Splitting Zip files
WinZip® makes it easy to create Zip files that are split into smaller pieces of a size that you specify. There are several reasons why you might want to do this, such as:
- To overcome e-mail size limits. Some e-mail systems limit the size of attachments; if you want to e-mail a large Zip file that exceeds your limit, you can split it into smaller parts and e-mail them separately.
- As an alternative to spanned Zip files when you want to make multiple copies of the disk set.
- As an alternative to spanned Zip files when you want to make the disk contents as a separate step from making the disks themselves.
- To assist with large downloads. Some users may have difficulty downloading very large Zip files from web sites, FTP sites, etc. You can use the split Zip feature to break large files into smaller pieces that can be downloaded separately.
To split a Zip file into smaller pieces:
- Open or create the Zip file.
- Choose Split from the Actions menu.
- Specify the name to be used for the split Zip file. The name must be different from the name of the open Zip file.
- Specify the size to be used for the individual parts. You can choose from common sizes using the Part size drop-down list or you can specify your own size. To specify your own size, choose "Other size" in the drop-down list and type the desired size in the Other size field. You can specify the size in bytes, kilobytes (KB), or megabytes (MB); indicate which you're using by clicking the appropriate radio button. The minimum size allowed is 65,536 bytes (64KB).
- Click OK to create the split Zip file.
Notes
- Each of the segments of the split Zip file will have a different extension. WinZip creates files with names like Data.Z01, Data.Z02, and so on, except for the very last segment of the new Zip file. The last segment will always have the .zip extension (e.g., Data.zip).
- To open the split Zip file, open the file with the .zip extension. Don't try to open any of the files with the numbered extensions; WinZip won't recognize them as Zip files.
- Once the split Zip file has been opened, you can work with it much as you would work with a regular Zip file, except you can't add any new files or remove existing files. Some operations such as creating self-extracting Zip files and editing comments are also disabled for split Zip files.
- The sizes listed as "1.2MB," "1.44MB," and "2.88MB" are approximate. The segments of the split Zip file are sized appropriately to fit on media of the specified size. You cannot, however, use decimal points when specifying sizes in the Other size field.
- The split Zip file format is an extension of the Zip 2.0 specification. Therefore, some Zip utility programs may not be able to open split Zip files. Please see Split Zip file compatibility information for more details.