Meanings
plural zip files
- A computer file containing the zipped (compressed) contents of one or more files; a kind of compressed archive.
To e-mail a zip file, you need to attach the zip file to an e-mail message.
2004, Alan Simpson, Alan Simpson's Windows XP Bible, page 5053 more examples
To make that functionality available, you have to place a zip file containing the source in the top-level directory of the plug-in [...]
2003, David Gallardo, Ed Burnette, Robert McGovern, Eclipse in action: a guide for Java developers, page 244Because zip is not just a compression format like deflation or gzip but an archival format, a single zip file often contains multiple [...]
2006, Elliotte Rusty Harold, Java I/OHowever, pipes can't be used to read SAS data sets from a zip file in this way. Pipes are used with FILENAME [...]. There is a way to read and write SAS data sets that are stored in a zip file.
2006, Phil Mason, SAS tips and techniques from around the globe, page 269
Origin
zip (meaning "move at high speed") was suggested by Robert Mahoney, friend of Phil Katz (original developer of the format).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch zipfile
- zipfilea compressed computer file
Finnish ZIP-pakkaus, ZIP-tiedosto
- ZIP-pakkausa compressed computer file
- ZIP-tiedostoa compressed computer file
Cite this entry
zip file. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zip%20file
“zip file.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zip%20file. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “zip file,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zip%20file.
Source: zip file on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.