Why You Should Compress Files Before Emailing Them

Don't waste your recipients' time by attaching huge files

By
Heinz Tschabitscher
Heinz Tschabitscher
Heinz Tschabitscher
Writer
  • University of Vienna
A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
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Updated on June 1, 2021

No one likes to wait for a long download. Large email attachments cost the recipient time, space, and money. Be considerate and compress any attachments you send with your email.

Documents created by word processors such as Microsoft Word can take up space on your computer or handheld device. It takes just seconds to compress, stuff, or zip them.

Compress Files Before Sending Them as Attachments

You can prevent large files from using up network resources with a compression utility such as:

  • WinZip (Windows, Mac)
  • 7-Zip (Unix, Mac, Windows)
  • StuffIt (Mac, Windows) 
  • bzip2 (Unix, Mac, Windows)

Many word processing documents can be compressed to 10 percent of their original size.

Compress Files With Operating System Software

Current Windows and Mac operating systems include compression software for zipping large files. In macOS, control-click any file and choose Compress from the menu options to reduce file size. In Windows 10, open File Explorer, right-click the file you want to zip, and click Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder.

The recipient expands the compressed file by double-clicking it.

Don't Send Huge Files via Email

If the file you want to attach to an email surpasses 10 MB or so, even after compression, it's better to use a file-sending or cloud-storage service rather than attach it to an email. Most email service providers place limits on the size of files they will send.

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