Zip (file format)

The zip file format is the most widely-used compressed file format in the IBM PC world.

The format was designed by Phil Katz for PKZIP, and in the form now used (PKZIP 2 format) it uses his DEFLATE algorithm for compression.

Zip files use the file extension ".zip" and have the MIME media type application/zip.

Many software utilities other than PKZIP itself are now available to create, modify or open zip files, notably WinZip and Info-ZIP[?].