression Utility .
Although nothing will appear on the screen, you can access the settings by clicking on the Compression Utility item in the top left bar and then on the Preferences item from the pop-up menu. Through this menu you can go to manage all the parameters of this utility.
Keka
The native compression solution present on Mac does not fully satisfy you, so you would like to know if there are alternative programs that you could use to compress a file on Mac. In this case I recommend using the Keka application , which you can download for free by going to this web page , through any web browser. If, on the other hand, you want to support the developer, you can buy it on the Mac App Store at a price of 4.99 euros (the functions, however, are the same).
Once on the official website click on the Download button to start downloading the program. Once the download is complete, open the dmg file : from the menu that appears on the screen, drag the Keka program icon into the Applications folder .
Once this is done, the installation will be completed and you can finally open and start using the app.
To compress a file with Keka all you have to do is click with the right mouse button on it and from the menu that appears select the item Compress with Keka . In a few seconds an archive will be created with the same name as the original file and placed in the same folder.
Other programs to compress Mac files
The application mentioned above does not convince you and you would like to understand if there are other programs to compress Mac files ?
No problem, below I will point out some alternative third-party programs that you could use on your Mac.
- The Unarchiver– free application that allows you to compress files on Mac and manage different types of archives, such as zip, rar, 7-zip, tar, gzip, bzip2, lzh, arj and arc.
- iZip Archiver– free application that allows you to manage different types of archives such as zip, rar, and 7z, quickly and easily.
Programs to compress photos
On your PC you have a folder containing really many photos, all with a very high quality, which inevitably take up a lot of space on your PC’s disk. You need to free up some space, but at the same time you’d rather avoid having to delete some photos.
For this reason you are looking for programs to compress photos , in order to avoid deleting photos and at the same time reduce the size of each file.
There are several programs that might be right for you, but specifically I recommend using XnConvert , available for free (for personal purposes) for Windows PC, Mac and Linux.
Once the program is installed, open it and in the screen that appears click on the Add file button : select the photo (or even more than one) you want to compress and then proceed by clicking on the Convert button . In a few seconds a duplicate of the photo will be created, with the same resolution, but with a much smaller total file size.
An alternative program that you could use is IrfanView , which however is available for download only for Windows PCs. Its operation is almost similar to that of XnCovert, which I told you about earlier.
If you would like more information on how to compress photos I suggest you take a look at my tutorial on the subject.
Programs to compress documents
On your PC you usually store all your documents, whether they are business or private, and since they are usually documents you never use, you have decided to compress them, in order to recover some space and maybe even do a little order. For this reason you are looking for programs to compress documents .
To compress a document, just use one of the programs I told you about in the previous paragraph, but, if you want to have additional information, I suggest you take a look at my tutorials on how to compress a PDF file and how to compress a Word file .
Programs to compress audio files for free
Despite the advent of audio streaming services, such as Spotify , Apple Music and Amazon Music , you are the type who still prefers to buy a song and then keep it inside your PC, so that you can listen to your favorite music even in the absence of. an Internet connection.
However, over the years you have archived a lot of audio files, which obviously take up a lot of space on your hard drive. Unfortunately, you find yourself needing to free up some space inside your PC and, discarding the hypothesis of moving everything to an external hard drive , you would like to understand if there are programs to compress audio files for free .
You must know that there are several programs of this kind, which will allow you to be able to reduce the size of an audio file, but clearly you will also lose some quality.
The first program I suggest you use is called Fre: ac , available for download for Windows PC, Mac and Linux. Once you have downloaded and installed the program, open it and add the audio file you want to compress using the appropriate button. Once the audio file (or even more than one) has been added, all you have to do is click on the Start the encoding process button located in the top bar: in a few seconds a new compressed audio file will be created, with dimensions smaller than the starting one .
Another alternative program you could use is called Audacity , available for download for Windows PC, Mac and Linux. More info here .
If you would like more information on how to reduce the size of a song I suggest you take a look at my tutorial on the subject.
Programs for compressing video files
With your smartphone you like to shoot different videos, which you then move around your PC, so that you always have them available when you want to review them or maybe show them to friends. However, video files recorded in high definition (for example in Full HD or 4K) take up a lot of space, especially if they are very long videos.
For this reason they end up taking up a lot of space inside your PC and now you need to free up some space. Since you do not want to give up any of the videos you have recorded, you would like to understand which if there are programs to compress video files , in order to reduce the size they occupy on the hard disk.
The first program I recommend you to use is called Adapter , available for download for Windows PC and Mac. Once you have downloaded and installed the program, open it and drag the video file you want to compress inside it or, alternatively, click on the button Browse and select the video file. Now you just have to click on the Select Output Format button , choose the format you want (you can also use the same as the source one) and click on the Convert button .
After a few seconds a new compressed video file will be created, with much smaller dimensions than the original one. More info here .
How do you say? Would you like to know if there are other alternative programs to Adapter? In this case I suggest you take a look at my tutorial on how to compress video , where you will find all the information you need to use other programs to compress video files .
