Zip Zaps

The ZIP file format is a popular data compression and archival format. A ZIP file contains one or more files that have been compressed, to reduce their file size, or stored as-is. more...

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The format was originally designed by Phil Katz for PKZIP. However, many software utilities other than PKZIP itself are now available to create, modify, or open (unzip, decompress) ZIP files, notably WinZip, BOMArchiveHelper, KGB Archiver, PicoZip, Info-ZIP, WinRAR, IZArc, 7-Zip, ALZip and CAM UnZip. Microsoft has included built-in ZIP support (under the name "compressed folders") in later versions of its Windows operating system. Apple has included built-in ZIP support in Mac OS X v10.3 and later.

ZIP files generally use the file extensions ".zip" or ".ZIP" and the MIME media type application/zip. Some software uses the ZIP file format as a wrapper for a large number of small items in a specific structure. Generally when this is done a different file extension is used. Examples of this usage are Java JAR files, id Software .pk3/.pk4 files, package files for StepMania and Winamp/Windows Media Player skins, XPInstall, and some OpenOffice.org document formats. The OpenDocument format usually uses the JAR file format internally, so it can be easily uncompressed and compressed using tools for ZIP files.

History

Early history

The ZIP file format was originally created by Phil Katz, founder of PKWARE, after a prolonged legal dispute between PKWARE and System Enhancement Associates (SEA) over the trademark "ARC" (short for "Archive") and the file extension .ARC.

PKWARE's first archive product, PKARC, borrowed heavily from SEA's published code, and improved on it by converting SEA's ARC C code into hand-optimised assembler, which was much faster. PKARC also used the ".ARC" file extension. SEA contended that Katz had based his product on their code and trademark, and thus ought to license the code from them and pay royalties. PKWARE refused. SEA brought a successful copyright infringement lawsuit against Phil Katz and PKWARE. After suit was brought, Katz briefly released a relabeled version of PKARC named PKPAK in a futile effort to invalidate the suit.

During settlement, Katz still refused to pay license fees to SEA, instead agreeing to pay SEA's legal expenses and stop selling PKARC. He then went on to create his own file format, which is known worldwide now as the ZIP format (commonly called a "ZIP file"). The ZIP format was more resistant to data loss than the ARC format because of redundant catalog storage; it also was more flexible than ARC, providing room for additional optional compression algorithms and future expansion. Along with the new format, PKZIP included at least one compression algorithm more efficient than any supported by ARC. Once PKZIP was released, many users abandoned ARC because of its slower speed and less effective compression, and because Katz had successfully put forth the idea that he was the "good guy" who was being treated unfairly by an "evil corporation".

Read more at Wikipedia.org