How to Make an Encrypted Compressed File (and Open One You Were Sent)

An encrypted compressed file is an archive, usually a ZIP, that packs several files into one smaller file and locks it with a password, so only someone who knows the password can see what is inside. The quickest way to make one is to put your files into a password-protected ZIP; the person you send it to opens it with the same password. Here is how to do that in your browser, and what the built-in options can and can't do.

Make a password-protected ZIP in your browser

1. Open Password-Protect ZIP and drop the files you want to send onto the page.
2. Choose a password, ideally a long one that you don't use anywhere else.
3. Create the archive and download the ZIP.
4. Send the ZIP, and share the password a different way, for example by phone or a separate message.

The files are packed on your device: Filevale runs in the browser and nothing is uploaded. It is free and adds no watermarks. If you don't need a password and just want one file to send, Create ZIP packs files into a plain ZIP.

Compress first, then lock

Photos, videos and PDFs are often already compressed, so a ZIP of them may be barely smaller than the originals. If size matters, shrink the files before you zip them.

Reduce File Size re-encodes photos as JPEG or WebP at the quality you pick, recompresses PDF pages, turns video into H.264 at a lower bitrate and audio into MP3. You get a new, smaller copy and the original is never touched. If a file can't get any smaller, you are told so and the original is kept. Then put the smaller files into a password-protected ZIP as above.

Open an encrypted compressed file you received

To get at the contents you need the password from the sender. Extract Archive opens ZIP, RAR, 7Z and TAR files in your browser, and the archive tools page lists the single-format extractors. For more on opening archives on different devices, see how to open RAR, 7Z and ZIP files.

Only need to lock one PDF?

If the thing you want to protect is a single PDF, you don't need an archive at all. Password Protect PDF locks the PDF itself with a password, so it can be opened only with that password. Later, Unlock PDF removes a PDF password you know. The guide on password-protected PDFs covers both directions.

Built-in options on Windows and Mac

• Windows: right-click and Send to → Compressed (zipped) folder makes a ZIP, but it has no password option. The Compress and Encrypt checkboxes under a file's Properties → Advanced are a different thing: they work on the disk itself, not on a file you can send, and you can only tick one of the two.
• Mac: Compress in the Finder's right-click menu makes a ZIP without a password. Disk Utility can make an encrypted disk image from a folder (File → New Image → Image from Folder), which opens easily on other Macs but not on Windows.

A password-protected ZIP is usually the format the other person can open most easily, whatever they use.

Things to know before you send it

• In a standard ZIP, the file names inside can be seen without the password; only the contents are locked. If the names themselves are sensitive, rename the files before packing them.
• Never put the password in the same email as the attachment.
• If you forget the password, the files can't be recovered. Keep the originals until you know the archive arrived and opens.

Frequently asked questions