# Many Files as One: Compress-Archive and Expand-Archive Compress-Archive packs a folder or a few files into one zip file you can send or keep, and Expand-Archive unpacks a zip into a folder, replacing nothing that's already there unless you ask it to. Apprentice · PowerShell · Operating System · Updated November 10, 2026 ## After this lesson you can - Pack a folder or files into one zip file with Compress-Archive - Unpack a zip into a folder with Expand-Archive, and use -Update or -Force when the zip or its files are already there ## Key takeaways - A zip file holds many files and folders in one file, often smaller, that you can attach, upload or keep. - `Compress-Archive -Path photos -DestinationPath trip-photos.zip` packs the photos folder. With `photos\*`, the zip holds only what's inside it. - `Expand-Archive -Path trip-photos.zip -DestinationPath from-the-zip` unpacks a zip, and makes the folder if it isn't there yet. - Neither command replaces what's already there unless you add `-Update` or `-Force`. A friend asks for the photos from last weekend's camping trip. There are forty of them, in one folder, and the chat app takes one file at a time. Or a class says "hand in your project folder as one file", or a web host wants your whole site uploaded as a single package. Picking forty files by hand is slow, and sooner or later one gets missed. People everywhere solve this the same way: they send a **zip file**, one file that holds a whole folder, the way a suitcase holds everything you're taking on a trip. ## A practice folder for the trip This chapter packs for a weekend at a lake. Copy these lines into PowerShell to make a `road-trip` folder with three pretend photos (empty files with photo names) and two notes. Running them again is safe. ```powershell New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "$HOME\terminal-practice\road-trip\photos", "$HOME\terminal-practice\road-trip\documents" | Out-Null New-Item -ItemType File -Force -Path "$HOME\terminal-practice\road-trip\photos\lake-sunrise.jpg", "$HOME\terminal-practice\road-trip\photos\trail-lunch.jpg", "$HOME\terminal-practice\road-trip\photos\campfire.jpg" | Out-Null Set-Content -Path "$HOME\terminal-practice\road-trip\documents\packing-list.txt" -Value 'Tent', 'Sleeping bag', 'Flashlight', 'Bug spray', 'Phone charger' Set-Content -Path "$HOME\terminal-practice\road-trip\documents\campsite.txt" -Value 'Pine Lake Campground, site 14. Check in Friday after 2 PM.' ``` They print nothing when they work. ## Pack a folder: Compress-Archive The name reads like the others in PowerShell: *compress* means squeeze smaller, and an *archive* is a collection of files kept together. `-Path` says what to pack, and `-DestinationPath` (read "destination path") says where the new zip goes: ```powershell Set-Location "$HOME\terminal-practice\road-trip" Compress-Archive -Path photos -DestinationPath trip-photos.zip Get-ChildItem ``` ```text Directory: C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice\road-trip Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- d---- 8/14/2026 7:30 PM documents d---- 8/14/2026 7:30 PM photos -a--- 8/14/2026 7:32 PM 378 trip-photos.zip ``` The whole folder is now one file you can attach, upload or keep. Your dates and times will be when you made the files. A zip also squeezes what it can: text gets much smaller, while photos and videos hardly shrink, because they're squeezed already. To pack a few files instead of a folder, list them with commas: `Compress-Archive -Path documents\packing-list.txt, documents\campsite.txt -DestinationPath for-jordan.zip`. ## Unpack: Expand-Archive *Expand* is the opposite of compress. Give it the zip and a folder to unpack into: ```powershell Expand-Archive -Path trip-photos.zip -DestinationPath from-the-zip Get-ChildItem from-the-zip ``` ```text Directory: C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice\road-trip\from-the-zip Mode LastWriteTime Length Name ---- ------------- ------ ---- d---- 8/14/2026 7:30 PM photos ``` `Expand-Archive` made the `from-the-zip` folder for you. Inside is `photos`, because you packed the folder itself. To pack only what's *inside* a folder, add `\*` (read "everything in"): `Compress-Archive -Path photos\* -DestinationPath photos-only.zip`. Unpacked, that zip gives the three photos with no folder around them. Send the folder when your friend should get one tidy folder; send `photos\*` when the files should land right where they unpack. ![Two zips side by side: packing photos puts the photos folder, with the three photos in it, inside the zip, while packing photos\* puts only the three photos inside, with no folder around them](https://fsdtrainingmedia.blob.core.windows.net/public/images/2026/11/7f17e7223342454aa9ddcd6e912f389a.webp) ## When the name is taken Run the same `Compress-Archive` line a second time, and PowerShell stops instead of replacing your zip: ```powershell Compress-Archive -Path photos -DestinationPath trip-photos.zip ``` ```text Compress-Archive: The archive file C:\Users\Sam\terminal-practice\road-trip\trip-photos.zip already exists. Use the -Update parameter to update the existing archive file or use the -Force parameter to overwrite the existing archive file. ``` The message names your two choices. `-Update` keeps the zip and adds new files or replaces changed ones, which suits a zip you top up as photos arrive. `-Force` throws the old zip away and packs a new one. `Expand-Archive` is as careful. Unpack into `from-the-zip` again, and it refuses for each file that's already there, with a long message that ends *Use the -Force parameter if you want to overwrite…*. `-Force` replaces those files with the zip's copies. The safer habit is to unpack into a new, empty folder, so nothing gets replaced at all. ## With the mouse, and on other computers In File Explorer, right-click a folder and choose **Compress to**, then **ZIP File**, or right-click a zip and choose **Extract All**. For one folder, now and then, the mouse is quick. The commands pay off when you zip the same folder every week, or when a script does it for you (Module 6 shows how). **On a Mac or Linux**, both commands work the same in PowerShell 7. **Windows PowerShell 5.1** has them too, but its zips store folder names with `\`, which some Mac and Linux tools don't read as folders, so make zips you'll share in PowerShell 7. **Try it.** Pack the `documents` folder into `documents.zip`, unpack it into a new folder called `check-it`, and list what's inside with `Get-ChildItem`. ## Check yourself 2 questions to try on the lesson page. ## So what A zip turns a folder into something you can hand over in one piece. Two commands, one to pack and one to unpack, and neither replaces your files unless you tell it to. ## Key terms - [Compress-Archive](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/compress-archive) - [Expand-Archive](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/expand-archive) - [ZIP File](https://www.ask-codey.com/glossary/zip-file) ## Cheat sheets - [Many Files as One: Compress-Archive and Expand-Archive](https://www.ask-codey.com/cheat-sheets/powershell-zip-files-cheat-sheet) ## Related - [Is It There? Test-Path](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-test-path) - [Shortcuts to Files: Symbolic Links and Junctions](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-links) - [Looking Around: Get-ChildItem](https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-looking-around) Source: https://www.ask-codey.com/lessons/powershell-zip-files