Zip files and folders in .NET

A lot of solutions exists that show how to zip files in .NET, for example some of them using SharpZipLib, GZipStream, Windows Shell API or the ZipLibrary class. However one lesser known solution which I have found to be very useful is the DotNetZip library

As given on the site - “DotNetZip is an easy-to-use FREE class library and toolset for manipulating zip files or folders. Zip and Unzip is easy: with DotNetZip, .NET applications written in VB, C# - any .NET language - can easily create, read, extract, or update zip files. It works on Mono or MS .NET”

You can download DotNetZip Library over here.

Here’s a sample that shows how to use this library to zip all files in a folder

C#

using System;
using Ionic.Zip;

namespace ZipSample
{
class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        try
        {
            using (ZipFile zip = new ZipFile())
            {
                zip.AddDirectory(@"D:\Ajax");
                zip.Save(@"D:\Ajax\Ajax.zip");
                Console.WriteLine("Files zipped");
            }
        }
        catch (ZipException ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
        }
        Console.ReadLine();
    }
}
}

VB.NET

Imports System
Imports Ionic.Zip

Namespace ZipSample
Class Program
    Shared Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)
        Try
            Using zip As New ZipFile()
                zip.AddDirectory("D:\Ajax")
                zip.Save("D:\Ajax\Ajax.zip")
                Console.WriteLine("Files zipped")
            End Using
        Catch ex As ZipException
            Console.WriteLine(ex.Message)
        End Try
        Console.ReadLine()
    End Sub
End Class
End Namespace

Depending on the size of the files in a folder, it may take some time for the zip operation to complete.

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About The Author

Suprotim Agarwal, ASP.NET Architecture MVP works as an Architect Consultant and provides consultancy on how to design and develop Web applications.

Suprotim is also the founder and primary contributor to DevCurry, DotNetCurry and SQLServerCurry. He has also written an EBook 51 Recipes using jQuery with ASP.NET Controls.

Follow him on twitter @suprotimagarwal