PowerShell Compress-Archive

last modified February 15, 2025

In this article, we will cover the Compress-Archive cmdlet in PowerShell. This cmdlet creates zip archives from files and folders. It was introduced in PowerShell 5.0 and is part of the Microsoft.PowerShell.Archive module.

Archive basics

An archive is a single file that contains compressed files and folders. The Compress-Archive cmdlet creates ZIP archives specifically. It supports adding files recursively from directories. The cmdlet can update existing archives or create new ones. Compression helps save storage space and makes file transfers easier.

Basic Compress-Archive usage

The simplest way to use Compress-Archive is with a source path and destination path. The source can be a file or directory. The destination is the path for the new zip file. If the destination exists, it will be overwritten unless specified otherwise.

Compress-Archive -Path "C:\data\documents" -DestinationPath "C:\backups\docs.zip"

This command creates a zip archive of the documents folder. The archive is saved to the backups directory. All files and subfolders are included by default. The operation is recursive unless limited.

Compress specific files

You can compress specific files by providing their paths. Multiple files can be specified using wildcards or separate paths. The destination archive will contain only the specified files. This is useful when you need selective backups.

Compress-Archive -Path "C:\data\report.docx", "C:\data\budget.xlsx" -DestinationPath "C:\backups\important.zip"

This command creates an archive with only two specified files. The files must exist at the provided paths. The archive will be created even if one of the files is missing.

Update an existing archive

Existing archives can be updated with new files using the -Update parameter. This adds files to the archive without recreating it. Duplicate files are replaced by default. The operation is faster than recreating the archive.

Compress-Archive -Path "C:\data\presentation.pptx" -DestinationPath "C:\backups\important.zip" -Update

This command adds a PowerPoint file to an existing archive. If the file already exists in the archive, it will be overwritten. The original compression level is maintained.

Compression level options

The cmdlet supports different compression levels through the -CompressionLevel parameter. Available levels are Fastest, Optimal, and NoCompression. Optimal provides the best compression but is slower. Fastest prioritizes speed over compression ratio.

Compress-Archive -Path "C:\data\images" -DestinationPath "C:\backups\images.zip" -CompressionLevel Fastest

This command creates an archive with fastest compression. It's useful for large files where speed is important. The resulting archive may be larger than with Optimal compression.

Exclude files from archive

Specific files can be excluded using the -ExcludePattern parameter. This accepts wildcards to match multiple files. The exclusion happens after file selection. It's useful for skipping temporary or system files.

Compress-Archive -Path "C:\data\*" -DestinationPath "C:\backups\data.zip" -ExcludePattern "*.tmp"

This command archives all files in the data directory except .tmp files. Multiple patterns can be specified separated by commas. The exclusion is case-insensitive by default.

Create archive from pipeline

File paths can be piped directly to Compress-Archive. This is useful when combining with other cmdlets. The -DestinationPath parameter is still required. Piping allows dynamic file selection.

Get-ChildItem "C:\data\*.log" | Compress-Archive -DestinationPath "C:\backups\logs.zip"

This command finds all .log files and compresses them into an archive. Only the matched files are included. The operation preserves the directory structure relative to the source.

Force overwrite of archive

By default, Compress-Archive won't overwrite existing files. The -Force parameter overrides this safety check. Use with caution as it permanently replaces the destination file. No confirmation is requested.

Compress-Archive -Path "C:\data\*" -DestinationPath "C:\backups\data.zip" -Force

This command creates or overwrites the data.zip archive. Any existing archive with the same name will be replaced. The operation proceeds without warning if the file exists.

Source

Microsoft Compress-Archive documentation

In this article, we have covered the Compress-Archive cmdlet in PowerShell.

Author

My name is Jan Bodnar, and I am a passionate programmer with extensive programming experience. I have been writing programming articles since 2007. To date, I have authored over 1,400 articles and 8 e-books. I possess more than ten years of experience in teaching programming.

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