How to Compress and Extract Files in cPanel
Compressing files into a zip makes uploads and backups faster and tidier; extracting unpacks an archive on the server. File Manager does both.
Step-by-step
- Open Files → File Manager.
- To compress: select the files/folders, click Compress (top toolbar), choose Zip Archive, and confirm — a single .zip is created.
- Download the zip if it is a backup, then delete it from the server to save space.
- To extract: upload or locate the .zip, right-click it → Extract, and confirm the destination.
- Move extracted contents into place if the archive created an extra subfolder.
- Delete the leftover archive afterwards to keep your disk usage tidy.
💡 Good to know
- Uploading one zip and extracting it is far faster than uploading hundreds of loose files.
- Zip is the most compatible format across Windows, Mac and the server.
- Large extractions can take a moment — wait for the success message before navigating away.