Quick Reference: Which Tool Opens Which Format?
How to Compress Files in Windows
Method 1: Right-click “Send to → Compressed (zipped) folder”
Method 2: File Explorer Ribbon “Share › Zip”
Inside a normal File Explorer window (not the Desktop or Quick Access view):
How to Decompress (Unzip) Files
Method 1: Extract All…
Method 2: WinRAR for RAR, ZIP & more
Method 3: 7-Zip for 7Z, RAR, ZIP & 50+ formats
Method 4: Drag-and-Drop Selective Extraction
Edits made to extracted files are not synced back to the original archive.
Wildcards: Use * and ? inside -Path for selective compression.Overwrite existing: Append -Force to Compress-Archive or Expand-Archive if you need to replace files.Long paths: Prefix paths with \?\ if you hit the 260-character limit.
