Likewise, over 4 billion files and folders can be included in a Zip file. When the extended format is used, the member file size, Zip file size, and number of member files you can add to a Zip file are limited only by your system's resources.įor reference purposes, with the Zip64 extension to the Zip file format enhancement, Zip files of 16 exabytes, which is over 16 billion gigabytes (or 2 to the 64th power bytes) are possible. For all practical purposes, the Zip64 extended format eliminates size and number restrictions. All releases since that time, including the current release of WinZip and the WinZip Command Line Support Add-On include this Zip file format extension. This number limit, as well as the size limits above, are both part of the original Zip file format.īeginning with WinZip 9.0 and WinZip Command Line Support Add-On 1.1 (released in 2004), a Zip64 extension to the Zip file format was introduced. These older WinZip versions were also limited as to the number of files and folders that could be zipped. If you tried to zip a file larger than 4 gigabytes, WinZip versions earlier than WinZip 9.0 would issue the following message: The file is too big to be stored in a Zip file and will be skipped. Specifically, this 4 gigabyte limit applied to WinZip 8.1 and earlier. This limit applied both to the uncompressed and compressed sizes of files inside Zip files, and also to the total size of a Zip file itself. The maximum file size made possible by the original, open source Zip file specification was 4 gigabytes. File name length: 250 characters (see Windows limitation).

Number of files and folders being added: over 4 billion.You should read on in this article, but the upper limits for Zip files created by the current version of WinZip are: CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2021 (Windows/Mac).

How to open large zip files on mac