How to compress files

Question

I want to compress a file and a directory in C#. I found some solution in Internet but they are so complex and I couldn't run them in my project. Can anybody suggest me a clear and effective solution?

Answer 1

You could use GZipStream in the System.IO.Compression namespace

.NET 2.0.

public static void CompressFile(string path)
{
    FileStream sourceFile = File.OpenRead(path);
    FileStream destinationFile = File.Create(path + ".gz");

    byte[] buffer = new byte[sourceFile.Length];
    sourceFile.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);

    using (GZipStream output = new GZipStream(destinationFile,
        CompressionMode.Compress))
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Compressing {0} to {1}.", sourceFile.Name,
            destinationFile.Name, false);

        output.Write(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
    }

    // Close the files.
    sourceFile.Close();
    destinationFile.Close();
}

.NET 4

public static void Compress(FileInfo fi)
    {
        // Get the stream of the source file.
        using (FileStream inFile = fi.OpenRead())
        {
            // Prevent compressing hidden and 
            // already compressed files.
            if ((File.GetAttributes(fi.FullName) 
                & FileAttributes.Hidden)
                != FileAttributes.Hidden & fi.Extension != ".gz")
            {
                // Create the compressed file.
                using (FileStream outFile = 
                            File.Create(fi.FullName + ".gz"))
                {
                    using (GZipStream Compress = 
                        new GZipStream(outFile, 
                        CompressionMode.Compress))
                    {
                        // Copy the source file into 
                        // the compression stream.
                    inFile.CopyTo(Compress);

                        Console.WriteLine("Compressed {0} from {1} to {2} bytes.",
                            fi.Name, fi.Length.ToString(), outFile.Length.ToString());
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms404280.aspx

Answer 2

I'm adding this answer as I've found an easier way than any of the existing answers:

1. Install DotNetZip DLLs in your solution (easiest way is to install the package from nuget)
2. Add a reference to the DLL.
3. Import the namespace by adding: using Ionic.Zip;
4. Zip your file

Code:

using (ZipFile zip = new ZipFile())
{
    zip.AddFile("C:\test\test.txt");
    zip.AddFile("C:\test\test2.txt");
    zip.Save("C:\output.zip");
}

If you don't want the original folder structure mirrored in the zip file, then look at the overrides for AddFile() and AddFolder() etc.

Answer 3

There is a built-in class in System.IO.Packaging called the ZipPackage:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.packaging.zippackage(v=vs.100).aspx

Answer 4

http://www.icsharpcode.net/opensource/sharpziplib/

Answer 5

You can just use ms-dos command line program compact.exe. Look on a parameters compact.exe in cmd and start this process using .NET method Process.Start().

Answer 6

just use following code for compressing a file.

       public void Compressfile()
        {
             string fileName = "Text.txt";
             string sourcePath = @"C:\SMSDBBACKUP";
             DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(sourcePath);
             foreach (FileInfo fi in di.GetFiles())
             {
                 //for specific file 
                 if (fi.ToString() == fileName)
                 {
                     Compress(fi);
                 }
             } 
        }

public static void Compress(FileInfo fi)
        {
            // Get the stream of the source file.
            using (FileStream inFile = fi.OpenRead())
            {
                // Prevent compressing hidden and 
                // already compressed files.
                if ((File.GetAttributes(fi.FullName)
                    & FileAttributes.Hidden)
                    != FileAttributes.Hidden & fi.Extension != ".gz")
                {
                    // Create the compressed file.
                    using (FileStream outFile =
                                File.Create(fi.FullName + ".gz"))
                    {
                        using (GZipStream Compress =
                            new GZipStream(outFile,
                            CompressionMode.Compress))
                        {
                            // Copy the source file into 
                            // the compression stream.
                            inFile.CopyTo(Compress);

                            Console.WriteLine("Compressed {0} from {1} to {2} bytes.",
                                fi.Name, fi.Length.ToString(), outFile.Length.ToString());
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }

    }

Answer 7

Use http://dotnetzip.codeplex.com/ to ZIP files or directory, there is no builtin class to do it directly in .NET

Answer 8

Source code taken from MSDN that is compatible to .Net 2.0 and above

public static void CompressFile(string path)
        {
            FileStream sourceFile = File.OpenRead(path);
            FileStream destinationFile = File.Create(path + ".gz");

            byte[] buffer = new byte[sourceFile.Length];
        sourceFile.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);

        using (GZipStream output = new GZipStream(destinationFile,
            CompressionMode.Compress))
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Compressing {0} to {1}.", sourceFile.Name,
                destinationFile.Name, false);

            output.Write(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
        }

        // Close the files.
        sourceFile.Close();
        destinationFile.Close();
    }  

Answer 9

Using DotNetZip http://dotnetzip.codeplex.com/, there's an AddDirectory() method on the ZipFile class that does what you want:

using (var zip = new Ionic.Zip.ZipFile())
{
    zip.AddDirectory("DirectoryOnDisk", "rootInZipFile");
    zip.Save("MyFile.zip");
}

Bonne continuation...

Answer 10

For .Net Framework 4.5 this is the most clear example I found:

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.IO.Compression;

namespace ConsoleApplication
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string startPath = @"c:\example\start";
            string zipPath = @"c:\example\result.zip";
            string extractPath = @"c:\example\extract";

            ZipFile.CreateFromDirectory(startPath, zipPath);

            ZipFile.ExtractToDirectory(zipPath, extractPath);
        }
    }
}

You'll need to add a reference to System.IO.Compression.FileSystem

From: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/io/how-to-compress-and-extract-files