"Offering free computer help, hints, and tips to the Internet populace." Now with over 3,820 tips!

Digital Photo Archive - Backup

ZIP Files May Not Save Space

SUMMARY: ZIPping digital photos may not provide the extra space you expect.

If you are archiving huge collections of digital camera photos onto CDs, DVDs, or external hard drive units, you may be considering placing your photos in ZIP archives to save space. Although this sounds like a good idea, if your digital camera photos are in JPG format, they are already compressed. Thus, placing them in ZIP files will not compress them much more, and in some instances, the ZIP files may be larger than your photos themselves! However, if you store your photos as TIF or RAW files, ZIP archives may save some space.

Print This Tip