Note that the bzip2 command subsequently deletes the original file. In this case, bzip2 creates a new file titled Product 2.

MacOS will compress the file and create a new file. To compress a file using bzip2 (which dates to the mid 1990s and uses a compression algorithm named after inventors Michael Burrows and David Wheeler), open Terminal and enter the following command: SEE: Research: Apple’s Growing Role in the Enterprise (Tech Pro Research) How to use the bzip2 macOS file compression command ( Note: If you use Terminal frequently, or you want to encourage yourself to use it more often, place the Terminal icon in your Mac’s Dock.) With Terminal open, enter cd documents/marketing to navigate to the Documents directory’s Marketing subdirectory. For testing purposes, I included 27.2MB of additional files within the same Marketing subdirectory to test compression using a larger variety of file formats, including documents, spreadsheets, photos, and PDFs.īegin by opening Terminal. Also assume the file is located within a Documents subdirectory titled Marketing. Top TechRepublic Academy training courses and software offerings of 2022īest project management software and tools 2022įor the purpose of the following examples, assume you wish to compress a 10.1MB file titled Product Shot.jpeg. Gartner identifies 25 emerging technologies in its 2022 hype cycle

Just open Terminal, found within macOS’ Utilities subdirectory within the Applications folder, to leverage two popular commands: bzip2 and zip. MacOS possesses a number of Terminal commands to enable compressing files, thereby freeing disk space, requiring less storage capacity, and decreasing email attachment size, among other benefits. How to use the zip and bzip2 macOS file compression commandsĪ variety of Mac applications compress files, but two simple commands native to macOS fulfill the same functionality-often more quickly and for less expense.

Mac create zip file terminal