CODEWITHSUNDEEP
macoszip
user697911
user697911

Reputation: 10561

Does 'deflated' in Mac zip indicate an error?

$ zip ExtraInfo.zip ExtraInfo.txt 
  adding: ExtraInfo.txt (deflated 86%)

I am compressing a file on Mac and received this message. I am afraid it's a problem. Is it?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1632

Answers (1)

TinkerTenorSoftwareGuy
TinkerTenorSoftwareGuy

Reputation: 797

To create a zip file is to compress the component files. "deflated" is letting you know how much the file size was reduced after compression. In your case, (deflated 86%) means that the file was reduced in size by 86% after compression. So, no it's not anything wrong. It's a good thing! It's letting you know how much space you saved for that individual file.

I know it's overkill for this issue, but here's the manual page: https://developer.apple.com/legacy/library/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man1/zip.1.html

And the relevant excerpt:

The program is useful for packaging a set of files for distribution; for archiving files; and for saving disk space by temporarily compressing unused files or directories... Compression ratios of 2:1 to 3:1 are common for text files.

And where the word "deflation" comes in:

zip has one compression method (deflation) and can also store files without compression.

Upvotes: 2

Related Questions