Below we will see how you can enable NTFS compression for files and folders in Windows 10. Unlike ZIP file compression, this type of compression does not create a .zip file, but the compression occurs in-place. The files appear as they were before compression, but with a smaller size. Windows 10 supports NTFS from previous versions of Windows.
NTFS compression will make some of your files (and folders) smaller. Files that are already compressed like images, videos, music will not be compressed further, but for other file types, it can save you a lot of disk space.
However, you should be aware that this operation does affect performance. This is because of the additional operations that the operating system must perform when trying to read the file, when copying it from a compressed folder, or when placing it inside a new compressed folder. During these operations, Windows decompresses the file in memory.
As the feature name suggests, NTFS compression doesn't work when you copy your compressed files over a network, so the operating system will have to decompress them first and transfer them without compression.
When a file or folder is compressed, Windows 10 displays a special double blue arrow above its icon.
But if you want to save space on your disk, you can compress files and folders in Windows 10 by following the steps below.
Right-click the file or folder you want to compress and select “Properties”
On the General tab, click the Advanced button
In the next window, check the “Compress contents to save disk space” box under Compression or encryption features.
Click OK to close the window. If you have selected a folder, a dialog box will appear asking you to confirm the compression.
To unzip the file or folder, uncheck the “Compress contents to save disk space” box using the method described above.
Windows 10 also has a console utility that can be used to compress individual files and folders.
The compact.exe application will help you perform file compressions via the command line.
Open cmd.exe (search for cmd.exe and click on the icon to open the command prompt box)
To compress a single file, run the command:
compact /c "path_to_file"
To unzip a file, run the command
compact /u "path_to_file"
Here's how to compress a folder:
compact /c "path_to_folder"
The above command will compress the folder without the subfolders
To compress all the contents of the folder, use the command:
compact /c /s:"path_to_folder"
To unzip only the specified folder without the subfolders, run the command
compact /u "path_to_folder"
To do the same for the folder and all subfolders, run the command:
compact /u /s:"path_to_folder"
