Apple Intelligence is now available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac!

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Compressed Files on Mac are larger than the original!

I am trying to compress some files on my MacBook Air (2017), and when I "compress" the files, they are ending up larger!

For example, the original file was 19.6MB and the zip file is 20.1MB.

I'm confused and unsure why this is happening, but I need the files to be zipped to post them onto my Etsy page; the limit is 20MB files!

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 12.3

Posted on Jul 16, 2022 10:14 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 16, 2022 10:46 AM

Louise_Emma wrote:

That's understandable, but why is the zip file larger?
On Etsy, I need the file to be 20MB or less and the original file is 19.6MB, but I need it to be a ZIP file for Etsy, which is coming out larger at 20.1MB?
Shouldn't it stay the same size?

The zipping process is adding file retore and other information. If the file is already compressed and can not be reduced in size, the zipping process still needs to add the meta data to the original file thereby increasing the file size a bit.

Similar questions

13 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 16, 2022 10:46 AM in response to Louise_Emma

Louise_Emma wrote:

That's understandable, but why is the zip file larger?
On Etsy, I need the file to be 20MB or less and the original file is 19.6MB, but I need it to be a ZIP file for Etsy, which is coming out larger at 20.1MB?
Shouldn't it stay the same size?

The zipping process is adding file retore and other information. If the file is already compressed and can not be reduced in size, the zipping process still needs to add the meta data to the original file thereby increasing the file size a bit.

Compressed Files on Mac are larger than the original!

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.